Andy Ruiz Jr., who lost his heavyweight belts and fired trainer Manny Robles, is searching for a way to re-ignite a stalled career that is suddenly an easy target for some inevitable criticism.
The latest to dump some rhetorical trash all over Ruiz is Dillian Whyte, who is frustrated at Ruiz’s apparent hesitancy to fight him this spring.
According to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Whyte will fight Russian Alexander Povetkin instead of Ruiz in April. Hearn had offered Ruiz a “seven-figure purse” to fight Whyte in the U.K. But Ruiz wants the fight to be in the United States.
“The first offer was for a U.K. fight, which wasn’t enough money,’’ Hearn told the U.K.’s Sun. “The second fight was a lot more money, and that was for the U.S. fight, which has definitely got their attention.’’
Hearn went on to say that Ruiz is an option for Whyte post Povetkin. By then, Ruiz might have a new trainer. Until then, however, he figures to get another earful or five from Whyte.
It started with a social media post from Ruiz, who posted, “You didn’t want any smoke so I moved on to the next opponent.’’
The post included a photo of Anthony Joshua scoring a seventh-round knockout of Whyte in December 2015 in London. Ruiz took the belts from Joshua in a stoppage, also in the seventh-round, in a stunner June 1 in New York. Joshua regained them in an embarrassingly one-sided decision Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia
Whyte countered on social media, calling Ruiz “a blob rolling away from a big payday.’’
Whyte also said Ruiz was “all stomach & no heart.”