With Dan Ambrose: The PBC reportedly cut former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr from their stable for undisclosed reasons, luring him away as a free agent to be signed by any other promoter looking to ink the 33-year-old, who has fought just twice of late. four years since he lost his three titles in a rematch against Andy Joshua.
reports JuliusJulianis that the PBC is cutting former IBF, WBA & WBO champion Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs), who has only fought once since 2019 against a 40-year-old Chris Arreola and 43 years old Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz.
Fighting only once a year as of 2021 and only against exclusively 40+ years, Ruiz hasn’t exactly set the heavyweight division on fire with his activity and competition.
Why did the PBC cut Andy Ruiz Jr?
One can only speculate why the PBC chose to cut Ruiz, who will turn 34 in September, but looking at lack of activity over the past four years and choice of competition, it’s fair to assume he’s failed to maintain his star power, and it’s unclear if he’s put up good PPV numbers in his only two fights since losing his belts to Joshua .
- Lack of activity
- Poor opposition – focus on 40+ year old fighters
To stay popular in boxing, a fighter MUST fight often and against good opposition in competitive matches that fans want to see them in. Looking at Ruiz’s career since 2019, has failed do one of these things.
It’s not good enough for Ruiz to repeatedly call out Joshua for a trilogy fight he didn’t deserve given his poor opposition and lack of activity. Ruiz should have tried to win the Joshua Trilogy clash by fighting these killers:
- Frank Sanchez
- Filip Hrgovic
- Jared Anderso
- Zhilei Zhang
- Martin Bacole
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Lenier Perot
Ruiz has failed to stay relevant
Former champion Ruiz hasn’t fought often enough, and his opposition has arguably been picked from the scum of the heavyweight division, picking two old, faded, rusty fighters in Arreola and ‘King Kong’ Ortiz and struggling badly to beat both of them.
Source: PBC cuts Andy Ruiz Jr who becomes a free agent
— JuliusJulianis (@julianisjulius) February 24, 2023
“[Andy Ruiz] has been released from his deal with Premier Boxing Champions, Andy’s father told ESPN KNOCKOUT, although he revealed that the fight against Deontay Wilder is not done and there is a possibility that Britain’s Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua could also be in the works from his teammates. options to return to the ring,” said Salvador Rodriguez.
It’s highly doubtful that either of those fights will happen for Ruiz, unfortunately, and even if it does, the pay-per-view numbers would likely be dismal.
Ruiz should have been fighting the top heavyweights for the past four years since losing his belts to Joshua, but he hasn’t. As such, he is yesterday’s news as far as boxing fans are concerned and he is the forgotten man. Why would Wilder, Fury or Joshua want to fight Ruiz now that he has slipped back into anonymity?