The coach of the former US champion American heavyweight puncher Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) Malik Scott claims that his fighter has two options – not only the final WBC eliminator fight with compatriot Andy Ruiz (35-2 , 22 KOs).
This is clearly not about British ex-champion Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs): “Joshua? Obviously, he avoids all my fighters. Not only Deontay, but also Gerald Washington. And if so, then we have only two options left – Ruiz and a certain “secret opponent”, whose name I will not name. Why is that? Because in this case there is no guarantee that the fight will take place. And Ruiz is definitely not going anywhere. That is, from a business point of view, it is almost certain that we will fight with Ruiz.”
Scott nevertheless reminds that “anything is possible in boxing. But Deontay is now the big boss. Whether someone likes it or not, all these eliminators and decisions of organizations mean nothing to him. There are more important things in boxing. And one of them is to hold not those fights that the organizations sanction, but those that the fans want to see. Therefore, we are negotiating not only with Ruiz.
It is possible that the “secret opponent” is just an attempt to make Ruiz more accommodating in negotiations: “If the fight with Andy takes place, then we could have it in March or early April. But I repeat that if Big Boss Wilder manages to get a bigger fight, then we will postpone the eliminator until later. That’s the whole point of the business – if there is a chance, you need to take bigger fights.
During the same interview, Scott named Joshua’s alleged rival. Recently, the British boxing legend declared that there is only one opponent that Joshua needs to avoid.