By Brian Webber: Just moments ago, the WBC officially ordered #1 Deontay Wilder to face #2 Andy Ruiz Jr in a final eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger to heavyweight champion Tyson ‘Gypsy King’ Fury for his belt with the organization.
For Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs), the World Boxing Council’s decision to order him to face the dangerous former unified champ Ruiz Jr (35-2, 22 KOs) probably isn’t music to his ears because he was hoping to get a straight shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk without having to go through ‘The Destroyer.’
The way that Ruiz, 33, rifled Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz last September, there’s an excellent chance that he’ll be too much for ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder to deal with.
If Wilder is lucky, WBC champ Fury will throw him a bone by giving him a title shot in a voluntary defense without the fragile-chinned Alabama native having to earn it the hard way by dealing with Ruiz, who looks even better than the June 2019 version that destroyed Anthony Joshua in seven rounds in New York.
Wilder is talking about wanting to fight three more years, but if he faces Ruiz for the WBC final eliminator next, his retirement timeline may get speeded up.
‼️ The WBC have now officially ordered Deontay Wilder vs Andy Ruiz Jr as a final eliminator to determine the next mandatory challenger for Tyson Fury's WBC heavyweight world title. pic.twitter.com/EMSkHfWS48
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) November 9, 2022
If Wilder misses with one of the right-hand bombs that he likes to throw, Ruiz will surely take advantage of the situation by countering him with a left hook.
For his part, Ruiz was hoping to get a trilogy fight against former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua, but the British fighter won’t be going in that direction just yet. Joshua plans on taking a couple of confidence boosters to get his career back on track before he faces a dangerous opponent like Andy Ruiz.
Wilder is going to have to stay on his bike the entire time against Ruiz, as he did in his recent fight against Robert Helenius on October 15th. If Wilder stops for any length of time, Ruiz is going to get to his chin and could do damage to his mandible.
In Wilder’s first round knockout win over the 38-year-old Helenius, he was on his bicycle the entire round, throwing only four punches to get the knockout.
It would have been interesting if Wilder was forced to move around the ring for eight or nine rounds because it likely would have resulted in him gassing out, losing power, and getting caught with something big by Helenius.