Anthony Joshua NOT cashing out against Andy Ruiz says Hearn

By Boxing News - 08/12/2019 - Comments

Image: Anthony Joshua NOT cashing out against Andy Ruiz says Hearn

By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua won’t be cashing out for his rematch with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr., says his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. Hearn says Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) doesn’t want any excuses from Ruiz after he beats him, and that’s the rationale for staging the rematch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 7 instead of placing it in Cardiff, Wales.

That’s the location where Hearn and Joshua’s training team wanted the second fight to take place. Hearn doesn’t want to hear Ruiz’s complaints, so he agreed to stage the fight in neutral territory.  There’s a strong belief by a lot of boxing fans that Joshua is going for a money grab by putting the fight in alien territory to the highest bidder so that he can get as big a payday as possible before losing the rematch.

A lot of fans think Ruiz has got Joshua’s number, and will knock him out again. Hearn sounds convinced that Joshua will win the rematch, but that may not happen. A second knockout loss for Joshua is going to put him on the brink of career implosion. Hearn doesn’t want to speak about the possibility of Joshua losing, but he’ll have the ugly truth if he loses to Ruiz on December 7.

Joshua doesn’t need to cash out says Hearn

“I think he’s doing alright. In terms of the risk, there is greater risk for him in this fight, doing it in a neutral venue, than over in the UK. I think that’s just common sense, but I admire him for that, he doesn’t fear a challenge,” said Hearn to Sky Sports News.  “He doesn’t need to cash out,” said Hearn about Joshua to IFL TV in addressing the rumors that AJ is cashing out with this fight. “He’s making money [off the fight]. He doesn’t need to cash out anything. He’s making money before he retires. He’s alright.

Financially, this wasn’t like a life changing money amount. It was massive similarities [to what the fight would have generated if it had taken place in the U.S]. It was neutral ground. If this wasn’t financially as good or better than America, would we want to go there? I don’t know. It was a conversation where Ruiz was moaning [complaining] about the UK,” said Hearn.

It doesn’t matter if Joshua admits that this is a cash out for him or not, but it could end up being that. If Ruiz humiliates Joshua as bad or worse than the first fight last June, then his career is going to be on it’s last legs. Hearn can try and say it’s not, but it’ll be academic at that point that Joshua will need to start thinking about a retiring. Hogging the loot for the Ruiz rematch could for all intents and purposes be Joshua’s golden parachute for his retirement.

Hearn: Contractually, there are no problems with Joshua-Ruiz rematch in Saudi Arabia

“Every promoter has been working on delivering a fight in this region,” said Hearn. “I was the one to pull it off. I’m a trailblazer. Therefore, I get all the stick. Everybody was comfortable [about the fight taking place in the UK] from a training team’s perspective,” said Hearn about Joshua’s training team on board with the Ruiz rematch taking place in Saudi Arabia. “Cardiff is the one that made sense. I knew I would have some issues with Ruiz.

Contractually, there are no issues. It’s signed,” said Hearn in letting boxing fans know that Ruiz had signed the rematch clause. “We gave him [Ruiz] what he wanted [a neutral venue]. No excuses this time. When Joshua knocks him out, no excuses. ‘It was in your backyard.’ It’s in neutral territory. We’re negotiating with them at the moment, but you can expect this fight to be streamed on DAZN,” said Hearn about DAZN.

Ruiz Jr. still hasn’t made a public comment about the rematch with Joshua taking place in Saudi Arabia, and that’s unusual. Hearn says Ruiz signed off on the fight, but he means that it was part of the rematch clause. Whether Ruiz Jr. signed on for the rematch to take place in Saudi Arabia is unknown. Hearn keeps bringing up the word “contractually” when speaking about Ruiz, and that seems to suggest that he didn’t have a say so about where the rematch would take place.

 

Joshua-Ruiz 2 staged in Saudi Arabia for “many reasons” says Hearn

“Many reasons,” said Hearn when asked why he chose to stage Joshua-Ruiz rematch in Saudi Arabia. “Firstly, I think it’s going to be a mind blowing fight for the sport of boxing. This will change boxing forever. There is another world out there. We knew Ruiz didn’t want to come to the UK. It was our decision where the fight was going to be held. If it’s in the UK, then he has to come to the UK,” said Hearn in letting the viewers know that he and Matchroom held the cards when it came to deciding where the Joshua-Ruiz rematch would be staged.

“But to relieve some of the stress, we didn’t want any moans from Andy Ruiz and his team, because AJ is going to knock him out. And when he does, we don’t want, ‘Oh, you made us come to the UK. Oh, you made us come in front of 80,000 people.’ So we selected a neutral venue. No, because he already signed,” said Hearn when asked if there were questions from Ruiz Jr. that needed to be answered before he unilaterally selected Saudi Arabia as the location for the fight,” said Hearn.

It’s believed that Hearn’s overriding rationale for staging the Joshua vs. Ruiz rematch in Saudi Arabia was for money. The green stuff likely is the #1 reason why Hearn placed the rematch in that area of the world.

 

Hearn: Ruiz Jr. isn’t happy fighting Joshua again

“He knows where it is. His team knows where it is. I don’t think he’s happy he’s fighting Anthony Joshua again, but he probably thinks he won the lottery,” said Hearn about Ruiz Jr. “He’s spending his money already. I’ve watched him on Instagram,” said Hearn.

“From a fake website,” said Hearn when asked whether Ruiz Jr. has already signed for the Joshua rematch. “Ruiz is ALREADY signed. All the amounts have gone to the governing bodies with representatives and promoters copied into as well. Everybody knows what happens.

Why would Ruiz Jr. not want to fight Joshua again when he already knocked him out in the seventh round? Hearn sounds like he’s babbling, and trying to give his fighter Joshua more confidence. Joshua’s self confidence has got to be shot to pieces after the way Ruiz destroyed him. It’s going to take more than pumping Joshua up with false flattery to give him what he needs to beat Ruiz. Joshua needs the chin, stamina and boxing skills to win the rematch. Hearn’s bold predictions aren’t going to do the job for Joshua on December 7th.

 

Ruiz wanted bigger purse for Joshua rematch says Hearn

“Of course, this is boxing,” said Hearn when asked if Ruiz wants more than the $9 million that he’s said to be getting for the rematch with Joshua. “He’ll want this, and he’ll want that. He might want a little plane for himself. But don’t forget that Andy Ruiz was given an opportunity of a lifetime to fight Anthony Joshua, and part of that agreement was a rematch clause. He signed for that. We have to answer questions out of respect,” said Hearn about Ruiz Jr. and his team asking questions about their purse, location for the fight. He’ll be treated like a champion. The Saudis will treat him like a champion.

This is going to be a huge event. Only that he was going to want a little bit more, but he signed for us,” said Hearn in saying that Ruiz wanted a bigger purse for the rematch. “I’m sure everybody is going to try their luck [on Ruiz’s side to get a better deal], but contractually, we know where we stand. We know Andy Ruiz is a man of principle. He knows all he signed up for. I’ve seen some crazy numbers floating around, but the fight is on,” said Hearn about how much money Matchroom is being given by the Saudi organizers to stage the fight in Saudi Arabia.

If the rumors are true about Joshua getting $60+ million for the rematch, then Ruiz isn’t getting a good deal.