By Charles Brun: Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew says he would make a “FOOL” of Andy Ruiz Jr. if the two of them were to fight. Bellew (30-3-1, 20 KOs) says he would literally “play” with the former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs if he mixed it with him.
Bellew, 38, hasn’t fought in 17 months since losing to Oleksandr Usyk by an 8th round knockout on November 10, 2018, in Manchester, England. Now 38-year-old, Bellew isn’t too old to come out of retirement to back up his bold talk.
If Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, has the money, he can try and lure the American Ruiz into a fight with Bellew.
Bellew confident of beating Ruiz
With the travel ban in place, the ongoing pandemic, Bellew, and Hearn may need to wait a while before a fight against Ruiz can take place. Ruiz Jr., 31, won’t be able to travel to the UK to face Bellew and vice versa.
“The other day, Ruiz, his name came up. You were like, ‘Get me, Andy Ruiz.'” Eddie Hearn said to Matchroom Talk The Talk on what Bellew had said to him.
“I’m pretty confident I’d play with Ruiz, absolutely make a fool of him. But would I be willing to risk it and put it on the line? Probably not,” said Bellew.
What is Bellew afraid of? He talks about risk as if his legacy would be ruined in a loss to Ruiz. Bellew has an OK legacy, but it’s not a great one. Other than his wins over a shot David Haye and Ilunga Makabu, Bellew didn’t beat any talented guys during his career.
Adonis Stevenson destroyed him in a 6th round knockout in 2013, and he arguably fled the 175-pound division shortly after that. Had Bellew stated at light heavyweight, he would have had to fight the likes of Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Bellew’s chances against those three would be slim. My point is, Bellew doesn’t have much of a legacy to lose by facing Ruiz and possibly getting knocked out.
Ruiz needs a tune-up opponent
Ruiz vs. Bellew would a great fight that would interest a lot of boxing fans. I mean, Ruiz needs a nice tune-up before facing Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz, and Bellew would be the perfect guy for the former unified heavyweight champion to face. Bellew has heavyweight punching power, and he’s got the cat-like reflexes that would give Ruiz something to think about in the early going.
Some boxing fans might not remember that Bellew was ahead of Usyk on two of the judges’ scorecards going into the eighth round. Usyk couldn’t do anything in the fight until Bellew got tired in the 8th and was taken out. When the fight was halted, Bellew was ahead by the scores 67-66, 68-65, and 67-67.
That wasn’t boast scoring on the part of the judges. Bellew was getting the better of Usyk through the first seven rounds. He had Usyk looking timid and afraid due to the heavy shots he was nailing him with.
