By Charles Brun: Deontay Wilder is more than willing to fight unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. ahead of a rematch with Tyson Fury. As far as the unbeaten Deontay Wilder is concerned, he already knocked out Fury last December, but the referee didn’t stop the fight for some reason.
Deontay says Fury would be happy if he fought Ruiz Jr., because he thinks he doesn’t want to fight him anymore after the way he was knocked unconscious in the 12th round. Wilder will be defending his WBC title in a rematch against Luis Ortiz on September 28 at a still to be determined venue. If Wilder beats Ortiz, and if Ruiz stops Anthony Joshua again, then a Wilder-Ruiz unification match would be possible.
Wilder vs. Ruiz Jr. would be a HUGE fight in the U.S. If Ruiz Jr. beats Anthony Joshua a second time, a unification match between Wilder and Ruiz would be massive. That’s the fight that Wilder should be looking towards rather than wasting his time facing a spoiling heavyweight like Fury again. Fury proved last June in his fight against Tom Schwarz that he’s not a draw in the U.S. Joshua is a draw. His fight against Ruiz brought in excellent numbers.
The Wilder vs. Fury rematch will likely have already been negotiated by the time Wilder faces Ortiz in September, and Joshua and Ruiz fight again. Wilder and Fury’s management aren’t going to wait until those fights are done with before negotiating the Wilder-Fury rematch.
Wilder wants Andy Ruiz Jr. unification fight over Fury rematch
“Most definitely,” said Wilder when asked if he would take the Andy Ruiz Jr. fight if offered to him instead of a rematch with Fury. “Why not? I’m sure Fury would want me to do that. Fury don’t want to fight me no more , man. I knocked him out already. If it wasn’t for that referee [Jack Reiss], it’s over with. The judges had it right. It was a very, very close fight. He [Fury] don’t want to fight me, but he really don’t have no choice. But if Ruiz, if everything clears in his situation, and my path is clear after [Luis] Ortiz, and he wants to unify, hell yeah, why not? Nobody would stand in the way of that. That’s the next big fight now. I’m looking forward to do it when the time comes. I’ve got a lot of things lined up for me,” said Wilder.
Wilder views Fury as “pathetic,” and just acting in a pretentious manner by marketing himself as the lineal heavyweight champion.
The unbeaten WBC champion Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) prefers to fight IBF/WBA/WBO champion Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KOs), because he has real belt that is visible to boxing fans. Belts what the boxing public cares about in the U.S. They just want to know who the #1 guy is in the heavyweight division, and they also want to see exciting fights. That’s why Wilder is the most popular heavyweight right now. He brings the most excitement. Fury’s style of fighting is going to make it tough for his co-promoters at Top Rank Boxing to make him into a star, because he fights too defensively. He’s arguably boring to watch, and it requires a special type of fans that prefers to watch that. Fury’s fighting style is frustrating to watch for many fans
Fury is using his “invisible belt” as marketing tool says Wilder
“He’s fought only two guys that were noticeable while he’s been in the game,” said Wilder to 78SportsTV. “He beat Klitschko, and he got knocked out by me. He’s using an invisible belt that nobody can see as a marketing tool,” said Wilder about Fury’s lineal heavyweight title that he continually mentions during interviews.
It’s painfully obvious that Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) sees his lineal heavyweight champion status as a way of putting himself on the same level as the world champions in the division that have established titles. It’s a gimmick that Fury, 30, is using to have the boxing public view him in the same light as the other world champions. In other words, it’s a shortcut. Instead of Fury beating a world champion to capture one of the four major titles, he’s marketing himself as being the ‘lineal heavyweight champion.’ Fury doesn’t have to do the hard work of beating a world champion. He just calls himself the “lineal heavyweight champion.” Fury has defended his lineal title three times against these guys:
- Sefer Seferi
- Tom Schwarz
- Francesco Pianeta
Fury calling himself the “lineal heavyweight champion” muddies the water by confusing the casual boxing fans by giving them a sense of uncertainty who the real champion is in the heavyweight division. It looks bad when a fighter comes up with their own appointed title, and then use that as a slogan to sell their fights.
Tyson Fury won lineal heavyweight title against Klitschko
Fury won the invisible lineal heavyweight title by beating former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 by a close 12 round unanimous decision in Dusseldorf, Germany. Klitschko was over-the-hill at that point in his career, and no longer able to pull the trigger on his shots. Fury then all of his titles by sitting out of the ring for the next three years until 2018. All the belts were stripped from him one by one until all he had left was the lineal heavyweight champion status.
For some reason, the lineal heavyweight title can’t be stripped from a champion. One can argue that if Fury were to stay out of the ring for 50 years, he would still come back as the lineal heavyweight champion.” For invisible titles like the ‘lineal heavyweight’ strap, there needs to be a time limit a champion can go in between title defenses. If they can sit on the couch for 20 years, and then come back and still call themselves the “lineal heavyweight champion,” it looks bad. It wouldn’t be a big deal though if the ESPN commentators didn’t mention frequently during the broadcast that Fury is the lineal heavyweight champion during his recent fight against Tom Schwarz last June. They were enabling Fury by doing that.
Wilder: No one cares about Tyson Fury in America
“Nobody tuned in to see him fight [on ESPN]. Nobody really cares about Tyson Fury. The only thing they cared about was when he fought me. When it comes to America, nobody cares about him. They just want to see great fights, and they know I bring excellent [fights]. That’s why everyone comes see us fight.
Despite the huge amount of promotion that went into the Fury vs. Schwarz event for their June 15 fight in Las Vegas, it still brought in poor numbers. The ticket sales were underwhelming. The fight number showed that it’s going to take more than gimmicks to turn Fury into a superstar in the U.S. Just calling him a “lineal heavyweight champion”, and mentioning how he beat Wladimir Klitschko four years ago isn’t going to do it. That victory is ancient history now a far as the casual and hardcore boxing fans are concerned.
Wilder: Fury is trying to seem like he’s in control
“It’s all an act. He’s trying to seem like he’s in control,” said Wilder about Fury announcing the news that he’ll be facing Deontay in a rematch next year on February 22. “Everyone knows who holds the heavyweight division. Everyone knows who’s the baddest man on the planet [Wilder], and who’s running the division, and that’s Deontay Wilder. Hands down. Fury sounds the part, and acts the part, but he doesn’t have anything to go off of. The only thing he has got go off of is beating a dead horse with his mental illness thing. He’s going to fight in America. That’s yesterday’s news. We in America want what’s fresh, and what’s news. The only thing he can hold onto is that invisible championship [lineal title], and that mental illness thing. They’re dragging it out. It”s pathetic what he’s doing. As long as people are entertained, he’ll continue to do it. Once it dies down, then he may change his ways,” said Wilder.