Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

A23
SPORTS Wednesday 5 June 2019
Heavyweights are suddenly fun once again

By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Columnist
Just when things were start-
ing to make sense in boxing
and the heavyweight divi-
sion was shaping up nice-
ly, a fat guy with blazingly
quick hands wiped away
most of the preconceived
notions of where it would
all eventually lead.
Andy Ruiz Jr. didn't just up-
end heavyweight boxing.
He threw it a body punch
that left the division gasp-
ing for air.
Whether that is good news
or bad for boxing depends
on where you live and how
it plays out. If nothing else,
though, Ruiz scored one for
the ordinary guy when he
shocked Anthony Joshua
and the rest of boxing with
the fight of his life Saturday
night at Madison Square
Garden.
He not only beat the man
most considered the best
heavyweight in the world,
but he gave him a beat-
ing in the process. When it
finally ended after a flurry
of punches in the seventh
round that had Joshua
unable — or simply unwill-
ing — to go on, there was
a new world order among
the big men in boxing.
Now the task is sorting it all
out again. Andy Ruiz, right, knocks down Anthony Joshua during the seventh round of a heavyweight championship boxing match Saturday,
June 1, 2019, in New York.
On one side of the pond is Ruiz won in the seventh round.
a new heavyweight cham- Associated Press
pion, with belts big enough
to fit his portly frame. Ruiz he will get a chance to re- outlets all battling it out for some in boxing began December. It likely will be in
is an American from the gain his title at home in a the millions of dollars the comparing the magnitude Britain, though it's also pos-
California border town of November rematch with heavyweights generate. of the win to Buster Doug- sible it could be a pay-per-
Imperial who claims Mexi- Ruiz. It's why Joshua was facing las beating Mike Tyson in view event in the U.S.
can heritage, and as the And then there's Tyson Fury, the unknown Ruiz instead Japan in 1990 as a 42-1 un- In the meantime, Fury fights
first Mexican heavyweight who claims to be the lineal of finding a way to fight derdog. But Joshua was no Germany's Tom Schwarz
champion he can pretty heavyweight champion Wilder in the bout boxing Tyson, and Ruiz was talent- next week in Las Vegas
much write his own ticket and might be the most in- fans really wanted to see ed enough to make some and Wilder has announced
to fame and fortune. teresting of them all. The — a fight that now has lost boxing experts wonder why a rematch with Luis Ortiz for
Down in Alabama is De- 6-foot-9 Brit suffered an some of its allure after Josh- Joshua's promoter picked September.
ontay Wilder, who holds emotional breakdown after ua's defeat. him as a late replacement No, it's not one mega fight
one of the big belts himself. beating Wladimir Klitschko In a division where one for Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller, for all the marbles, as it
Wilder is coming off a first- in 2015 and seemed to be punch can change every- who tested positive for ste- was shaping up to be. The
round knockout of Dominic out of boxing before fight- thing, one punch did. Ruiz roids. greed of promoters and
Breazeale last month and ing to a disputed draw last landed a punch to the top And while Douglas ate him- broadcasting outlets kept
has not been shy about December with Wilder. of Joshua's head after get- self out of boxing after his that from happening, as it
setting his own schedule In a perfect world, both the ting knocked down himself big win, Ruiz already packs often does in boxing.
no matter what competing Joshua-Ruiz and Wilder- in the third round, and from 268 not-so-well-placed But all the heavyweights
promoters might want him Fury rematches would take then on it was simply a mat- pounds on his frame and want to be active, and all
to do. place, with the winners ter of when the fight would hasn't seemed worse for have a case they want to
There's Joshua, of course, fighting for the undisputed end. the wear because of it. make. They can all talk a
who hadn't lost before be- heavyweight title. "It's boxing," Fury told me Joshua had a rematch bit, too, which should make
ing upset by Ruiz and is But this is boxing, and noth- last week. "You can't go clause in his contract with it even more fun.
a national hero of sorts in ing is ever that simple. swimming without getting Ruiz, and promoter Eddie Actually, the fact peo-
England. It's a story as old as the wet." Hearn said Tuesday on Twit- ple are talking about the
Joshua has a tremendous sport, with competing pro- No sooner had Ruiz's hand ter that the rematch would heavyweights once again
following, and the odds are moters and broadcast been raised in victory than take place in November or is fun all by itself.q