Bob Arum Continues to Shade Andy Ruiz!
On June 1, Andy “Destroyer” Ruiz Jr (33-1, 22 KO’s) completely upended the heavyweight division by defeating Anthony “AJ” Joshua (22-1, 21 KO’s). With the beneficial victory Ruiz, effectively threw AJ’s career into a brief limbo while thrusting himself into the public limelight.
As the first Mexican heavyweight in the history of the sport, the Destroyer became a very popular man very quickly!
Subsequently, the new WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz went on a global media run, bought a bunch of items and generally enjoyed his new stature in the game.
Understandably, Ruiz was enjoying his new standing in life and in the sport of boxing. For the greater part of it the Destroyers rise to power has been a feel good story.
There are those who question a number of his recent purchases and some openly wonder if he is training properly. Yet, outside of these localized criticisms Ruiz has been embraced by the public. Well, almost.
PAR FOR THE COURSE
Veteran promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank has routinely supplied Ruiz with somewhat hollow compliments. However, he also continues to flat-out deride his ability to compete with the other top heavyweights.
This should come as little surprise though. Arum has a long history of degrading fighters who were once in his stable but opted to leave. Nonito Donaire, Mikey Garcia and Manny Pacquiao are all such examples who chose to find greener pastures elsewhere.
The most notable of them all is Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Money was able to buy himself out of his Top Rank contract fairly early in his career. Afterward, Mayweather went on to be the most financially successful boxer in the history of the sport.
While he would probably never admit it, this is a fact that has to haunt Arum. Arum has gone on to praise Mayweather as an outstanding boxer. However, over the years, Bob Arum has routinely taken shots at his former charge.
At the moment, Andy Ruiz Jr is the most recent big name fighter to abandon his relationship with Top Rank. This is why it’s of little surprise that Arum is labeling Ruiz as the weakest link of all the perceived top heavyweights. Arum would revisit the topic in a recent interview with Fino Boxing.
“Andy Ruiz is a very good fighter. He fought for us, but […] if the Joshua fight hadn’t happened, if we put Andy Ruiz in with Tyson Fury everybody would have screamed what a mismatch it was!”
ODD CHOICES
It’s odd that rather odd that Arum would compare Ruiz to Fury in this regard. The reason being, since Tyson Fury signed with Top Rank he has done nothing but fight boxers who no one has heard of and have been labeled mismatched.
So what real issue does Arum have with this? Also, in Fury’s latest bout against Otto Wallin, another perceived mismatch, Fury struggled mightily and just narrowly escaped with the victory himself. So it’s rather curious that Arum is so critical of Ruiz.
“Andy Ruiz is a little guy. He’s a good fighter. The best opponent for him is an Anthony Joshua who can’t take it to the body.
“Let’s see, I think that Ruiz beats Joshua again but he would never beat a Tyson Fury, never beat a Deontay Wilder and he wouldn’t even beat a Kubrat Pulev.”
Once again this is an odd quote. Until Ruiz toppled AJ, Joshua was an easy pick as one of the top five best heavyweights on the planet.
Then like his name suggests, Andy Ruiz utterly destroyed him in the ring. Also, this destruction was initiated by a shot to the head, despite Arum’s suggesting that AJ is weak to the body. In fact, every one of the four knock downs that AJ suffered were preceded by blows to the head, not the body.
Lastly, Kubrat Pulev, another Top Rank fighter is 6’4 to Ruiz’s 6’2. Being separated by two inches is hardly enough to deem Ruiz a ‘little guy.’
Yet, at the end of the day, this all par for the course for Arum. Clearly he is not going to bolster a man who walked away from his company.
Especially when Ruiz has risen to such glorious heights. And definitely not when he is trying to uphold his own fighter Kubrat Pulev.
“He [Andy Ruiz] has to fight Pulev. Pulev will beat him. That’s the rules that the IBF has said they granted him the right to do the rematch if he agrees to fight Pulev before May 31 of next year.”
By: Bakari Simpson
