Former heavyweight champ Andy Ruiz Jr is frustrated at the way “nobody wants to fight.” Ruiz, who recently turned 34, was thought to be close to a big fight with Deontay Wilder, this a final eliminator for the WBC title. But that fight failed to get made, and now “The Destroyer” is looking at a third fight with Anthony Joshua, or a fight with Tyson Fury, or a fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Ruiz, as he said when taking to social media a while ago, is also open to receiving a new contract for a fight with Wilder. Ruiz says he is “working,” and he is “staying ready” for any big fight offer that may or may not come his way.
“Everybody’s asking, ‘When am I fighting? When am I gonna fight? Why don’t I fight Wilder?’ Nobody wants to fight,” Ruiz wrote. “I’m staying ready, baby! Tell Joshua, let’s do the trilogy! Tell Wilder I’m ready! Make me another contract! Usyk, Tyson Fury, everybody wants to go through the shortcuts, but I’m here, baby, we’re working.”
It does seem quite crazy that, with neither Ruiz nor Wilder having a fight set but with both guys wanting to get back into the ring, the two can’t make a deal and fight each other. Ruiz has now been out of action for a little over a year, while Wilder last fought 11 months ago. Surely the two sides can thrash out a deal. If not, Ruiz against Joshua III would perhaps prove interesting, the two being 1-1. But have fans forgiven Ruiz for the quite disgraceful conditioning he displayed in the rematch with AJ?
Does Ruiz deserve another huge payday? In truth, if he’s in shape, Ruiz could give us some good action against any of the names he listed in his instagram post. But what chance is there of Ruiz landing a fight with Fury, or with Usyk? Ruiz, 35-2(22) finds himself in a pretty tough position right now, with neither of the two champions having to fight him, and with other top contenders perhaps looking at him as too much risk, too little reward.
It does seem as though Ruiz’s best chance at getting himself a title shot is to fight Wilder, beat him, and become the WBC mandatory challenger. But again, can Ruiz and Wilder make a deal? There was a time not too long ago when it was felt a Wilder-Ruiz fight would be a veritable cinch to make. This is obviously not the case now. A year is a long time in the sport of boxing, and between them, Ruiz and Wilder have wasted 24 months. This being time they will not get back.