On Friday, August 23 Matchroom Boxing Limited filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Andres Ponce Ruiz (aka Andy Ruiz Jr.) for failure to live up to the terms of a previously agreed upon fight contract.
On Saturday, August 24, Andy Ruiz Jr. announced the rematch between him and former champ Anthony Joshua, December 7 in Saudi Arabia, was on.
“I’m excited to announce my rematch with Anthony Joshua,” said Ruiz via Instagram. “In the first fight I made history and became the first ever Mexican/American heavyweight champion of the world. I am grateful to Saudi Arabia for inviting me. I took it to AJ in The Big Apple and I’m looking forward to ending his career in the Desert. Don’t miss this fight!”
So, what changed in the heart and mind of three-belt champ Ruiz to make him go from steadfast Saudi Arabia denier to Sultan Ruiz of Arabia?
The most obvious answer is usually the correct one—Money.
According to reports, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn sweetened the pot for Ruiz by an amount “exceeding $1 million” and also tossed in Mexican TV rights for the first-ever Mexican-American heavyweight champ.
There COULD have been an even-money legal battle over this Saudi Arabia fight with Hearn brandishing a “watertight” rematch contract, signed back when nobody, not even Ruiz’s own people, thought Ruiz had a chance in hell of beating the defending champ. Ruiz could’ve countered with trumped up safety concerns, fortified by the US State Department’s classification of Saudi Arabia as a Level 2, exercise extreme caution, threat for American citizens.
The battle could’ve gone on and on with the winner ultimately determined by who can hold out the longest.
But it never got to that—and never was going to get to that point-- because it was always clear who could hold out the longest.
Ruiz may hold the IBF/WBO/WBA heavyweight titles, but he’s “just” a fighter and, as such, just a pawn in the game, albeit one with some shiny belts. Hearn knew that and had been glibly poking at Ruiz from the first moment the champ had publicly balked at traveling to Saudi Arabia for the Joshua rematch.
"I think he wants his own plane for his jewelry that he's bought since the fight...This is just the game of boxing,” Hearn told reporters not too long after Ruiz’s first pushback against the announced venue. “Contractually, he knows he's completely bound into this fight...Andy Ruiz got one of the greatest gifts of all-time. He was picked off the list of fighters to fight Anthony Joshua for multi-million dollars, where he hadn't earned a tenth of that in the past and he got a shot at the world heavyweight title. Unfortunately...for him...that comes with a watertight rematch clause…Since he's won, all of his mates are telling him 'you should be getting this, you should be getting that.' So, really he's probably not that happy he's got to fight Anthony Joshua again, [but] contractually, he has to...he has an obligation as a man to honor what he agreed and what we signed."
Frankly, it’s more than a little bit of bullshit for fighters to be bound by contracts from before career-changing performances. It also seems somewhat sketchy, legal-wise, to force fighters to perform with compensation below market value and under the conditions and terms of a rival’s promoter. Someone more knowledgeable than yours truly should look into the legality of this standard rematch clause protocol and how it lines up with the seldom-enforced Muhammad Ali Act.
At any rate, Ruiz played his role as powerless pawn and grabbed at the shiny nickels held over his head by Hearn and company. With a $450,000 Rolls-Royce in his possession, a sack full of new bling, and a brand new mansion in the ridiculously overpriced California real estate market to cover, Ruiz can’t exactly afford to haggle too much or for too long. It might even be a safe bet to assume that Ruiz is somewhat cash-poor at the moment and needs the second Joshua payday to fund this new lifestyle of his.
The above scenario, of course, is not a new one for fight fans. A tough luck pug making it big and spending it bigger is a tale almost as old as the sport itself. And if Ruiz continues to fall into this tired old boxing story, he’ll be another case of rags-to-riches-back-to-rags. Win or lose on December 7 and for every fight after that, no money will be enough to keep his head above water and he’ll forever be at the mercy of the suits’ whims. That’s classic boxing business.
But, hell, it’s his money and his life, right?
It’s just a shame that most Rocky stories in real life end in broken bodies and busted bank accounts. And that’s where this particular Rocky story is headed.
Quick (S)hits:
-- Sergey Kovalev put in the perfect performance to make him still eligible for a possible bout with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez this fall. In stopping a greenish Anthony Yarde in the eleventh round last Saturday, he proved himself to still be a bankable monster villain for the Mexican star, but showed enough vulnerability to make him a beatable monster villain. Still, I don’t know about this matchup for Canelo…
-- Juan Francisco Estrada did what he was supposed to do against Dewayne Beamon in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico on Saturday. It took nine rounds for the defending WBC super flyweight champ to pick apart and eventually break down the challenger in the first defense of the belt he took from Srisaket Sor Rungvisai this past April. There were two puzzlers for this bout, though. One: How did Beamon get a title shot with such a thin career resume and a 1-1 record against Martin Tecuapetla in his last two? Two: Why was this DAZN fight broadcast on ESPN Deportes south of the US border when Zanfer Promotions had already arranged for the fight to be aired on TV Azteca?
-- Brandon Figueroa kept his impressive KO/Stoppage streak intact with a four-round KO victory over Argentina’s Javier Chacon on Saturday. Fighting just outside of his Weslaco hometown, the 22-year-old swarmer and interim WBA super bantamweight champ, with his seventh straight win inside the distance, looked like the star-in-the-making he’s supposed to be. Although he may be a bit too green for the task right now, a bout with the similarly tall, lanky, punching machine Emanuel Navarrete would be a Fight of the Year classic.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com