No, Wilder beats him based on Wilder having knocked out every human being he's faced in 12 years with the exception of Fury, who he dropped twice, and Ruiz just being an ordinary contender who had one good night. The common opponents, and Wilder overcoming injuries and weight disparities to win far more impressively, and the fact that Ruiz is a sucker for a right hand, just solidifies it.
Not for me it doesn’t. They’ll have to fight. Ruiz isn’t great, but he’s short, with fast hands. Wilder needs to be able to land a perfect power shot to be guaranteed a win. What if he can’t land his power? He’s not going to comfortably box him at range like Joshua did in their rematch.
Why, because he couldn't comfortably outbox a 6'9" heavyweight with a torn left bicep? Wilder came within one point of outpointing the 6'9" Fury in fight one. ONE POINT on ONE card and Wilder would've won the decision. Wilder knocks out Ruiz in Hearns-Duran fashion ... like Joshua should've done when he had him down. Joshua created this monster. Wilder would kill it.
Really? You’re really hanging on to the torn bicep injury? Deontay Wilder looks vulnerable in most of his fights until he can put guys away with his awesome power. He struggled with Fury’s boxing skills and movement. When has Wilder ever comfortably outboxed someone with his skills? He has looked poor even against B and C class guys before his power has bailed him out. You know this. Fury won the first fight and broke him down in their rematch. Wilder knocks out Ruiz if he can time a perfect right hand. If he can’t, he’s going to be up against it.
I would like to see Wilder/Ruiz although it appears Ruiz/Ortiz is more likely. At this point would expect to see Wilder take a tuneup first. But his next destination opponent should be either Ruiz or Whyte. Both would be great matchups.
I mostly agree with your post but disagree with your apparent assessment of Ruiz. Note how passive he became offensively once he had to respect Arreola's right hand. He outboxed a guy who can very easily be outboxed. Could he beat Wilder in similar fashion? Maybe. But I think it's more likely that if he didn't go for a KO, he'd eventually get caught. He's an okay defensive fighter with a good chin, but if the 2018 Wilder still exists (TBD) I would predict a Wilder victory.
Hanging on it? How many fights have you seen where a guy with a torn bicep wins? The fact that Wilder was able to do it against Arreola (with a broken hand on top of it) was amazing. The fact that he couldn't do it against Fury isn't surprising. People rarely do.
Good post. He looked quite poor last night. But he wasn’t passive after Joshua knocked him down. He got straight back up and then chased him down.
You’ve missed my point again. Again, I’m not downplaying the injury. What I’m saying, is that all throughout his career, Deontay Wilder has relied on his power instead of his boxing skills. If he can’t knock a guy out, he’s vulnerable. Yes, he’s knocked out nearly all of his opponents. But he’s not faced too many guys of quality. And even in those fights that he won by knockout, he looked poor in many of them until he was able to land his power. He didn’t look poor against Fury, due to an injury. He looked poor against Fury because Fury has superior skills. Take away his power, and he’s exposed.
He's never lost a decision. (LOL) He fought the best boxer in the sport of boxing and when it went to the cards ... it was a draw. Clearly, when his bicep isn't torn, he isn't THAT vulnerable. You guys like to play amateur psychologist all day long ... but you totally ignore actual sports injuries when it comes to wins and losses. Injuries impact an athlete. A torn bicep and a broken hand impact a fight. And when you have the mental fortitude to overcome them, it should be recognized. Not dismissed. Whatever. If Ruiz doesn't totally fall out of the top 10 by the end of the year, and they fight, I'll take Wilder in short order. No point in talking about it now. Sounds like Ruiz will have to get past Ortiz next.
Yes, for whatever reason Ruiz perhaps did not respect Joshua's power in either fight, even when buzzed a couple times in the rematch. Alternatively and I think more likely, he knew he had to walk through Joshua's power to have a chance at winning, whereas he could tap out a pretty easy decision against Arreola. I think he'd probably try to talk through Wilder and therefor *would* get hit with the right hand. If he could take a couple of them, though, I think he could stop Wilder on the inside. What I was disagreeing with was the notion that Wilder would need to time some perfect shot. I think Ruiz would make himself available to it on the way in, so for me it's more of a power/chin situation for Ruiz rather than Wilder landing a shot or getting outboxed (which was Fury I and Ortiz II).
Wilder is on a whole different level to Rice Pudding Jr. Imagine going life and death with a shot, formerly retired, 40 year old Arreola who was in his prime when Vitali Klitschko faced him in 2009... Arreola's tits with almost at his ankles.
He should have lost a decision in the first Fury fight. Even when he’s been healthy, he’s looked poor against B and C class competition until he’s landed his power. A fit 100% Wilder will always have issues with top fighters if he’s unable to get a stoppage. He has huge power but is technically flawed. Torn bicep or not, he couldn’t knock Fury out in 2 fights because of Fury’s skills. Fury is never going to be stood in the same position that a guy like Brazeale was. Wilder is very exciting due to his style. But he has no plan B. He hasn’t got the skills to fall back on if he can’t score a knockout.
This is an almost totally different version of Arreola, properly trained with a full fight camp, coming in the ring in the best shape of his recent career. Whereas against Wilder all of those things were the reverse. No comparison really. Ruiz entered the ring in also the best shape of his recent career. The rub on that is that people have been whispering (and sometimes speaking publicly) that he suffers when he loses too much weight in a relatively short duration of time. The big loss being to his power and stamina. Once again, different scenario.
Who also looked entirely different against Anthony Joshua in a world title match before looking horrible in the rematch. At their peak performance level are you saying that Wilder is the more impressive boxer?
