By Dan Ambrose: Former unified heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr. made a desperate-sounding plea on social media last Friday, asking Anthony Joshua & Deontay Wilder to give him a fight.
What’s made it hard for Ruiz to get the money fights that he desired against Joshua, Wilder & Tyson Fury is that he’s made these mistakes:
- Pricing himself out
- Not stayed active with his career: Just two fights since 2019
- Weak opposition: Ruiz’s only two fights in the last four years have come against 43-year-old Luis Ortiz & 40-year-old Chris Arreola.
Joshua is Ruiz’s best bet for a fight because the fight he wanted next against Wilder doesn’t look good for this year or early 2024 due to the Saudis going in a different direction.
For the trilogy fight with Joshua to happen for the 34-year-old Ruiz, he must be realistic and not ask for an absurd amount of money. He reportedly wanted $20 million for a fight with Fury, which didn’t happen.
Ruiz Jr. (35-2, 22 KOs) has come up empty this year, overpricing himself for fights against Wilder & WBC champion Tyson Fury. Andy is seemingly uninterested in returning to the ring to stay busy in lower-paying fights against contenders.
“Everybody asks when am I going to fight, why don’t I fight Wilder. Nobody wants to fight. I’m staying ready, baby,” said Andy Ruiz on social media. Tell Joshua, ‘Let’s do the trilogy.’ Tell Wilder, ‘I’m ready.’
“Make that other contract. Tyson Fury, everybody wants to go through the shortcuts, but I’m here, I’m working.”
It’s sad how Ruiz hurt his career by not staying active since his loss to Joshua in their rematch in December 2019.
Ruiz has fought just twice in the last four years, beating a pair of 40+-year-old fighters, Chris Areola and Luis Ortiz. It’s obvious that Ruiz has lost a lot of the ambition that he once had due to the $10 million that he made from his two fights with Joshua.
Acquiring that money has been a curse for Ruiz in terms of his motivation to keep active with his career. As a result, Ruiz has fought just twice since 2019 and has failed to fight the cutting-edge opposition that he needed to continue to get the big-money fights that he desired.
Wilder has already clarified that Ruiz had his chance and is no longer interested. As for Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs), his promoter Eddie Hearn is focused on still trying to make the fight with Wilder.
If the Deontay match doesn’t occur, Hearn could potentially look in Ruiz’s direction if he doesn’t price himself out. Ruiz needs his promoter to talk sensible numbers with Hearn for the trilogy match with AJ to happen because if he asks too much money, Joshua will move on and fight someone else.
