Andy Ruiz Jr said three months of partying and a lack of proper training left him being overweight for his world title rematch with Anthony Joshua.
The 30-year-old was out-pointed in Saudi Arabia by Joshua, six months after shocking the boxing world by beating him in New York.
The Mexican-American interrupted Joshua’s interview after the fight to ask for a third fight.
The Mexican vowed that he would be “a lot better”, if he gets a third fight.
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“I should have trained harder. I should have listened to my team and coaches,” he said.
“For this fight I was overweight. I didn’t move how I wanted to.”
“You better believe I’ll be champion again.”
Ruiz, the second-heaviest world champion in heavyweight history behind Nikolai Valuev, gained 15lbs since his win over Joshua, who is now a two-time champion in the glamour division.
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He scaled 20st 3lbs at Friday’s weigh-in.
Many had questioned if a lifestyle, which saw him buy new homes and cars, and made countless media appearances in the after his win in June could prove costly.
He appeared regretful and apologised to his trainer, Manny Robles, and father, Andres, at his post-fight news conference, and was applauded when he finished.
The former champion claimed he had initially lost weight after his win but added:
“I put on the weight and it was my mistake. No-one knows about the training we had. We did the best we can.
“Being a champion for the first time, being over here and there and missing training, it was hard.
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“For the trilogy I will be a lot better. If it’s here even better, I want to redeem myself in Saudi Arabia.”
His trainer, Robles, had stressed that Ruiz had a full three-month camp, but that would have still left over three months between his win over Joshua and the start of preparations.
“I don’t want to say the three months of partying or celebrating didn’t affect me as to tell you the truth it kind of did,” Ruiz further said.
“There’s no excuses. The partying got the best of me. The next fight is going to be a lot different.
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“I think people are still doubting me. I am still a dangerous fighter to anyone in the division. At 100% I can dominate anyone in the world.
“You best believe I am going to come back and be the heavyweight champion of the world once again.”
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