Via Dan Ambrose: Chris Arreola says former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will beat Andy Ruiz Jr if the two go head to head next.
Arreola feels that Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) is easy to hit, and with Wilder’s strength, he will take him down. Last year, Arreola lost to Ruiz in the 12th round, but he hurt him in the second half.
Arreola said that Ruiz couldn’t be in the outer ring against Wilder 6’7 ″ (43-2-1, 42 KOs) because he fought well from a distance.
Interestingly, Wilder finished very well in his last two skirmishes, knocking out Robert Helenius and Tyson Fury with his short right hand. This suggests that Ruiz will be at risk no matter where he is in the ring.
It is not yet clear if Wilder will face Ruiz next, as he is interested in taking on IBF, WBA & WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk, and his co-manager Shelly Finkel is hoping for a fight. with Anthony Joshua is possible.
Last Saturday night, Wilder returned to the ring after a long year out of the job and knocked out his old fighting partner Helenius (31-4, 20 KOs) in the first round at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“Wilder wins,” Chris Arreola said to Fighthype when asked who would win between Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr. “The reason is because I fought Andy, there was no disrespect to him. He won the war. He didn’t hit me. He won the war, but he didn’t beat me.
“The scorecards are a stubborn horse, and let’s be honest. I hit him with stabs and with my right hand. If Wilder hits him like I hit him with my right hand, he’ll knock him out.
“Andy can’t be outside with Wilder. Wilder mastered from the outside. It was a fight where Andy had to go out and make the fight happen.
“I wish him all the luck and I hope that fight happens because I want to see it.
“Of course, you lose nothing if you lose to the best,” Arreola said when asked if Wilder had lost his killer instincts after two defeats to Tyson Fury.
“To lose to a better opponent, there is no shame in that. He [Wilder] He may have lost the war, but he hasn’t lost his fans. He got more fans from the Fury loss than he did from winning all the other fights because he showed heart.
“He showed bravery, and he showed a different side of himself that the usual boxing fan doesn’t see. He had bad times in that war, especially in that fight. He fell, and then he got up and dropped him.
“It’s one of those fights that doesn’t knock you down. It makes you a different kind of stratospheric fighter,” Arreola said.
