By Sean Jones: Andy Ruiz Jr. took to social media this week to ask Anthony Joshua for a rubber match between them. As of now, Joshua and Ruiz Jr. are tied at 1-1 in their two fights thus far, and a third match will show who the better fighter is of the two.
The timing of Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs) asking for Joshua to give him yet another rematch is horrible. Boxing is at a dead stop right now because of the pandemic halting the sport. On top of that, IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua has consecutive mandatory defenses against Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk that he must satisfy before he can make a voluntary defense.
Joshua has a long waiting list of opponents
These are some of the names that Joshua will be facing BEFORE he potentially gives Ruiz Jr another fight:
- Kubrat Pulev
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Tyson Fury
- Deontay Wilder
- Dillian Whyte
- Joseph Parker
Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) will need to win his warm-up fight against Dereck Chisora whenever that clash takes place.
Even if Joshua does win both of those fights, he’ll be looking to face WBC champion Tyson Fury or perhaps Deontay Wilder for the undisputed heavyweight championship. If boxing returns at the end of 2020, under a best-case scenario, Ruiz could wind up needing to wait until 2022 before he gets his wish to face Joshua in a trilogy match.
That would also depend on Ruiz Jr. winning all of his in 2020 or 2021. Ruiz won’t be able to sit on his duff for next year and assume Joshua is going to throw a bone to him by giving him a third fight.
Andy Ruiz Jr. calls out Joshua for the third fight
“I got the first one, and you got the second. Let’s run it back a third time and see what’s up,” said Ruiz Jr. on Twitter @Andy_destroyer1.
‘Anthony Joshua would have told Eddie Hearn to f*** off if asked to duck Andy Ruiz Jr. in a rematch.’
Ruiz Jr., 31, shot himself in the foot by coming up into his rematch with Joshua a blubbery 283 pounds last December and ruining his chances of winning. Though Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has made a big deal amount the Klitschko-esque style that he used in the fight, it probably wouldn’t have helped him if Ruiz Jr. was in shape.
Joshua still looked fragile and weak each time Ruiz got up to him in the rematch, and it would have been far worse if he had come into the fight in shape in the 250s. All the movement by Joshua would have amounted to nothing if Ruiz had the good sense to take his training seriously.
‘The Destroyer’ needs to earn a third fight with Joshua
Ruiz’s dreadful performance against Joshua was so bad that no one wants to see the two face each other a third time. For Ruiz Jr. to get another shot against Joshua, he’s going to need to show some courage and start taking risks with his career. Dillian Whyte called Ruiz Jr. out recently, and he reportedly was given a massive $5 million offer for the fight.
That’s the same money that Ruiz received for his first fight with Joshua. It’s unthinkable that Ruiz would turn down that kind of money for a non-championship battle, which would have put him back in position to fight for a world title.
Ruiz has teased his boxing fans lately by talking on social media, saying “big news” is coming soon, but then nothing. He doesn’t follow up with any updates on the so-called “big news,” and the fans are left to assume that Ruiz is full of hot air.
Former two-time heavyweight world title challenger Dominic Breazeale called Ruiz Jr. out this week, promising that he’ll knock him out if he accepts his challenge. Again, no response from Ruiz to take a fight that would improve his chances of getting a third fight with Joshua.
The overall impression that some fans have about Ruiz is he’s just going to wait for Joshua to look his way and give him a third fight eventually. In the meantime, Ruiz Jr. will sit by and passively wait for the Joshua fight to fall into his lap.
Ruiz Jr. needs a couple of wins over big names
Ruiz Jr may not like the idea of having to earn the third fight with Joshua, but that’s the way it is. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has already said that if Ruiz wants a third fight, he’s going to need to get busy with his career and pick up a couple of “significant” wins before they look his way.
Ruiz Jr. needs to seriously consider fighting some of these contenders if he wants a third fight with Joshua:
- Dillian Whyte
- Dominic Breazeale
- Luis Ortiz
- Joseph Parker
- Adam Kownacki
- Charles Martin
- Filip Hrgovic
- Alexander Povetkin
- Michael Hunter
- Dereck Chisora
If Ruiz can beat at least two of those contenders, he’ll have earned the third fight with Joshua. But it’s not going to be easy for Ruiz to defeat those types of fighters because he can’t just slack off and come into those fights a fat blimp. That’s not going to work for him if he’s out of shape, considering that those fighters can take a punch, unlike Joshua, and they’ve got good stamina.
It’s not impossible for Ruiz Jr. to beat these type of fighters if he can his hunger back that he had for his first fight with Joshua. However, with millions in the bank, you have to question whether Ruiz Jr. still has the same motivation to fight that he once did.
