By Keith Idec

Andy Ruiz realizes he is widely viewed as the ‘B’ side of his heavyweight title fight Saturday against Joseph Parker.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Parker is the hometown hero, the young, hard-hitting heavyweight Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. just signed to a promotional contract. A sellout crowd is expected at Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, where they’ll want to see nothing other than Parker knock out his unbeaten American opponent to win the vacant WBO world heavyweight title.

None of that matters to the 27-year-old Ruiz (29-0, 19 KOs), a 3-1 underdog according to numerous Internet sports books.

“This is my chance and I didn’t come all the way to New Zealand to lose,” Ruiz told a group of reporters Thursday. “I know everyone is underestimating me. I know I trained hard for this fight. I hear everyone commenting on how I look physically, but imagine now that I am in great shape, how good I will be on Saturday night. I know I am an exciting fighter. I will use lots of footwork and throw a lot of combinations – and we both hit hard.”

The 6-2, 250-pound Ruiz, of Imperial, California, hopes the pressure Parker (21-0, 18 KOs) could sense Saturday will adversely affect the 24-year-old emerging star.

“Both of us have pressure,” said Ruiz, who’s also promoted by Top Rank. “I don’t know what Parker thinks about how much pressure he has on him, but I hope he feels like he has more pressure. I am confident in the work that I have done in training.

“I know we are both prepped for 12 rounds. I don't talk a lot of trash or anything. But when the bell rings we both flip the switch. I have a family to feed and I fight for them. This is a great opportunity for me and I’m not leaving New Zealand without that belt.”

HBO will air the Parker-Ruiz fight on delay as part of a “World Championship Boxing” tripleheader scheduled to start at 9:35 p.m. ET/PT.

The live portion of the telecast is set to begin with Phoenix lightweight contender Ray Beltran (31-7-1, 19 KOs, 1 NC) against Mason Menard (32-1, 24 KOs), of Rayne, Louisiana, in a 10-rounder from CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha’s Terence Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) will defend his WBC and WBO super lightweight titles against John Molina Jr. (29-6, 23 KOs), of Covina, California, in the 12-round main event.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.