Breaking: AJ/Ruiz II Officially Confirmed for Dec. 7th in Saudi Arabia, $84 million pot

Guys... respectfully, some of you are simply living in fairly tale land, and want to throw stones at AJ and team for them living in the real world. They are not being malicious. They are not being dishonest. They are literally operating the way rematch clauses have always been done. Period.

Rematch clauses exist.

If you dont like the terms for the rematch, you either negotiate a better deal, or you dont sign.

Once you sign, then, thats that.

This idea that because Ruiz won (the only reason theres rematch clauses in the first place) all of a sudden he now should get to choose venue and is now entitled to more than he agreed to take if he won, is not reality.

Hes backing out of a deal and to the conditions he agreed to before taking the first fight. Period.

 

Except he's not the A side m'man.

When he signed the agreement to be chosen as the opponent for AJ, he basically agreed to being the B side for two fights, should he win the first.

He literally signed almost all his leverage away, for three fights, for the chamce to fight AJ and for the money and platform that comes with that.

You dont get to agree to be the B side (conceding location and to split) to get the chance to fight AJ and then back out after you win, because you won. Thats the point of a rematch clause.

 

The ironic part in all this to me, is that... if Ruiz happens to stick to his guns and meets Hearn in court, and if he gets stripped or is on the shelf for awhile, and even if the AJ fight falls through,

Its all to the benefit to AJ and does nothing but hurt Ruiz.

He likely will lose out on valuable time, lose out on more than a career high payday (not just careee high, but more than all his previous paydays combined) will miss out on the exposure and platform the rematch would bring, and would likely get stripped of his titles.

And most of all... would miss out on, imo, putting the nail in AJs coffin and getting most likely the first or second most high profile win hes likely to get in his career.

And AJ? He would get to avoid whats likely one of his worst matchups in the division and someone who already has him mentally vulnerable (from beating him around the ring the first time) and a loss that could very well potentially be a career breaker for him.



I just find it interesting.

 

He can't be begrudged for going all out can he? I can't imagine the speed in which they made the match after Miller's positive test, they crossed every possible T and doted every I. And even if they did, at the very least Ruiz can drag it out, be a pain in the ass and see if he can pressure Eddie into willingly ceding some ground. Nothing beats a try but a failure. It doesn't matter what's right all of the time, its the public relations narrative that counts, and most people won't think its a good look that they're pulling and playing the A side card, when not only did AJ lose by stoppage, but the manner in which he did was pathetic. So more power to Andy here.

 

When the other fighter humbled his ass and made him look like a fool, if AJ was this big brave fighter, he should be willing to do anything he can to get him back and the ring and prove his meddle, but we all know AJ has zero confidence he can beat Andy in the rematch. That doubt that we all saw in AJ's eyes from the fourth round on in the first fight, will be present from the opening bell the second time around. AJ doesn't have the grit and determination to be a fighter, he's emotionally and mentally soft, he folded the first time, and will fold the second time, the moment he gets push back, he doesn't know what to do. All the big bad PPV man and A side talk should cease to matter, the only thing that should be driving him is revenge. But we all know AJ isn't a fighter, he's a fabrication, a Matchroom body builder with a big punch and a businessman's heart. He don't want that fat man smoke no more. Otherwise he'd be willing to give Fat Andy anything he wants.