Should Usyk’s reasoning to fight Wilder mean he should fight Ruiz?

Not really - if Kabayel somehow loses his belt quickly and disappears, or milks it fighting bums in Germany for a few years, he'll probably be largely forgotten in decades to come.

Wilder, for all that his reign was poor, will be remembered for the entertaining trilogy and (at least by his detractors, or realists as I'd call them) for having held the division up for years.

Legacywise, even though Wilder is shot, there's definitely legacy value there... Kabayel there easily could not be.

Wilders probably better money, despite never being a particularly big draw in his prime.


Kabayel's the more likely to be competitive, but that's not everything.

 

Interesting point you raise. But Ruiz really only shone brightly in that first meeting with Joshua. Wilder dominated everyone he fought for years.

 

There are few bigger detractors of Wilder than you. But a realist you are never in any danger of becoming. Obsessive? Yes, totally. Realist? Hell no, hater.

 

Usyk was the undisputed champion of the world in two divisions. He can fight who he likes, when he likes , and how he likes. Or he can retire.

What has he left to demonstrate? He jumped in the ring with all of the top behemoths available and bested every one of them. Give him a rest.

 

If Usyk wants to, that's up to him. There is no need as the top 3 HW's before he moved up from cruiserweight were Fury, Wilder, and AJ. Since he already fought AJ x2 and fury x2, the only one left is Wilder. Ruiz doesn't offer much if and legacy to Usyk's career.

 

Usyk is maximising money times resume divided by risk.

Wilder is big money, inproves resume and honestly low risk for Usyk.

 

No because Ruiz was a blip

Modern day Buster Douglas with less relevance

 

This is exactly why Usyk is going after the Wilder fight,beating the top 3 of his era and in his mind and others a far less risky fight. Thing is Usyk would get more kudos imo if he fought and beat the best of the chasing pack like what Lewis did with the Klitschko fight,it seems Usyks poor showing against Verhoeven now makes him think that Kabayel is to much of a risk to his Legacy as already mentioned,annoyingly though imo Usyk still beats Kabayel at his point !

 

Sad thing is, this guy is serious.

 

Ruiz has done himself no favors the last 7 years.

 

Ruiz is about to lose to Knyba.

 

Ruiz hasn't won a fight since 2022, when he scraped past a 43+ year old Ortiz. That was before Wilder's win over Helenius! And Wilder beat Chisora this year. Ruiz has virtually no relevance any more, and Knyba is dangerous for him now.

 

A win over Wilder will look better on his record than Ruiz. Will be like Marciano over Louis.