Birmingham’s Gamal Yafai was dropped three times in a 10-round Super-Bantamweight contest as he lost for the third time in twenty-two contests. The 31-year-old known as ‘The Beast’ took on 28-year-old Argentinian Diego Alberto Rulz a switch hitter who had a record of 23 wins with one draw out of thirty contests. The fight was on the undercard of the Leigh Wood, Lara fight which was being aired live on Dazn and was promoted by Matchroom boxing at the Nottingham Arena. This was Yafia second contest after losing his European title to Jason Cunningham where he was cut over the left eye and knocked down three times in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th rounds.
Yafia started the first round strong taking the center of the ring and banging in some heavy shots to Ruiz's body and head. Yafia started the second round well but Ruiz fired back and caught Yafia with a looping left hand out of a southpaw stance which made ‘The Beast’ touch down. He was counted and continued and had to battle to get through the round. Ruiz let his hands go in the third round and was connecting with heavy left backhands and nice lead right hooks as Ruiz continued to switch hit. Yafia touch down again after being caught with a chuffing left hand to the head, he was counted again and managed to see the round out.
Yafia started the first round strong taking the center of the ring and banging in some heavy shots to Ruiz body and head. Yafia started the second round well but Ruiz fired back and caught Yafia with a looping left hand out of a southpaw stance which made ‘The Beast’ touch down. He was counted and continued and had to battle to get through the round. Ruiz let his hands go in the third round and was connecting with heavy left backhands and nice lead right hooks as Ruiz continued to switch hit. Yafia touch down again after being caught with a chuffing left hand to the head, he was counted again and managed to see the round out.
Yafia battled hard in the fourth and landed some heavy shots but Ruiz stood his ground and countered well to get a share of the round. Yafia started off the fifth at a fast pace but Ruzi stayed with him and was switch-hitting well, Yafia dug deep and won the round. Yafia continued to press and was really loading up with his shots, Ruiz fought well on the back foot but Yafia just outworked him. Ruiz stepped up the pace and pushed Yafia back but Ruiz picked his shots well finishing the round and catching Yafia with three clean shots winning the round.
Yafia looked unsteady in the eighth round as Ruiz banged in the eye-catching combinations, Yafia had his moments but Ruiz finished the round strong. Ruiz moved Well and picked his shots as Yafia hunted him down, close round with Yafia just nicking it. In the final round Yafia was put down again with a lovely right hand, Yafia got to his feet and continued and had to dig deep to see the final bell.
The judges had it like this Michael Alexander had it 97 to 91 Ruzi, Howard Foster had it 97 to 90 Ruiz and Kevin Parker had it 98 to 89 Ruzi, I had it 96 to 92 Ruzi.
Full fight below
Dexter’s Thoughts
This was a very hard watch for anyone would is a Yafia fan as Ruiz did a number on the Birmingham fighter. I have followed all three Yafia brothers’ careers and to me, it looks like Gamal’s is coming to an end, he looked like half the fighter he was when he won the European super-bantamweight title back in 2020 and this is the second time, he has been put down three times in one fight. Gamal may choose to fight on I just don’t want Eddie Hearn to start feeding this great boxer to his up-and-coming fighters as a step-up as I have seen them do that before. Yafia showed loads of heart in this fight but this was supposed to be just a step up to him getting back to world contention. It is up to him, his team, and his family to decide what he does next, I hope whatever he chooses works out for him.