By Dan Ambrose: WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman reportedly says that Andy Ruiz Jr’s fight with Luis Ortiz and the Deontay Wilder vs. Robert Helenius are semifinal qualifiers for a chance to become the mandatory challenger Tyson Fury.
To determine the WBC mandatory challenger, Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) will fight the winner of the Oct. 15 fight between Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) and Helenius.
Ruiz defeated the 43-year-old Ortiz (33-3, 28 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision last Sunday night at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.
Despite knocking Ortiz down several times, Ruiz barely won the fight due to being outboxed in ten of the twelve rounds.
The only rounds Ruiz looked good in were the ones where he scored knockdowns in the second and seventh. You remove those rounds; Ruiz was being tutored by the still talented Cuban boxer Ortiz.
It was disappointing to see how easily Ortiz controlled the fight, given that he was so much older than the 32-year-old fighter. However, with Ruiz’s inactivity, fighting only twice in three years, it’s no wonder he looks so poor.
The huge money Ruiz made from his two fights against Anthony Joshua seems to have affected his ambition, as he wasn’t active enough to stay in shape.
No word on whether Wilder will beat Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) on Oct. 15, considering this is a heavy hitter facing the ‘Bronze Bomber’, and he’s coming off a long layoff and back-to-back losses against Fury.
It’s a risky move on Wilder’s part to take on Helenius in his first fight against a layoff. Helenius is much more of a puncher than Fury, but he is not as skilled or cunning.
Assuming Wilder finds a way to beat Helenius, it will create a potentially interesting matchup between him and Ruiz.
Wilder has the power to wake Ruiz up quickly if he can land the same punches Ortiz did. On the other hand, Wilder’s punch resistance is just as bad as Ortiz’s, and he could get knocked out if Ruiz can land on his counters.
There is a possibility that Wilder may opt to skip the Ruiz fight for the WBC final eliminator, as he has already fought Fury three times. At this point, Wilder may not like the idea of a fourth fight with Fury.
