LAS VEGAS – It didn’t take two-time WBA heavyweight champion John “The Quietman” Ruiz (43-8-1, 29 KOs) very long to respond to comments made by unbeaten heavyweight contender Chris Arreola and his promoter, Dan Goossen, at a press conference Tuesday  in Los Angeles.

Arreola was quoted as saying, “There are a lot of old guys and former champs sitting around there that we need to take care of. Their time is up. They need to go.”

“This September,” Goossen added, “you’re going to see Chistobal fighting in California and you’re going to see him fighting a former world champion.”

If the WBA doesn’t rule that its heavyweight title-holder, Nicolai Valuev, immediately defend his title against the WBA’s mandatory challenger, Ruiz, “The Quietman” is ready to be the old guy, former world champion fighting Arreola in September.

“I’m willing to risk my WBA mandatory shot against Arreola, if he puts up his WBC mandatory,” Ruiz said from a Las Vegas gym where he’s been training. “What’s been taking him so long? I called him out in early May but he never said a word and his people never contacted mine. I don’t get it. He keeps complaining about not getting a title shot that he’s done nothing to deserve. Maybe he needs to push himself away from the dinner table and take a risk. I’m over-the-hill, huh? Well, I guess everybody thinks it should be a cake walk for him, but I’m not like his last opponent, who came out of retirement to fight him for the money.

“He wants to be the first Mexican to win the world heavyweight championship. Be a macho Mexican, Arreola. Walk the walk and fight the first and only Latino world heavyweight champ to really prove yourself. If it makes you feel better, I’ll retire for a few days, and wait for your call. Stop disrespecting me and talking trash unless you have the rocks to fight a real champion."