• Knyba wins unanimous decision after dropping Ruiz

• Former champion struggles badly after 762-day layoff

• Ruiz, 36, insists another title run remains possible

Andy Ruiz Jr’s comeback bid was left in tatters on Friday night after the former unified heavyweight champion was knocked down and picked apart in a sobering unanimous-decision defeat to Damian Knyba in Newark, New Jersey.

Knyba won by scores of 117-110 and 114-113 twice, handing Ruiz the third defeat of his professional career and dealing a devastating blow to his hopes of becoming a two-time champion in boxing’s prestige division. The baffling pair of 114-113 cards flattered Ruiz considerably and bore little relation to the mostly one-way traffic that unfolded. (The Guardian had it 117-110.)