American Andy Ruiz Jr. set to face Tyson Fury in the UK
"The Gypsy King" vs "The Destroyer"
33-year-old Andy Ruiz Jr. (35-2, 22KO) has given fans the biggest indication yet that he is set to be Tyson Fury's (33-0-1, 24KO) next opponent in the UK.
Andy "The Destroyer" Ruiz reshared an Instagram post that read: "Tyson Fury vs Andy Ruiz Jr is official! July 22nd". The Mexican-American added a United Kingdom flag emoji, sending the biggest message yet that this fight is all set to go ahead.
It's expected to take place at Wembley Stadium again, with Fury having no problems selling out over 94,000 tickets to his fights.
Fury posted on socials last week that a huge announcement was coming, "I've got some massive, massive news coming. An imminent fight date, an absolutely monstrous fight. Keep tuned because the WBC world heavyweight king is back in action coming very, very soon."
It was shortly afterwards when Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn was quoted in an interview saying he believes Tyson Fury is fighting Andy Ruiz Jr on July 22, so the rumours have been circulating for over a week already.
BBN Editor, Tim Rickson, added, "I have always been a big fan of Andy Ruiz Jr, before his fight with Joshua. He's got an exciting style with impressive boxing skills, very fluid and technically brilliant for a man his shape and size. He let himself down in the rematch with AJ by not training or preparing properly, he lost his hunger once he became a millionaire and famous. Being a champion isn't easy and he learnt the hard way.
"Against Tyson, I think he will give his best and try to in on the inside, but the greater size, reach and strength of the WBC champ is surely going to be a bridge too far for him. I'd expect his attempts to close the distance will reveal a certain pattern in his movements that Tyson will study, spot and exploit at some point during the 12 championship rounds, but this is a fight I would really look forward to."
How do they match up?
Tyson Fury
Age: 34
Bouts: 34
Rounds: 220
W: 33
L: 0
D: 1
KO: 24
KO Ratio: 70.59%
Height: 6' 9"
Reach: 85"
Andy Ruiz
Age: 33
Bouts: 37
Rounds: 187
W: 35
L: 2
D: 0
KO: 22
KO Ratio: 59.46%
Height: 6' 2"
Reach: 74"
Who is Andy Ruiz Jr?
His full name is Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr., born on September 11, 1989 in Imperial Valley, California.
As a youngster, he was forced to box by his father Andrés Sr, aged just six, and was told he could not play baseball in favour of boxing. He trained for a year then had his first amateur bout at seven.
During his amateur career, Ruiz ran his record to 105-5 under Cuban trainer Fernando Ferrer. He won two Mexican National Junior Olympics gold medals and the World Ringside Heavyweight Championship, and represented Mexico at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games qualification tournaments but didn't make the selection.
On his pro debut (March 2009), aged 19, in Tijuana, Mexico, he won within 34-seconds!
His alias, "The Destroyer", has nothing to do with boxing, he inherited that nickname many years before because, as a youngster, he liked to destroy anything he got his hands on, "They called me the Destroyer because I was always destroying stuff. They'd buy me a toy and the next day I would break it."
He has been trained by world class trainers Abel Sanchez, Manny Robles and Eddy Reynoso. Angel "Memo" Heredia, is his well known strength and conditioning trainer.
He was meant to fight Tyson's cousin, Hughie Fury, after winning a WBO eliminator bout in 2016, which was scheduled to take place on the Tyson Fury vs Wladimir Klitschko rematch at the Manchester Arena, but Tyson pulled out, cancelling the event.
His first attempt at a world title was against WBO world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in December 2016, which he took at one month's notice, but was on the wrong end of the 115-113; 115-113; 114-114 scores. He started brightly as the aggressor, despite being in the away corner 6,000 miles away in Auckland, New Zealand, but mistakenly took his foot of the gas during the mid-rounds, only taking control again in the championship rounds, which was too late to claim the vacant belt that Tyson Fury had just vacated. Parker narrowly outlanded the visitor by 119-107 punches.
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