By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Malik Scott says the reason fans will be coming to see a fight between Deontay Wilder & Andy Ruiz Jr is to watch ‘The Bronze Bomber’ “decapitate” the chubby former three-belt heavyweight champion.
To put it another way, Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) is the cardboard cutout that former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) will punch a big hole through if this fight comes off.
Ruiz is just the B-side punching bag for Wilder to destroy to set up his mega-money clash against former two-time champ Anthony Joshua in December in Saudi Arabia.
As for Ruiz, Malik is doubtful that the fight will happen now, given that Andy is pricing himself out as he did in his recent failed negotiations with Tyson Fury.
Ruiz wants a 50-50 split for the Wilder fight, believing that the revenue should be even with both no longer holding world titles. However, Wilder is arguably the more popular of the two, the one the Saudis want in December to fight Joshua.
They didn’t choose Ruiz as the guy they want to see AJ fight for obvious reasons. Ruiz has ruined his career by not fighting quality opposition and staying active in the last four years.
“Wilder against Andy should NOT be 50-50,” trainer Malik Scott told ESNEWS about a fight between Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr.
“People [will] come in there to see if Deontay can decapitate him [Ruiz] how he’s done so many others. That right there sells itself.
If Ruiz were to bet on himself by accepting the offer given to them by Wilder, they could earn the opportunity to fight Joshua in December.
Unfortunately, Ruiz is only focused on how much he can get for the Wildeer fight, which suggests that he doesn’t think he can win. In other words, he knows Deontay is going to destroy him.
Malik doesn’t think Ruiz deserves an even 50-50 split for a fight this summer with Wilder, as the popularity of the two is far apart.
Ruiz, 33, had a chance to become a star after his surprising seventh-round knockout victory over IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in June 2019.
Unable to handle his success, Ruiz ate & partied in the aftermath of his victory over AJ, and when he met him in a rematch six months later, he lost his titles afteer coming into the contest a fat 283 lbs.
While some fighters would be motivated to buckle down after the loss and fight back to the top by fighting often and facing the best possible opponents, Ruiz did the opposite.
In reaction to his loss to Joshua, he sat out of the ring for a year and a half and didn’t fight again until 2021, when he finally returned against 40-year-old journeyman Chris Arreola. Ruiz then took another year and a half off before fighting 43-year-old past his best, Luis Ortiz, last September.
Currently, Ruiz has been inactive for the last nine months, and if his fight with Wilder doesn’t come off, it’s possible that he won’t return to the ring until 2024.
