Andy Ruiz Jr says he’s willing to fight Deontay Wilder for $10 million, but nothing less than that- what Wilder’s team is offering him.
The purse is supposed to go higher and higher and higher: Andy Ruiz Jr
The former unified world champion claimed that Deontay Wilder’s team wants to pay him less than what he earned in his last fight against Luis OrtÃz. For the fight with Ortiz, Andy Ruiz’s guaranteed purse was 1 million dollars, and by adding the PPV income, it could reach 4 million dollars.
However, “The Destroyer” wants $10 million dollars to face Wilder, and during a recent live session on Instagram, Ruiz stated that he’s being offered less than that from the side of the “Bronze Bomber”.
“I’ll fight him for $10m. They try to tell me they’ll offer me this or that but it’s all bulls***,” said Ruiz. “They all know I’m a threat, they all know. Everybody knows I’m a threat. Champion of the world is the prize. ‘Why did you get that far?’, because you sacrificed. You had to leave your family, you had to leave your loved ones to get to there.”
“They’re trying to pay me what I made for my last fight. It doesn’t make sense. You’re climbing up the ladders and then you get a big task. You’re supposed to beat him. I beat [Luis Ortiz] and the purse is supposed to go higher and higher and higher. That’s the way it goes. If you don’t know, then don’t say s***,” he went on, “If you show Wilder what I’m doing in the gym and how I’m looking, he’s not going to want to fight. He’s going to want to pay me less money. He’s going to want to fight me for less money.”
Ruiz insists that many fighters avoid him, and don’t want to pay him what he considers to be fair.
“Everybody that wants to fight me, they know it’s going to be a hell of a f***king fight. They know it’s going to be hard. That’s why they don’t want to fight. You know what I’m doing? I’m staying ready. I’m trying to get it. ‘Stop ducking Wilder.’ Ain’t nobody ducking Wilder. Tell him to pay me what I deserve,” Ruiz added. [H/T Mirror Online]
After negotiations between Andy Ruiz and Deontay Wilder stalled, the WBC canceled the order for the two to fight a final eliminator to find the official challenger to champion Tyson Fury. With that, the fight between Ruiz and Wilder was declared dead, although now the Mexican fighter seems determined to revive it.