By Dan Ambrose: Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum says former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr is a possible opponent for the Gypsy King to fight this Summer in the UK.
Arum says he wants to set up a summer bout for WBC heavyweight champion Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), and then if he’s successful, he’ll look to set up an undisputed championship fight with IBF, WBA & WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk for November or December in Saudi Arabia.
Fury & Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) had been in negotiations for a fight on April 29th, but according to Arum, the Saudis were unable to stage the fight in their country because the stadium that they want to host the contest wouldn’t b ready until November or December.
With the Fury-Usyk fight negotiations off for now, Fury will take a fight in the meantime against potentially Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs), while Usyk defends against his WBA mandatory Daniel Dubois in the summer.
Ruiz, 33, has won his last two fights against Luis Ortiz and Chris Arreola since losing his IBF, WBA & WBO titles in a rematch with Anthony Joshua in December 2019.
‘The Destroyer’ Ruiz is taking his training a lot more seriously than he did for his second fight with Joshua, and he appears to be back to the form he had when he defeated AJ in their first contest in June 2019.
“He’s been in Italy on vacation with his family. He’s back in England, and we’re talking to him, and we’re looking for the best available guy for him to fight this summer in the UK,” said Fury’s promoter Bob Arum to Cornerman Boxing. “Maybe it’ll be Andy Ruiz or somebody like that.”
Ruiz would be a good test for Fury to prepare him for Usyk or possibly Dubois. If Ruiz is in the kind of shape he was for his last fight against Ortiz, he could give Fury a lot of problems.
With Ruiz’s size and tree trunk legs, he’s not going to be bothered by Fury leaning on him. That might be a mistake if Fury tries to grapple his way to a victory over Ruiz because he’ll be ready for that approach.
“Hopefully, if he’s successful and [IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr] Usyk is fighting [Daniel] Dubois over in the UK, and then in November or December, the two guys [Fury & Usyk] can meet in Saudi Arabia so that we can have one heavyweight champion,” said Arum.
