By Sean Jones: Promoter Eddie Hearn says Andy Ruiz Jr. is going toward facing Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz next rather than the fight he’d hoped the former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy would take against Derek Chisora.
This won’t be an easy fight for Ruiz, whose punch resistance seems to have abandoned him after his dramatic weight loss.
Going from 3oo lbs to 256 lbs for Ruiz’s last fight against Arreola did something to his ability to take a good shot, as he was getting lit up left & right by the old heavyweight last May.
Luis Ortiz, 42, has won his last two fights since his loss to former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder in 2019.
More importantly, Ortiz is ranked #4 with the World Boxing Council. Beating Ortiz would put Ruiz in an excellent place to fight WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Ruiz should have already fought Ortiz last year when he returned from having been out of the ring for over a year after losing his three heavyweight titles in a rematch with Anthony Joshua in December 2019.
Instead of taking the fight against Ortiz, Ruiz chose to take a safe match-up against 40-year-old Chris Arreola.
Hearn spoke with Al Haymon associate Luis DeCubas, and he believes Ruiz 34-2, 22 KOs) will be fighting the former two-time world title challenger ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) next rather than the 38-year-old ‘War’ Chisora, according to Michael Benson.
Sean Jones approves of the Luis Ortiz vs. Andy Ruiz Jr fight. The inactive 32-year-old Ruiz would have gained nothing had he agreed to fight the shot to pieces British journeyman Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs), considering he’s lost his last three fights.
Had Ruiz taken the fight with Chisora, the only thing he would have gotten out of the match would have been a payday, and it wouldn’t have increased his chances of getting a rematch with Anthony Joshua. That’s the fight that Ruiz seems to want most of all.
With Ruiz likely to fight Ortiz next, Chisora is still without an opponent. Hearn will have to decide what to do with the aging journeyman fighter.
There was a time when you could call Chisora a ‘gatekeeper’ level heavyweight contender, but not anymore. Chisora is no longer a gatekeeper who has sunk to the journeyman level with his 12 defeats.
Hearn is still keeping Chisora around rather than cutting him loose due to his name recognition among British boxing fans.
If Chisora were from the U.S, he wouldn’t continue to be given opportunities because U.S fans want to see competitive fights in which they don’t know who will win.
Assuming Hearn’s not going to dump Chisora, he should match him against one of these heavyweights:
- Alen Babic
- David Allen
- Michael Hunter
- Murat Gassiev
- Efe Ajagba
- Demsey McKean
- Hughie Fury
- Evgeny Romanov