DEONTAY WILDER is famed for his knockout fists and while he hopes to land them on Andy Ruiz Jr, the brash American chose to lay verbal shots in the meantime.
For the past week, Wilder and his trainer Malik Scott have called on Ruiz to sign his part of the deal and make the fight happen. In recent days, Andy Ruiz Sr made it clear that they want a “50-50 split” before declaring Wilder would suffer a similar fate to that of Anthony Joshua when his son famously beat him in 2019.
Never one to back down from a feud, Wilder laid into Ruiz Jr when speaking to The Schmo at a recent charity event.
“I think one of the main things is his father steps in the way of a lot of things,” he said.
“They talk about money and this and that. I haven’t talked nothing about any money. I haven’t talked about no percentages and they putting me out like oh I want all this and all that. I don’t know nothing.
“I know one thing that if things don’t go like it’s supposed to, or this fight don’t get done then somebody gonna be on the shelf for a very long time and I know it ain’t gonna be me.”
“With my talent, I can go anywhere in the world and people will come and see me knock somebody out. With Andy Ruiz, he’s just a short guy with short hands. He T-Rex’d! So, it makes him look a little fast but that only goes so far. Who gonna want to watch that?
“Like I said with me, I can go anywhere but with him he’s limited to where he can go, and he was only a champion for a blink of an eye. I’ve been a champion five years and defended my title over 10 times. It’s no comparison between me and him, it’s nowhere near it. So, hopefully he can be a man with a man mindset instead of a child and allowing others to dictate his career because he only has a limited time left. If he doesn’t act on it, he’s gonna wish he did when it’s all done for him.”
Nearly every week, Wilder’s name is brought up in connection with a December bout in the Middle East against Anthony Joshua. The Brit is lining up a fight in any case for August 12 with old foe Dillian Whyte in the running to face him. Wilder is still to box in 2023 and his one-round knockout of Robert Helenius last October has been his only action since losing to Tyson Fury in the epic conclusion of their trilogy one year earlier.
Andy Ruiz has been equally inactive in what is a defining stage of his career. Since losing a rematch to Joshua in 2019, Ruiz has fought only twice. In May 2021, he defeated Chris Arreola in an all-Mexican affair and in September 2022, he got the better of Luis Ortiz.