Eddie Hearn’s company announced Tuesday that the former unified heavyweight champion will end a two-year layoff when he opposes Poland’s Damian Knyba on September 4 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The 12-round bout between Ruiz (35-2-1, 22 KOs), of Imperial, California, and Knyba (17-1, 11 KOs) will headline a card that’ll be broadcast by TNT in the United States and streamed by DAZN worldwide as part of the new monthly series, “The Fight.”

The announcement confirmed a report by The Ring’s Mike Coppinger last week regarding Ruiz-Knyba.

Ruiz, 36, will fight for the first time since his controversial 12-round majority draw with Jarrell Miller in August 2024. The first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent has boxed just three times in the seven years since he upset England’s Anthony Joshua by seventh-round technical knockout in June 2019.

Kenya, 30, 6-foot-7 and based in New Jersey, was stopped in the third round by WBC champ Agit Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs) on January 10 in Germany.

As The Ring first reported two weeks ago, the co-feature of this card will match middleweight contenders Vito Mielnicki (23-1, 13 KOs), of nearby Roseland, and Austin “Ammo” Williams (20-2, 13 KOs), of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, in a 10-rounder.