By Jake Donovan, photos by Mikey Williams

Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz faces his first former champ, albeit a badly faded one in Siarhei Liakhovich in a scheduled 10-round bout Saturday evening at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.

The clash serves as the main event of a show that will air live on UniMas in the United States.

Conditioning will always be an issue for those who are troubled by the physique Ruiz (23-0, 17KOs) carries into the ring. For Saturday’s contest, the Mexican heavyweight tipped the scales at a beefy 267.8 lb, down from his last fight two months ago but—at 6’2” still well above an ideal fighting weight.

Liakhovich (26-6, 16KOs) weighed in at 231.1 lb, his lightest weight in nearly three years. The 38-year old Belarusian–now based out of Arizona—scored a win in this very venue in his last fight this past February, his lone victory since 2010. Three straight knockouts followed, including a one-round drilling at the hands of Deontay Wilder last August. 

Also on the telecast, Oscar Valdez (13-0, 12KOs) looks to cap what has been a stellar 2014 campaign as he seeks his sixth win on the year. A two-time Olympian for his native Mexico, Valdez faces Jean Javier Sotelo in a scheduled eight round super featherweight bout. Both fighters weighed 129.3 lb. for the evening’s chief support.

FULL WEIGHTS

Andy Ruiz Jr 267.8 vs. Siarhei Liakhovich 231.1

Daniel Echeverria 139.5 vs. Noe Lopez 136.5

Trevor McCumby 171.5 vs. Milton Nunez 168.7

Oscar Valdez 129.3 vs. Jean Javier Sotelo 129.3

Joet Gonzalez 121.9 vs. Jaime Gutierrez 121.4

Erick De Leon 131.7 vs. Juliano Sarinana 133.6

Francisco De Vaca 124.2 vs. Jesus Navarro 127.2

David Benavidez 167 vs. Azamat Umarzoda 166.1

Juan Carlos Dias 115.1 vs. Alexis Zazueta 116.6

Victor Serrano 127.4 vs. Pedro Duran 127.6

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and a member of Boxing Writers Association of America . Twitter: @JakeNDaBox