Ruiz has more chances to beat Wilder than you can think

Ruiz might just be a sitting duck in this, perfectly aligned due to his short height & reach for Wilder to land his best punch with swiftness.

 

Yeah its the most obvious choice for both guy's being aligned with the same Promoter, before the winner moves onto bigger opposition.

 

Absolutely would NOT count out Ruiz versus Wilder.

 

see if wilder can even get passed helenious. Fury put 3 life altering beatings on wilder. he might not be the same.

 

The only place where Ruiz beats Wilder is at the local Taco Bell buffet.

Helenius would beat Ruiz as well.

Ruiz is beyond terrible at this point.

Prime Ruiz was a decent Top 10 HW. But he lost his focus after winning the belts. He looks in strange shape like he lost weight but didn't train at all (which might be the case lol). No killer instinct at all. Compare the guy who beat the crap out of Joshua for a couple of rounds with the guy who barely got past 43yo King Kong. Pathetic.

 

Ruiz has underwhelmed since his first defeat of Joshua. sometimes that happens...too much success...and some people lose motivation.
just don't know where Wilder is....what he has left at this point. it's a toss up....wouldn't be surprised if Ruiz ko'd Wilder. expect Wilder would land the right hand though...then we will know a lot.

 

He also underwhelmed even before Joshua to be fair. He was always seen as talented but lazy. I recall Arum who was his promoter at the time, being scathing about him in an interview and eventually Top Rank dropped Ruiz. Luckily for Ruiz he was then gifted the Joshua fight and credit for Ruiz for raising his game for that one fight. But after that win, he again became the Ruiz we'd always seen before, a talented but underwhelming heavyweight.

So I don't really see Ruiz as dropping off after the Joshua fight, more that it was a return to the Ruiz Jr we'd always seen after raising his level for one fight. Kind of like when Douglas beat Tyson. Douglas was out of shape and undisciplined before and after Tyson but for one night and one fight he got it right against a vulnerable champion but never climbed that mountain again and Ruiz too I suspect will never reach that level again.

 

Ruiz was able to weather the storm and make Joshua quit,Wilder will not quit ! Wilder with either an early blast out or a come from behind stoppage.

 

Ruiz should be challenging Joey Chestnut, not rangy fighters that will likely do serious long term damage to him.

 

AJ's "top fighters", barring Wlad who had been schooled by Fury 17 months prior in Germany when he was an active A-side champion, were Chisora level guys, many of which weren't really coming to win. AJ's three losses, one by demolition to 25/1 underdog Ruiz and the others to a light punching cruiser also cannot be discounted. Fury completely exposed the myth of AJ's "resume" in the Whyte fight.

One of Hearn's narratives now is that McKean is a "top 10 heavyweight". It just goes to show the scam artistry that was involved there.

 

"He's probably the best fighter Wilder's fought not named Fury"

If he's controversially scraping past a 43 year old Ortiz with 2 brutal KO defeats then he's not beating the undefeated, never knocked down 38 year old Ortiz 4.5 years prior. And judging by the relative Arreola performances, Ruiz wouldn't beat Stiverne 1 either.

Wilder KO3 Morales, later Ruiz 59-55 Morales
Wilder KO1 Liakhovich, later Ruiz 98-92 Liakhovich
Wilder RTD8 Arreola, later Ruiz 118-109 Arreola
Wilder KO10 and KO7 Ortiz, later Ruiz 114-111 Ortiz

"and has a good enough chin to not be blown out early"

That's a pretty low bar as far as performance goes. Ruiz will probably get dominated in the same way Stiverne and Arreola got dominated.

 

Maybe 38 year old Ortiz beats Ruiz, I wouldn't rule it out, I thought Ortiz even 43 year old one would beat Ruiz, but he was clearly too far gone. But in terms of resume Ruiz on paper at least is the better fighter.

Ruiz would beat Stiverne 1, that Stiverne had Rhadomyolysis and needed to be hospitalised after the fight because of it. Fact is only reason Stiverne lasted the distance was because Wilder busted his hand. Stiverne after winning the title lost what little desire he had, the version who fought Arreola would be a tougher fight for Ruiz than the one that fought Wilder with a busted hand.

Ruiz might get dominated, but I think Wilder isn't as good a boxer to be able to do what Joshua did in the rematch and Ruiz is tough enough and dangerous enough on the counter to pose a few problems. I expect Wilder to win a clear UD or stop him late, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ruiz had his moments.