Andy Ruiz Bringing in Contract Lawyers?
If you let Eddie Hearn tell it, all the pertinent details surrounding the Ruiz Jr versus Joshua rematch were all buttoned up in the original contract.
By his account, the money was solidified and the location would be decided one hundred percent by Team Joshua. Curiously however, months went by before the public received an official date and location.
Finally, after endless speculation, rumors and bickering between the two camps, Hearn held a press conference to clear the air.
ONE MAN PRESS CONFERENCE?
Hearn’s conference was one of the strangest ever for the sport. There were no fighters present, no coach was there, Anthony Joshua was conspicuously absent and absolutely no one representing the champion, Andy Ruiz Jr was in the house.
In fact, only Eddie Hearn and some guy that was a complete unknown in boxing circles were present on stage. The anomalous event left many fans and boxing insiders questioning if the fight was actually a go. To add more doubt, not one person from Team Ruiz was co-signing the announced date and Saudi Arabia location.
Shortly after the weird press conference, Ruiz did finally break his silence. However, the California-born Mexican did anything but co-sign Hearn’s declaration in a brief social media post. Ruiz assured that the bout wouldn’t be in Saudi Arabia, where he feels he could easily be taken advantage of.
Several days after this initial negation, Ruiz updated his fans via social media again in regards to the latest developments. He reiterated that his squad was still working hard with Eddie Hearn’s legal team to resolve the ongoing matter. More interestingly, down in the comments, Ruiz made reference to contract lawyers becoming involved.
Throughout this entire painfully drawn out process, Eddie Hearn has endlessly stated that Ruiz and his team negotiated and signed a contract that they were bound to.
This, understandably, threw off many on-lookers as to why the rematch announcement was taking so very long to materialize. If Team Joshua were totally in control what was the hold up? With Ruiz flat-out mentioning the involvement of contract lawyers, speculation about the bout has never been higher.
THE NEVER-ENDING NEGOTIATION
So, at the moment, the public is right back at square one. We have no clue of when or where this highly anticipated match will take place.
Currently, Hearn is the only person behaving as if the contract has any real relevance. While Hearn may be truthful about the contract being real and signed, it is not a guarantee that Ruiz will honor it. In the end, Hearn and Joshua could be looking at a Catch-22.
Sure, Team Joshua wants the rematch, but not just for the sake of a rematch. Team Joshua is desperate to reclaim those four championship belts that the Destroyer roughed up, beat down and concussed Joshua to claim.
Assuming Ruiz opts to take the matter to court, or allow himself to be stripped of one or more of the titles, the rematch has dramatically less meaning. Furthermore, if AJ wants to be viewed as a legitimate champion, it’s of vital importance that he vindicate himself by besting Ruiz as quickly as possible.
A lengthy court battle is not in his best interest. Beyond delaying the opportunity to claim some get-back, an extended legal battle would keep Joshua out of the ring himself. So, it would seem that this is not a clear cut as Hearn would like it too sound.
3kingsboxing will continue to provide coverage on this on-going, confusing and rather irritating negotiation process.
Hopefully, we all will be provided some actual closure in the upcoming days.
By: Bakari Simpson
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