Action in the heavyweight division slows during the summer months, as does action in most every weight class during this time, and we must wait until September before we see our next slice of world heavyweight title fight action. There are right now, a number of big heavyweight match-ups possible; some set to happen, some we hope will happen.
WBC champ Deontay Wilder may or may not fight Luis Ortiz in a rematch in September, or he could face Tyson Fury in another rematch. While WBA/IBF/WBO ruler Andy Ruiz will fight former champ Anthony Joshua next, at a date and venue to be confirmed. And who knows, next year we just might see one man crowned with all the belts. Wilder has spoken often of his desire to see ‘one, face, one name’ atop the division, and he says he is the man for the job.
That said, in speaking with World Boxing News, Wilder said he’d very much like a fight with Ruiz. Wilder even suggested he could take a fight with Ruiz before the anticipated return fight with Fury:
“Anything is possible in boxing, we’ll see what happens with the rematches,” Wilder told WBN. “I’d love to unify all the belts. It’s coming down to it. It’s getting closer and closer to a unification (with Ruiz.) I think that’s what the heavyweight division is missing. We need one champion, one face, one name, it’s Deontay Wilder. I’m the man for the job.”
Ruiz has expressed big interest in a fight with Wilder, yet he has been insistent that he is focused only on the must-win rematch with Joshua right now and refuses to look too far ahead until he has proven his June 1 win was “no fluke.”
We’re not exactly sure who Fury may fight next, or when, but Frank Warren says it will be in the U.S, and that he’d like it to be against an American name (with Jarrell Miller in consideration). In terms of how the heavyweight picture will form will depend greatly on the Ruiz-Joshua return. But Ruiz, if he can repeat his win, would make a very interesting rival for both Wilder and Fury.
It’s amazing how that June 1 win by Ruiz rocked the division and so severely altered the landscape. Go back to the start of this year and no-one was talking about Ruiz at all, let alone about him and his chances of beating the likes of Wilder and Fury. But now, who knows – maybe Ruiz, at his peak and motivated as never before, could beat Wilder, could beat Fury.
No man should ever underestimate Ruiz again, that much is clear.
Some big, tough to call heavyweight title fights we might get to see over the next eight to ten months are:
Wilder-Ortiz II
Wilder-Fury II
Ruiz-Joshua II
Wilder-Ruiz
Fury-Ruiz
Good times indeed for fans of the sport’s premiere weight division.
