By Dan Ambrose: Deontay Wilder says Andy Ruiz Jr can’t afford to reject this opportunity he’s giving him to fight him because his career could be over if he fails to accept the offer.
The former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder says Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) needs to stop listening to his dad because he’s going to wreck his chances of fighting him by asking for a 50-50 deal, which he isn’t going to get for a fight in the summer.
Wilder states that Ruiz was just a world champion for a brief wink of an eye after capturing the IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight championship against Anthony Joshua in June 2019.
Ruiz lost his belts in his first defense in a rematch with AJ. In contrast, Wilder held the WBC title for five years and ten title defenses.
Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) says he’s got other options for his next fight if he fails to get the match with Ruiz negotiated.
It’ll be interesting to see if Ruiz & his dad Andy Sr back down from their demand of a 50-50 split. Wilder is offering them a 70-30 split, which Andy Sr says won’t be good money for them.
That’s kind of hard to believe because Ruiz hasn’t been involved in a big fight since his rematch with Joshua in December 2019. Ruiz’s last two fights have been against 40-year-old Chris Arreola and 43-year-old Luis Ortiz.
Ruiz will soon be “nonexistent” in sport
“Let’s ask Andy’s dad what was the offer given because we didn’t talk about no money. So how does he know it was a 70-30 offer? I didn’t talk to Andy’s dad about any type of money whatsoever,” said Deontay Wilder to ESNEWS, reacting to Andy Ruiz Jr’s dad saying that the 70-30 offer wasn’t a good one and that they want a 50-50 deal.
“Andy was only a champion for as long of a blink of an eye. I’m a five-year, ten-title defense champion. It’s a difference. What I possess is power. I put people on the edge of their seats every time. People come to see my God-given talent,” said Wilder.
It’s tragic how Ruiz failed to train hard for his rematch with Joshua because he could have potentially won that fight if he’d been in shape and prepared for the Wladimir Klitschko-esque style that AJ used. Ruiz came into the fight a faat 283 lbs, and was too out of shape to pressure Joshua.
“Now, on the other hand, with Andy. What do we see from him? A short, fat fighter with small hands, so it makes him look fast. T-Rex,” said Wilder. “That’s it. You don’t put nobody at the edge of their seat and ain’t nobody is getting excited.
“The only reason this fight will be exciting is because they want to see how fast I will knock him out, and that’s it. I can tell you this, though,” said Deontay.
Afteer overpricing himself in his recent negotiations with WB heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and winding up empty-handed, it’s surprising that Ruiz would wreck his chances for a lucrative payday bout against Wilder.
It’s as if Ruiz hasn’t learned from the mistakes he made in the Fury negotiations and is going to reject Wilder’s offer of a second chance on his career.
The unwillingness that Ruiz has to confront the unpleasant reality of where his career is at right now is going to cause him to price himself out of the Deontay clash, and winding up making considerably less in his future fights.
“Soon you’re going to see him [Ruiz] nonexistent in the boxing world. You’re going to see him on the shelf because he ain’t going to have nobody to fight,” said Deontay.
Andy needs to make his own decisions
“I like it too, but his daddy has got to get out of the way because he’s got to get out of the way,” said Wilder. “I feel they’re all crooks. He says he got the construction company. That’s his daddy’s construction company, and they’re leeching off of Andy to make that happen to keep that up.
“Guess what? When that money runs out, they’re ain’t nowhere else to be. Andy is going to be 33 years old, broke, and can’t support his children because his daddy made decisions for him. He should have made decisions for himself.
“The thing about it, I hate when people try to make decisions for fighters when they are the product, they are the fighters, they’re the ones risking their lives. His daddy isn’t risking his life in there, but he wants to grab the money. How much of a percentage is he getting out of his son?
“Let’s ask that because you want to talk about money. How much cut do you get from your son? Stop allowing your son to miss out on things because if he misses out on this one, that could be the end of his career. Then it’s going to be on you and don’t lecture him on how much money he could have saved when you took it all from him.
“That’s looking very promising,” said Wilder about a fight with Anthony Joshua in December. “I also got other offers as well overseas and stuff like that. So nobody has got to worry about who I’m fighting because my life is very, very great.
“So don’t worry about who I’m fighting and who I can fight because I can fight anybody in the world. They would love to see me come in their country and come see me in the States, no matter what. Andy, that ain’t so much the case.
“So they really got to think about this in the situation that they’re in. Andy is nowhere compared to me. No levels at all, period. They’re talking about a 50-50. You ain’t nowhere compared to me, bro.
“You was only a champion for a very, very short period of time. You never [successfully] defended it or nothing. So stop that. Like I said, if you miss out on this opportunity, it’ll probably be the last opportunity. You’d better think about it,” said Wilder.
