Joseph Parker Wants Another Fight with Andy Ruiz!
Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (30-2, 21KOs) wants to face the very man he defeated to become champion back in December of 2016. In his home country of New Zealand, Parker escaped with a very questionable majority decision win over Andy “The Destroyer” Ruiz Jr. (34-2, 22KOs). With the win, he would pick up the vacant WBO heavyweight title.
He took to his Instagram to call out Ruiz for a rematch.
After that matchup, the two men would go on different routes in their careers. In the case of Parker, he would go on to make two title defenses before losing his belt in a unification bout with former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22KOs) in March of 2018. Afterwards, Parker would lose once more to Dillian Whyte. Since that loss, he has been on a six-fight win streak.
As for Ruiz, he would go on to make history by becoming the first Mexican to become heavyweight champion. He was brought in as a late replacement opponent for Joshua after Jarrell Miller tested positive for multiple PED’s. He would shock Joshua, scoring multiple knockdowns en route to a seventh round TKO win. However, his reign would be shorter than that of Mini Me from the Austin Powers movies.
The success went to his head as he gobbled up the newfound fame, which also led to him ballooning up in weight ahead of the highly anticipated rematch with Joshua. When he hit the scales for the rematch, he weighed a whopping 283 pounds! Since the loss, he has switched trainers from Manny Robles to Eddy Reynoso. His latest victory came over former world title challenger Chris Areola in May of 2021.
A rematch for them makes sense. Both guys are highly ranked in the WBO, with Parker being ranked number 2 and Ruiz number 3. As of now, there’s no immediate world title opportunity in the picture for either man. So a rematch between the former world champions would be the marquee bout they’re both looking for outside of a world title opportunity.
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By: Jerrell Fletcher
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