By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs) will be taking a slight step up next month in facing unbeaten Andy Ruiz Jr. (28-0, 19 KOs) in a WBO heavyweight title eliminator on October 29 on the Tyson Fury vs. Wladimir Klitschko II card at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
The Hughie – Ruiz fight will be the co-feature bout on the card, which will be televised on BoxNation. Hughie, 21, will be defending his World Boxing Organization Intercontinental strap. This isn’t a major world title unfortunately.
All I can say is that Hughie is very, very lucky that he’s not fighting a good contender in this WBO title eliminator, because if he had to fight the likes of Joseph Parker, Wladimir Klitschko, David Haye or Jarrell Miller, he would be knocked out. Those are all top contenders in the WBO’s rankings right now, and I don’t see Hughie as having the kind of talent needed to beat any of them.
Hughie did not look at his best in his last fight against journeyman Fred Kassi last April. Hughie won the fight by a 7th round technical decision after the contest was stopped due to him suffering a cut from a clash of heads. However, Hughie was exhausted, taking heavy shots, and looking like he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the final bell at the time of the stoppage.
You make a strong argument that the stoppage was a fight-saving miracle for Hughie, because Kassi had the upper hand in the fight at the time it was stopped. Hughie was taking heavy shots, and he appeared too tired to last much longer. When Hughie slammed heads with Kassi in the 6th, the results of the textbook head-butt saved Hughie from being knocked out in by view. I just hope we don’t see Hughie get tired against Ruiz after five or six rounds, and then another fight-saving head-butt that causes the match to be halted after six or seven rounds. I mean, you can’t make a career out of getting tired and then having your fights halted due to accidental cuts suffered from head clashes, can you? If this happens over and over again for Hughie, I would be worried. When you have a fight halted in the 6th or 7th rounds due to head-butts, it turns the fights into six or seven round affairs rather than a 12 round fight. You don’t learn anything about the fighter. In the case of Hughie, I think he needs to go back and fight Kassi again, because he didn’t prove he was the better fighter. The only thing Hughie proved was he was the better six-round fighter. I had Kassi winning the 6th, and on his way to winning the 7th. I think Kassi would have knocked Hughie out if the fight had gone the full 12 round. If Kassi didn’t KO Hughie, I think he would have beaten him on points.
The real confusing part of the Fury-Ruiz fight is that the winner of the match will become the WBO mandatory challenger to Tyson Fury. I seriously doubt that Tyson would ever agree to fight Hughie, but you never know. It would be a fight that would be hard for me and a lot of boxing fans to take seriously. As such, I believe that Fury will end up vacating his WBO title if Fury gets past the 27-year-old Ruiz to become his WBO mandatory.
Hughie is rated #5 WBO and Ruiz #3 WBO. If Fury vacates his WBO strap, then it would be up to the WBO to decide where they want to go. They could have Hughie fight the next available contender for the WBO belt or they could just give the title to Hughie. That would be interesting with Hughie winning the title outside of the ring. It wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve seen a fighter pick up a title outside of the ring.
I think it would be far better for Hughie to actually fighting someone for the WBO strap, because at least he would look more legitimate. Currently, the WBO has Joseph Parker at #1, Wladimir Klitschko #2, Ruiz #3, David Haye #4, Hughie #5 Michael Wallisch #6 and Jarrell Miller #7. You can pretty much rule out Parker and Wladimir fighting Hughie. David Haye might opt for the fight. In that case, I think Hughie would back out of that fight and let Haye fight for the WBO title against someone else. I can’t see Hughie’s management throwing him into the ring with Haye, because it’s a bad match-up for Hughie. He can’t punch, and Haye would have no qualms in going right after Hughie to knock him out immediately in the 1st round. I think it would be a one-sided fight.
“I am happy to be in such a big fight against a top heavyweight,” said Hughie Fury. “I will be giving my all to retain my WBO Intercontinental belt and I hope it is a fight that the fans enjoy. Out of all of the top up-and-coming heavyweights I believe I have fought the better men in my career so far. Being tested against tougher opponents will help me in this fight.”
This is a very winnable fight for Hughie. Andy Ruiz has not fought anyone good during his career, and he looked terrible against a past his beat Sergey Liakhovich in 2014. Ruiz is slow on his feet, easy to hit, and he struggles against fighters that move. It’s the perfect opponent for a hit and run type of fighter like Hughie.