By Cristian Colas: As suspense starts to build surrounding a potential heavyweight unification bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, a potential matchup between the men they each defeated has been largely overlooked. There are several reasons this clash should be of interest to fight fans.
Firstly, these men are both top ten ranked heavyweights and ex-champions. Andy Ruiz Jr briefly held some of the major belts after dethroning Joshua, while Deontay Wilder held the WBC title and had many successful defences.
Boxing organizations view these two fighters favorably and the winner would likely get a mandatory shot at whoever wins the unification fight.
Secondly, styles make fights. Ruiz has fast hands – really fast hands. Hands so fast that he shocked Joshua in their first bout and forced him into a conservative fight plan in their second bout. Wilder is the power puncher on the other hand.
Fight fans hope that Wilder has spent some time training to improve his head movement and boxing ability since losing to Fury.
He was totally overwhelmed by Fury’s boxing ability, head movement, accuracy, and unorthodox style. If these improvements have been made, then their combination with his power can potentially set Wilder up for an interesting comeback.
Thirdly, both men need a shot at redemption. Ruiz has left a lot of question marks given his poor physical fitness for the Joshua rematch; he needs to prove to the world that he has the dedication to make it back to the top.
Wilder on the other hand was unable to accept his defeat to Fury and came-up with a never-ending stream of excuses. Many of these excuses bordered-on conspiratorial and have lost Wilder the respect of boxing fans and potential opponents.
Moreover, people question Wilder’s boxing ability based-on previous fights, as he often is losing on points before the lucky shot lands and his opponent gets knocked out. Fury was a step well above the previous opposition Wilder faced and he couldn’t handle it and failed to pass the obstacle.
It’s the very suspicions that fans have of these two fighters, particularly Wilder, that makes this an intriguing matchup that the world should want to see.