Former Heavyweight Champion Says ‘Traumatised’ Eddie Hearn Won’t Let Joshua Fight Anyone in....

Former unified heavyweight champion, Andy Ruiz Jr, believes the chances of a trilogy showdown with Anthony Joshua are slim, believing that promoter Eddie Hearn is still ‘traumatised’ from their first bout.

Ruiz famously knocked out Joshua in what is widely-regarded as boxing’s biggest heavyweight upset since Buster Douglas’ miraculous win over Mike Tyson in 1990.

The Mexican-American became the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight world champion that night in New York. Six months later, the Brit regained the belts with a comfortable points win in Saudi Arabia, albeit with the help of an underwhelming performance from ‘The Destroyer.’

Ever since, there has been the potential of a rubber match, and the subject is always raised when ‘AJ’ is short of an opponent.

In an interview with Fight Hub TV, Ruiz revealed that a third clash with Joshua is unlikely, saying Hearn ‘doesn’t want to fight him against anyone good’.

“I don’t think that they want the fight, Eddie Hearn is already traumatised. He doesn’t even want to fight him against anyone that is good, unless they are going to just try and get their money and then leave.”

“Of course [I’d fight him in the UK], I’d go over there. Remember, when I fought him in the rematch I wasn’t good, I was overweight, I forgot everything that I was [meant to be] doing in the rematch. Now, it’s a whole different ball game, now it’s all different.

All I want to do is just show my talent, hopefully next year, and everybody is going to know who the heck Andy Ruiz is again.”

Whilst Ruiz’s next move is anybody’s guess, many fans are anticipating that Joshua will target the IBF world title by next facing either Filip Hrgovic or Otto Wallin and taking one of the respective spots in a proposed contest for the vacant IBF belt, which the winner of Fury-Usyk is expected to abandon.