Deontay Wilder takes on undefeated Andy Ruiz next – with a title fight at stake.
Deontay Wilder knocked out Robert Helenius in the first round in New York last Sunday. EPA / AOP
of Robert Helenius knocked out last weekend Deontay Wilder is going hard towards the next match. President of the WBC Mauricio Sulaiman spoke For Marca magazinethat Wilder would face Andy Ruiz’s in a heavyweight match.
According to the boxing boss, the match will be officially announced next week. He revealed that the winner of the match would get a chance to fight for the championship belt.
– It (the Helenius match) was a convincing performance. It showed his strength, Sulaiman commented about Wilder to Marca.
– Wilder hits hard, but he has been out of the ring after two losses. It’s always hard to tell how a head recovers from losses, but I saw him (in the Helenius match) like in his best years.
What is special is that the match between Helenius and Wilder was a WBC title qualifier. The matchup was supposed to determine the number one contender for the heavyweight title, but it looks like Mexico’s Ruiz still has his say.
Also, Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk has reportedly been willing to defend his WBA, WBO and IBF titles against the winner of the Wilder-Helenius fight.
The 33-year-old Ruiz is a former heavyweight champion. He has 35 wins and two losses in his professional career. The last time he boxed was in September Luis Ortiz against, winning this by unanimous vote. Ruiz has never been knocked out in the professional ring.
Previous opponent Ortiz did not have high hopes for Ruiz’s victory over Wilder. According to Ortiz, Wilder will “outsmart” him in the ring. Wilder’s statistics improved over the weekend to 43 wins, two losses and one draw.