By Scott Gilfoid: Dillian Whyte took things to the gutter in responding back to former three-belt heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. on social media by calling him a “blob” that is “rolling away from a big payday.” Whyte isn’t saying how much Ruiz has been offered to fight him, but some fans thinks it’s as low as $3 million.
On Friday, Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs) had posted on his Instagram a message to Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) letting him and the boxing public know that he’s moving on to his next opponent because Whyte, 31, didn’t want that “smoke.”
Hearn needs to meet Ruiz’s asking price
What it really comes down to though is Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn not sweetening the offer to him enough to Ruiz’s liking. Hearn had already made one offer to Ruiz, which was declined by him. He was supposed to be making a second offer, but it looks like that wasn’t up to Ruiz’s standards either.
For Ruiz to be talking about moving on, it suggests that Hearn made a final offer to him in a take it or leave it way to try and force the talented American to make a decision. It doesn’t make sense for Ruiz to be saying he’s moving on if Hearn was still negotiating with him.
Here’s what Ruiz Jr. said to Whyte on Instagram that got him worked up:
“andy-destroyer13: You didn’t want any smoke, so I move on to the next opponent. Big announcement coming soon,” said Andy Ruiz Jr. on Instagram in talking about Whyte not wanting the fight.
With Whyte planning on getting back into the ring in March or April for his next fight, that’s another reason why Ruiz likely didn’t go for the deal. He’s still got to lose weight, and Hearn giving him only 1 to 2 months’ time to prepare for the Whyte fight, that’s just not enough time.
Ruiz has weight to lose
Who knows how heavy Ruiz Jr. is right now. It’s been close to 2 months since Ruiz Jr. lost to Anthony Joshua in a rematch on December 7 in Saudi, and he weighed a hefty 283 lbs for that match. Assuming that Ruiz has packed on some more weight partying and living it up with the $12 million that he made for the Joshua rematch, he could be over 300 lbs right now.
As Ruiz’s former trainer Manny Robles said recently, Andy needs to be in the mid-250s for for him toThere’s a chance that Ruiz is over 300 lbs right now. If that’s the reality, then he would need to lose approximately 45 lbs in 1-2 months to get ready for the fight with Whyte. 300 lbs is just a conservative estimate. be at his best. As such, if Ruiz is only being given 1-2 months preparation time to get ready in a hurry for a fight with Whyte, that’s NOT enough time for him to pare off all that extra weight.
There’s a chance that Ruiz is over 300 lbs right now. If that’s the reality, then he would need to lose approximately 45 lbs in 1-2 months to get ready for the fight with Whyte. 300 lbs is just a conservative estimate.
If Ruiz is in the 310 lbs range, then we’re talking 55 lbs that he would need to lose to get ready for Whyte. Try losing that kind of weight in one month, and see how you feel. Ruiz would be fighting on fumes if he had to lose that amount of weight in a rush job to fight Whyte.
Fighting Whyte would mean taking a pay-cut for Ruiz
For that reason, you can’t blame Ruiz for wanting his asking price, whatever that is. Some boxing fans believe Ruiz wants $5-7 million for the Whyte fight. Obviously, that’s a lot less money than what Ruiz Jr. got in his last fight against Joshua. If he’s only being offered $3-4 million by Hearn, then it’s understandable why he wouldn’t want to take the fight. Ruiz has a good chance of fighting Deontay Wilder, who is with PBC like him. That’ll be a big payday for Ruiz, and he wouldn’t have to go to the UK to take the fight.
It’s not only a huge pay cut for Ruiz, but he’s also being asked to get in shape in a hurry to fight Whyte in March or April.
Ruiz would likely do it if Hearn made it worthwhile for him to go into training camp and burn off all that extra tonnage in 4 to 8 weeks, but he’s not going to do that for chicken feed.
Ruiz Jr. coming off loss to Joshua
It’s hard for Ruiz right now because he’s coming off a devastating loss to Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs), and he could wreck his career if he loses to Whyte. Even under normal circumstances, Whyte would be a high risk fight for Ruiz Jr. to take. But given Ruiz’s recent defeat, and his problems with his lack of motivation to train, it would be a foolish risk to take the fight with Whyte right now.
Again, Ruiz Jr. would take the fight with Whyte anyway if Hearn made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. But one gets the sense that Hearn isn’t willing to meet Ruiz’s full asking price.
