Wilder v Ruiz Cinco de Mayo MGM Grand

Great fight that should have happened years ago. I favour Wilder by KO.

 

Good crossroads fight. In terms of putting this heavyweight era in perspective and having clear rankings, it's up there with usyk vs fury and AJ vs wilder.

I agree it's unlikely to go the distance and I'm favoring wilder to win. Ruiz is hittable and capable of being dropped and hurt by much softer punchers than wilder. That said, I think I'll personally be rooting for Andy to defy the odds again if only to read some of the rationalizations certain posters on here will make.

Lots of other wins will retroactively look better or worse based on the outcome of this fight. Should make for some interesting takes on here.

 

PBC has supposedly reserved the MGM Grand Arena for May 6. They also rumored to have March 18 and April 15 reserved.

Hopefully it lands on one of those days. It would generate a ton of excitement among boxing fans in the US. They are arguably two of the most well-known boxers from the US right now.

My thoughts are I hope it's a great fight, because I don't think Fury vs. Usyk or Joshua vs. Franklin will be. So the division may need an injection of excitement by the time Wilder-Ruiz rolls around.

But I'm going with Wilder. Andy Ruiz's 'mini-me' son gets on my nerves to no end. He's right up there with Billy Joe Saunders' kid.

 

Does this mean that Canelo would fight Ryder on a different date to his usual Cinco De Mayo one ?

 

I don't think it should have taken so long to schedule. Wilder is getting long in the tooth and Ruiz obviously doesn't take great care of himself.

Winner should fight either Joshua or Usyk/Fury winner late in the year (Unless Fury & Wilder win; nobody needs that again).

 

The standard rationalisations will be:

Wilder is 37, has been KO'd twice in his last three fights, suffering six knockdowns and has contested just one round in the previous 19 months.

Ruiz has spent his whole career ballooning up and down in weight and it finally caught up with him, he came in too heavy and didn't train properly, he's been dropped twice in his last four fights and spent his career taking punishment as a slow footed come forward fighter, Wilder landed a lucky right hand.

If Ruiz beat Wilder it would be pretty monumental: Ruiz would have defeated the two longest-reigning black heavyweight champions of the last 20 years, as a wide/insane underdog. Relative to his physical disadvantages (very short and stubby, slow feet, relatively light puncher) and psychological deficiencies (poor discipline, already had huge success defeating Joshua to become the first Mexican HW champion), he would surely be one of the greatest boxers ever.

 

Wilder-Ruiz is a comical mismatch

1. 6’6 vs 5’11

2. 83 inch reach vs 74 inch reach

3. Fast feet vs slow feet

4. Massive puncher vs relatively light puncher

5. Good jab at long range vs no jab at long range

6. Highly disciplined and motivated vs poor discipline and often unmotivated

7. Outpointed Chakhkiev in the amateurs vs outpointed by Mike Wilson in the amateurs

8. Won Olympic bronze in Beijing vs won the Mexican nationals

9. 13 world title fights (10-2-1) vs 3 world title fights (1-2)

10. Beats shorter or slower men vs beaten by taller faster men

11. KO’d Morales, Liakhovich, Arreola and Ortiz x2 vs distance with more worn versions of Morales, Liakhovich, Arreola and Ortiz

It gets worse for Ruiz: compared to Joshua, Wilder has superior stamina, mental toughness and (likely still) durability, he’s unlikely to underestimate Ruiz as Joshua and Ortiz did, he will be extremely motivated to beat Ruiz given the history with Joshua and Ortiz and for what it’s worth, Arreola, Ortiz and Ruiz’s former coach Sanchez strongly favour Wilder to KO Ruiz.

 

If Ruiz wins, Fury's resume is in shambles.

 

Fans will always find something to complain about but this is a good fight in terms of the heavyweight landscape. Two former world champions in what will likely be an exciting fight. Both are capable of hurting each other obviously Wilder has the power advantage but Ruiz has proven to be dangerous when he is hurt and he is more skillful than Wilder. Those making comparisons to resume's and talking about boosting or marginalizing others resume have no idea. That is why styles make fights and also the timing of match ups comes in to play. It will be a fun fight just enjoy it.

 

I can’t see anything other than Wilder winning by typical savage KO tbh.

 

5'11?

Otherwise, on point.

 

All of this is factual... but I still see Ruiz winning. There's a drastic gulf in quality between Fury and Ortiz... but there's also a drastic gulf in quality between Ortiz and Wilder's other opponents. If Wilder was this Foreman-esque demolisher, he would've been flattening his upper echelon competition a lot quicker. The Arreolas and Szpilkas of the world took almost 10 rounds to beat. In this time Andy will be landing counters. I see Wilder being hurt at some point. Maybe I'm reading too much into it

 

I think if Ruiz can keep a high guard and get in close he has a good shot of hurting Wilder with left hooks and over hand rights. Wilder is not very good at going to the body he tried going to Fury's body with straight punch's that didn't really have much impact. You could be right though Wilder may spark him out. I think that the uppercut could be Wilder's best weapon in this fight as I can see Ruiz being able to avoid the big straight right hand.