By Dan Ambrose: Andy Ruiz Jr. says he expects to be preventing former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder sooner or later, and he believes he’ll beat him.
Ruiz, 32, didn’t look good in his final struggle in opposition to 40-year-old Chris Arreola on Could 1st. Andy gained the competition by a 12 spherical unanimous determination, however Arreola dropped him within the second spherical, and his punch resistance didn’t look good.
The burden that Ruiz has taken off whereas understanding with new coach Eddy Reynoso hasn’t helped him. If Arreola may drop Ruiz, there’s a superb opportunity Wilder can do it too and maintain him down.
The previous IBF/WBA/WBO champion Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs) says it will be an “wonderful struggle” to face Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs), and he desires it to occur.
Wilder is coming off his second consecutive knockout loss to WBC champion Tyson Fury, and it’s not going that his administration might be involved in matching him in opposition to a puncher like Ruiz proper now. It relies upon, although.
If #1 WBC Wilder desires a quick world title shot, the easiest way to realize that’s by beating #2 WBC in a title eliminator with the World Boxing Council.
That will be essentially the most logical transfer for Wilder as a result of it’s unlikely that he might be given a title shot in opposition to any of the champions within the division anytime quickly because of his back-to-back knockout losses to Fury in his final two fights.
“I assumed that was an superior struggle. They have been going forwards and backwards, and I didn’t know who was going to win,” stated Andy Ruiz Jr. to the Final Stand Podcast with Brian Custer on the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3 trilogy match final October.
“Deontay, he has the guts of a lion. He doesn’t wish to quit, and he stored coming. He stored getting up, falling down, and getting up. It wasn’t an incredible struggle. Hats off to Tyson Fury. He did his factor,” stated Ruiz.
If Wilder hadn’t bulked up needlessly to 238 lbs and seemingly ignored his cardio, he might need gained the struggle.
When Wilder was contemporary within the first two rounds, he was harmful for Fury. Even when Wilder gassed out after the third, he nonetheless dropped Fury twice within the fourth.
“I agree with that,” stated Ruiz when requested if Fury is the very best heavyweight on the planet proper now.
You’ll be able to’t say Fury is the very best heavyweight on the planet till he proves himself in opposition to the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk rematch. If Fury can beat the winner of that struggle, you’ll be able to argue he’s #1 within the division.
Even after beating the Joshua-Usyk 2 winner, Fury will nonetheless must finest these guys to be the true #1 within the division:
- Joe Joyce
- Daniel Dubois
- Frank Sanchez
- Tony Yoka
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Filip Hrgovic
- Robert Helenius
“Sure, I do, and I believe that will be an incredible struggle,” stated Ruiz when requested if he sees a contest between him and Wilder happening sooner or later, me in opposition to Deontay Wilder.
“We’re each a part of the identical workforce, and it’s all enterprise. I wouldn’t thoughts getting within the ring with him, and I really feel I may beat him. We received to get it on,” stated Ruiz of a struggle in opposition to Deontay.
It’ll be attention-grabbing to see if Wilder does select to struggle Ruiz anytime quickly as a result of it’s the very best route for him to take if he desires a quick title shot.
If Wilder chooses to take straightforward confidence builder degree fights for the subsequent two or three years, it may take a very long time for him to get one other title shot. Time isn’t one thing that the 36-year-old Wilder has proper now, and he’s getting outdated.
