Ortiz, Ruiz and Dillian Whyteleafe (and big josh)

What a mess of a fight that could be, or what an all out war it could......no, it's going to be rubbish. Prime Ortiz was good, he almost had Wilder, I've said it on here before but not many times in my life have I watched a boxing match and jumped out of my seat going mad, when Ortiz wobbled him I lost control!

 

Me too haha. Not as much as when Klitschko should have had Joshua though. I could feel the whole pub staring at me but I couldn’t stop. They were all in hushed silence as their hero was in peril and I was going absolutely mad. “Come on Wlad!” as if he was a life long friend of mine.

 

That was a great moment. There was a collective expectation of "I told you so," and it would have been delicious!

It's typical that the PBC are only letting this fight happen now, over two years after the fans wanted it. Ortiz is so old, him taking a loss to Ruiz is pretty much meaningless. It keeps Wilder's record intact; no need to worry about cross comparisons to Joshua now. And ultimately it helps them promote their replacement earner in Andy Ruiz Jr.

I think some are expecting Ruiz Jr. v Wilder, but I would be incredibly surprised if that fight gets made watching how the PBC have moved over the years. Not unless Fury does actually retire. Then they would likely sacrifice one against the other for the WBC title.

 

both were very shaky in they last fights

 

"no need to worry about cross comparisons to Joshua now"

I've engaged in theorising of this kind before but it doesn't make much sense in light of the fact that they put Ortiz in with Martin. Rightly or wrongly, the worst version of Ortiz losing to the best version of Martin would have badly damaged Wilder's record and elevated AJ's. And when you're coming off virtually 25 months of inactivity, have been KO'd twice by Wilder and are at least 42, a much younger, fresher southpaw with a decent punch like Martin is a dangerous opponent. They could have put Ortiz in with nearly anyone else on their roster and the PR risk wouldn't have been nearly as great.

Ruiz hasn't been enthusiastic about an Ortiz fight in the past and recently tried to fight a washed up kickboxer in Mexico on Triller, attempting to void his contract to fight a 43+ Ortiz. With Ruiz's great wealth and persistent inactivity, getting him in the ring against anyone is likely a struggle.

Ruiz-Ortiz seems like a prelude to Wilder-Ruiz. PBC know that Ruiz is slovenly, inconsistent and a one-hit wonder, so they're potentially feeding him a badly faded version of Wilder's best beaten opponent so that a motivated Wilder can get it back against Ruiz in a big fight in America between former champions. On the other hand, if 43+, 2 KO defeats Ortiz beats a far younger and fresher Ruiz, it significantly boosts Wilder's record at the expense of AJ's. PBC surely do not like the fact that Ruiz tried to leave for Triller and has little interest in fighting anymore, so Ruiz may not get any favours from the officials.

 

Snap