Andy Ruiz is raring to get back into heavyweight title contention.

The former heavyweight titleholder from Imperial Valley, Calif. recently recovered from knee surgery and says he expects to return to the ring in December.

“I feel good and blessed,” Ruiz told FightHype.com. “Hopefully I should be getting [in the ring] in December.”

At the top of his list are a trio of top heavyweights.

“There’s a few opponents,” Ruiz said when asked whom he wanted to face. “We’re looking at Adam Kownacki, he’s going to be fighting in October as well. There’s Charles Martin, there’s Luis Ortiz.”

The Brooklyn-based Kownacki (20-1,15 KOs) is set to face Finland’s Robert Helenius in a rematch on Oct.9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Helenius stopped Kownacki in the fourth round of their first fight in 2020 in Brooklyn.

Ruiz hopes a fight or two with top-tier heavyweights will put him in a position to challenge for a world championship. Ruiz shocked the world in 2019 when he knocked out then unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden. Joshua, however, regained his belts in the rematch six months later in Saudi Arabia.

“There’s a lot of guys out there for me to get back in the rankings,” Ruiz continued. “Sure, I’m in the rankings, but I’ve got to stay busy and stay active.”

Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), who is backed by Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, thinks the southpaw Martin (28-2-1, 25 KOs), a former stablemate, would be ideal preparation for a showdown against Cuba’s Luis Ortiz (32-2, 27 KOs), who is also a southpaw.  

“[Martin is] a good friend of mine, but inside the ring it’s all business,” Ruiz said. “I think fighting a lefty would be perfect, a perfect style for me. Then I can move on to Luis Ortiz or someone like that.”

Ruiz last fought in May, against fellow Mexican-American Chris Arreola, winning a unanimous decision.