Eddie Hearn, who wanted to make a fight between Dereck Chisora and Andy Ruiz, has told Talk Sport he expects former world heavyweight champ Ruiz to instead face Luis Ortiz next. Hearn made an offer to Luis DeCubas, who works with Ruiz and Al Haymon, but the offer for Ruiz to come to the UK to fight Chisora was turned down. It seems Haymon, who of course calls the shots as far as his fighters go, wants to see Ruiz fight Cuban southpaw Ortiz.
“I think Ruiz will fight Ortiz next,” Hearn said. “That’s a good fight. But Chisora wants Ruiz, Chisora wants Chris Arreola – they’re our two favourite options for him.”
So, with Ruiz-Ortiz now being likely, maybe Chisora will fight Arreola next? Arreola is of course the last man to have shared a ring with Ruiz, with “The Nightmare” heavily decking his fellow Mexican-American before losing a decision in an exciting fight. That was last May, so Ruiz needs to get a fight sorted soon. If it is Ortiz next for him, “The Destroyer” will be taking a potentially risky fight.
Ortiz, 33-2(28) may be older than dirt at 42 (43 at the end of the month, with some people saying Ortiz is in fact a good deal older than that) but he can whack, he has a good boxing brain and he is tough and durable. Beaten only by Deontay Wilder, Ortiz has won two fights in quick fashion since being iced by Wilder in their November 2019 rematch; his most recent fight seeing Ortiz decked twice by Charles Martin in the early going before coming on to get the KO win.
Ruiz, 34-2(22) and still only 32 – this being quite young for a heavyweight fighter these days – has those fast hands, and when he’s focused and determined to win, he is himself extremely dangerous. Ruiz Vs. Ortiz is a good fight and if it happens it may tell us something about how much both men have left. Can either Ruiz or Ortiz become a world champion, for a second time in Ruiz’ case?