Hearn has Povetkin as Whyte’s Plan-B
Hearn has got former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin waiting in the wings to face Whyte in March or April, so that gives Eddie a reason not to offer Ruiz the money he wants.
Eddie likely believes that Whyte vs. Povetkin will sell in the UK to British on Sky Box Office. If Hearn is wrong, so what? It’s not as if Whyte has hit the mark in his last 11 fights since losing to Joshua in December 2015.
Whyte has been complaining about WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder not giving him a title shot, but then he’s made things difficult for himself by not facing Luis Ortiz in a WBC mandated title eliminator.
Whyte wanted the World Boxing Council to make him mandatory by him fighting the guys that he wanted to fight rather than agreeing to take on Ortiz. That would be a weird be a situation where Whyte be dictating to the WBC rather than the other way around. It’s thought by a lot of fans that Whyte didn’t fancy the job of facing the talented southpaw Ortiz, so he chose to take on domestic rival Dereck Chisora, who has 9 career losses.
Wilder himself told fans that he’ll fight Whyte if he beats Ortiz. So what does Whyte do? He fights Joseph Parker and Chisora. You can argue that there’s something about ‘King Kong’ Ortiz that just makes Whyte reluctant to fight him.
How much does Whyte have left?
Whyte, 31, looked worse than Ruiz Jr. did in his last fight against Mariusz Wach on the Joshua-Ruiz 2 undercard on December 7. Dillian came into the fight at a career high of 271 lbs, and absorbed a lot of punishment from the 6’7 ½” Wach in grinding out an ugly 10 unaninous decision. The scores were 97-93, 98-93, 97-93.
It was lucky for Whyte that the fight wasn’t scheduled for 12 rounds, as he was gassed out completely in the last two rounds of the fight. Wach was putting hands on Whyte, and forcing him to eat a lot of hard shots. It doesn’t matter that Wach isn’t the biggest puncher in the division. He’s a naturally big guy, and his shots were rearranging Whyte’s face.
After that grueling fight, who knows how much Whyte has left? You can argue that Whyte has steadily worse with each fight since his match against Joseph Parker in July 2018. Going into the 11th round, Whyte was losing to Dereck Chisora on two of the judges’ scorecards in their rematch in December 2018 when he scored a knockout. The judges had it 95-94, 95-94 for Chisora.
The third judge had Whyte ahead 95-94, The referee was giving Chisora no breaks in docking points from him, and some boxing fans believe that Whyte was shown favoritism. Chisora lost his cool after he was penalized a point in the 11th for the use of his elbow. In the 8th, Chisora was docked a point for a low blow.
Whyte was roughing Chisora up too, but he was never penalized. The fact is, Whyte looked TERRIBLE against Chisora, and looked equally bad in beating Oscar Rivas and Wach. That’s 4 consecutive poor performances by Whyte.
Dillian facing career implosion against Povetkin
You hate to say it but this might be a bad time for Whyte to face even an out of shape Ruiz Jr. Heck, the 40-year-old Povetkin might have too much for Whyte. However, with Whyte-Povetkin expected to take place in the UK, you’ve got to believe that’ll give Whyte a HUGE advantage over Povetkin. Povetkin might need a knockout for him to win.
Hearn needs to think hard before he pulls the trigger on the Whyte vs. Povetkin fight, because this could be the end for Dillian. Since the fight isn’t going to make a huge amount of money, it might be too much of a risk for Hearn to put Whyte in with Povetkin, who always comes in shape, Povetkin can punch, and he’s a consummate professional.
Is Povetkin too good for Whyte?
Yeah, Povetkin is old at 40, and not the same guy that he once was, but he’s about at the same level that Whyte is in terms of deterioration. Whyte is younger at 31, but he’s looking really worn now after his last 4 fights, and it’s quite possible that Povetkin beats him.
Povetkin has a MUCH higher pedigree than Whyte with his amateur background in Russia, and his 2004 Olympic gold medal credentials. Whyte isn’t a ham-and-egger, but he’s also not one of the elite level guys in the division. He’s more of a B-level fighter, who arguably could have lost 3 of his last 4 fights with different officiating. Some of the calls that were made by the referees in Whyte’s recent fights with Chisora, Parker and Rivas were highly questionable.