By Jake Tiernan: Promoter Frank Warren told Boxing News that a fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former unified champion Andy Ruiz Jr won’t happen due to “financial demands.”
It’s unknown what kind of split highly popular and still highly dangerous Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) wanted for the Fury fight, but apparently, it was more than they were willing to agree to.
Warren is working on trying to find the 34-year-old Fury an opponent for July, but his options are limited. Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang are off the table because those two will be meeting in a rematch.
Zhang stopped Joyce in the sixth round on April 15th. As a result of the loss, the 37-year-old Joyce has chosen to exercise his rematch clause, so those two won’t be available for a fight with Fury.
Considering how much money is at stake for Fury in a fight in December in Saudi Arabia, it’s reasonable to assume that his opponent for July will be another fringe-level journeyman-esque guy like the last two challengers from 2022, Dereck Chisora & Dillian Whyte.
“Warren told Boxing News that Andy Ruiz has been ruled out due to financial demands while other potential options are tied up,” said Shaun Brown to Boxingnewsonline.
“Warren is working on who the 35th opponent will be for Fury, but options appear thin.
“It’s just a bloody shame we wasted so much time [on the Usyk fight],” said promoter Frank Warren about Fury. “The problem we’ve got is the ones we wanted are all fighting.”
Apart from the financial reasons, Ruiz was the wrong opponent for Fury to take because it would have been a risky one. He could forget about his massive payday in December in Saudi Arabia if he lost.
Fury hasn’t fought a good opponent since his grueling match against Deeontay Wilder in 2021, and Ruiz has more than enough power to finish the job that the Bronze Bomber started when he dropped Tyson twice in the fourth round.
That was a fight where some boxing fans noted that the referee counted slowly after Fury was dropped hard by Deeontay in the fourth. Even with the slow manner the referee counted, Fury barely made it up at nine.
For Fury, this is the third exciting fight he’s failed to put together after whiffing on his attempts to put together mega-fights with Anthony Joshua and IBF, WBA & WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Some boxing fans believe Fury has lost his nerve and is unwilling to take high-risk fights at this point in his career after coming close to being sparked out by Deontay Wilder in their trilogy match in 2021.
Likely options for Fury’s July fight:
- Agit Kabayel
- Charles Martin
- Fabio Wardley
- Demsey Mckean
- Efe Ajagba
- Frank Sanchez
- Ali Eren Demirezen
