The heavyweight division is akin to a game of chess these days.
Just a few years back, the division may have seemed like a boring game, but now, fighters are thinking two moves in advance in what is shaping to be the most exciting and unpredictable set of matches in the sport.
One such forward thinking move that has people talking already is newly minted heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk taking on current champion Andy Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs) as his WBO mandatory challenger.
Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs), the cruiserweight king and 2018 BWAA fighter of the year, made his heavyweight debut Oct. 12 and made easy work of Chazz Witherspoon in a ho-hum, seven-round affair.
Ruiz took the podium at a press conference at The Boxing Club East Village in San Diego and said he was not impressed with his potential Ukranian foe’s performance.
“He’s a great fighter and boxer. I didn’t think he looked too good in his first fight [at heavyweight],” said Ruiz. “I didn’t think he carried his power too much for someone who hasn’t fought for so long. I’m not discrediting the guy he beat, of course, but I think he could have done a lot better. I don’t know, that’s just my opinion … After I win Dec. 7, of course we’ll give him an opportunity to take one of my belts.”
Ruiz, the WBO, WBC, IBF and IBO champion, still has some serious unfinished business of his own by way of a rematch with Anthony Joshua on Dec. 7. He should know as well as anyone not to look past an opponent when the next fight is never guaranteed. A slip up in Saudi Arabia, and he may never see Usyk at all.
“The action is on the heavyweights now. There is a lot of competition now.” said Ruiz. “The main thing is to focus. I have these beautiful belts that I’ve been dreaming about my whole life. Now I have them here and I am going to die trying to keep them.”
Ruiz might have a mandatory against Usyk, but if you ask him, he’d rather accomplish what Usyk did at cruiserweight and capture all four major sanctioning body belts instead down the line.
One way to do that is chase down the trajectory and path of PBC stablemate Deontay Wilder, the current WBC titleholder.
“I want to be the unified heavyweight champion of the world, and I’m this close to having that fight with Wilder,” said Ruiz. “Wilder and I talk on the phone as well. We’re good friends, and we support each other, but during the fight there will be no friends or respect or nothing like that.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.
