Andy ‘The Destroyer” Ruiz Jr. will be taking a big step forward with his stalled career by taking on Luis Ortiz in a 12-round headliner on Labor Day, Sunday, September 4th, on Fox Sports PPV. Ruiz vs. Ortiz will take place at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles, California.
It’s unclear how much Ruiz vs. Ortiz will be selling for on PPV, but it would be bold on PBC’s part to ask for $70+ for this.
This is a fight that boxing fans have been waiting three years for Ruiz to take, and he’s finally gotten around to taking it against #2 IBF, #5 WBC, and #5 WBO Ortiz.
As bad as Ruiz looked in his last two fights, you cant count the southpaw Luis Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) out. He’s the bigger puncher of the two and could take Ruiz out if he fights aggressively as he did in his last fight against Chris Arreola.
This is Ruiz’s second PPV fight as an ex-champion since losing his IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles to Anthony Joshua in their rematch three years ago in 2019.
Andy wanted Joshua to give him a trilogy fight straight after his loss to the British fighter, but his promoter Eddie Hearn made it clear that a third fight wouldn’t sell unless Ruiz got some wins under his belt against top-tier opposition.
Ruiz has fought once since that defeat, beating Chris Arreola last May on FOX Sports PPV in a 12-round unanimous decision. Beating the 40-year-old Arreola wasn’t a big enough win for Ruiz to earn a third fight with Joshua.
Whether a win over the 43-year-old Luis Ortiz will be a big enough victory for Ruiz to get a chance to fight the winner of the August 20th rematch between Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk is doubtful.
For Ruiz to be considered a viable option for the world champions, he needs to be a lot more active and face younger opposition. If Ruiz gets past Ortiz, he should go after these top contenders to try and earn a world title shot:
- Joe Joyce
- Deontay Wilder
- Frank Sanchez
- Martin Bakole
- Joseph Parker
- Filip Hrgovic
As infrequently as Ruiz has been fighting, he’d likely be the underdog against all of those heavyweights, but if he beat them, he’d be in an excellent position to get a world title shot.
Placing the Ruiz-Ortiz fight on the Labor Day holiday, Premier Boxing Champions are counting on fans celebrating the holiday willing to pay to see this non-PPV-worthy fight.
You can argue that it was an odd decision on PBC’s part to place Ruiz’s last fight against 40-year-old Chris Arreola on PPV the previous year, as both fighters were coming off defeats, and this wasn’t a match between Andy, a high-ranking top contender. Arreola was well past his prime and a fringe contender.
Ortiz has twice challenged for world titles against former WBC champion Deontay Wilder and lost both times. In Ortiz’s last fight, he stopped Charles Martin in the sixth round last January.
Ruiz vs. Ortiz tickets will be on sale this week on June 23rd at axs.com.
