From sparring Anthony Joshua to boxing Andy Ruiz Jr: How Damian Knyba landed biggest fight of life

When Damian Knyba boarded a flight to Madrid to join Anthony Joshua in camp, his sights were set on a domestic dust-up with Kacper Meyna.

The Polish heavyweights had agreed to meet on October 3 in Koszalin for Meyna’s Republic of Poland title, until a far bigger opportunity fell into Knyba’s lap.

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Drenched in sweat after a gruelling sparring session with Joshua, Knyba received an offer to face the very man who famously toppled AJ from his throne in 2019, Andy Ruiz Jr.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Knyba accepted without hesitation.

A golden opportunity

“My focus was on Meyna, and I was training hard for him in camp with Anthony Joshua,” Knyba told talkSPORT.com about how his September 4 showdown with Ruiz Jr in Newark came to be.

“Out of nowhere, Matchroom then reached out to Lukasz [Kownacki] (Knyba’s manager) to see if we would be interested in a fight with Ruiz Jr.

“My ambitions are extremely high, and I couldn’t let an opportunity like that pass me by, so I accepted right away.

“I want to achieve the biggest things in boxing, and a win against Andy Ruiz does that for me.

“I have a little less time to prepare than I had for Kacper Meyna, which was a month later.

“But nothing in life is perfect, and I will prepare the best I can.

“I spoke with Anthony, and he gave some tips.

“As long as I stick to my game plan and stay focused for 12 rounds, I can win this fight.

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“I have watched both of the fights between Anthony and Ruiz a few times recently. Mostly the second one.

“But in the first one, I noticed a few things I will have to be careful about.

“Anthony made a few mistakes, and I can’t afford to make the same ones.”

Damian Knyba’s second chance

After getting knocked out in a frantic inaugural encounter, Joshua jabbed and moved his way to a disciplined victory in the rematch.

The consensus belief is that Knyba will have to do the same this weekend.

‘The Polish Hussar’ possesses one of the longest reaches in boxing (86in) and showed glimpses of his potential in his last outing against newly crowned WBC champion Agit Kabayel.

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Knyba had got the better of Kabayel in the first two rounds before the highly-rated German rebounded well in the third.

While Kabayel was able to knock Knyba onto unsteady legs with a series of right hands, most felt that referee Mark Liason’s intervention was a touch premature.

“I was definitely p***** at myself,” Knyba said of his performance.

“A lot of things didn’t go as planned during the camp. I had some health problems, and I wasn’t myself on fight night.

“When it comes to the referee, I think he stopped the fight early.

“During the fight, he was very cautious. But I’m a fighter, so I’m not looking for excuses.

“I have to draw conclusions from this and do everything to avoid such things from happening again. It was a valuable lesson.”

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