• 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.)

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Seven years after springing one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, the Mexican Rocky is back with his old trainer for one final run at the heavyweight summit

Seven years ago, Andy Ruiz Jr became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win the world heavyweight championship in one of the biggest upsets boxing has ever seen, stopping the undefeated Anthony Joshua inside seven rounds at Madison Square Garden.

A replacement opponent summoned on five weeks’ notice who went off as an 11-1 underdog, Ruiz came off the canvas in the third to knock Joshua down four times before the referee finally waved it off. Hailed as the “Mexican Rocky”, he was lionized as a border-straddling hero in his hometown of Imperial, the dusty agricultural community framed by the mountain ranges and flat deserts of south-eastern California. He made the late-night rounds, took an audience with Mexico president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and signed a $10m guarantee when Joshua activated his rematch clause. The money, cars, fame and women arrived all at once.

• López wins majority decision to claim WBA crown

• Romero brands judges’ verdict a ‘robbery’

• New champion adds to previous 135lb, 140lb belts

Teófimo López became a three-division world champion on Saturday night, winning a 12-round majority decision over Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero to claim the WBA welterweight title at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

López prevailed by scores of 115-113 and 116-112, while the third judge saw the fight even at 114-114. Romero, making the first defense of his title won against Ryan Garcia 15 months ago, disputed the result in the immediate aftermath.