Despite a public back and forth and confirmation of negotiations, it appears Andy Ruiz Jr and Deontay Wilder’s heavyweight contest is far from made.
The pair were ordered back in November to face off by the WBC, with the winner set to challenge for Tyson Fury’s world title.
It’s taken until now for negotiations to really get underway, and both men have recently made their interest in the bout – targeted for late August or early September – clear.
The first signs of a dispute came this week, though, when Wilder warned Ruiz not to let ‘his daddy’ ruin the plans. ‘The Bronze Bomber’s team said they sent forth an extremely lucrative offer.
Ruiz Jr’s father has now spoken out on the proposed terms via Izquierdazo, calling Wilder a liar and claiming his team have lowballed his son.
“Wilder is a liar. He and his coach [Malik Scott] started talking, then they want Andy to accept a ridiculous amount, but Andy is not just any boxer, Andy was a world champion, the first Mexican [heavyweight] world champion in history.”
Wilder wants to offer 30%. It’s not good money because I’ll tell you something, they were offering us almost the same amount of what he made with King Kong [Luis Ortiz]. How is he going to make the same amount with Wilder as with King Kong? Andy and Wilder are going to fill the stadium, they are going to sell PPV like crazy because everyone wants to see that fight, so it is not a fight that they are offering just enough.
Andy has enough money for the investments he has made, he has millions of dollars, so why is Wilder angry, because he can’t negotiate with me.”
The two former champions combine to make an extremely intriguing match-up for the heavyweight scene, but, not dissimilar to most other talks in the division, money is getting in the way.
It’s the second time in recent months that Ruiz has reportedly been unhappy with figures, having recently asked for ‘too much’ to face Tyson Fury, according to the Brit’s promoters.