By Dan Ambrose: Andy Ruiz Sr is supremely confident that his son, former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr, will ultimately defeat Deontay Wilder if the two faces each other next.
Ruiz Jr (34-2, 22 KOs) has a tough obstacle in front of him with his fight on September 4th against southpaw Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz in a WBC title eliminator at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.
Andy believes that his youth, power, and combination punching will prove to be too much for the 43-year-old Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs), who looked shaky in his last fight against Charles Martin in January.
The winner of the Ruiz vs. Ortiz fight will be the mandatory for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. In the meantime, Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) is fighting Robert Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) in a WBC title eliminator on October 15th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
It’s up in the air which direction Wilder will go in if he defeats Helenius. It’s highly possible that Wilder can then either challenge Fury for his WBC title in a fourth fight or face Anthony Joshua in England or the Middle East in a huge mega-fight.
In other words, Wilder has better options for lucrative fights than choosing to face Ruiz. That would be a junk fight, as Ruiz has lost all credibility after failing to train hard for his rematch with Joshua in December 2019 and losing his three titles.
“I think we will win the fight with Wilder because what Andy has, he has more explosive punches,” said Andy Ruiz Sr to Fight Hub TV. “I think when Wilder throws punches, he gets tired. And I think Andy got more chin than Wilder.”
Ruiz’s lack of mobility would make him an easy target for Wilder’s jabs and straight hands. Joshua already created the blueprint on how to beat Ruiz by using a jab and constantly moving to keep the stubby fighter from getting in punching range.
“It was like Anthony Joshua when he knocked Andy down when he came up, Anthony Joshua threw a real hard right hand to Andy he didn’t do nothing,” said Ruiz Sr. “So I think he will handle the right hand of Wilder.
“So what is Wilder going to do when Andy starts throwing all those bombs, all those punches, body shots? said Ruiz Sr.
