By Norm Frauenheim-
The heavyweight division, once revered, has been reduced to a rumor. Only Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua seems to matter, despite mounting doubts about reported negotiations full of promises and short on specifics.
Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn says it will happen this summer.
Fury co-promoter Frank Warren says it won’t.
That’s where it started months ago.
That’s where it still is, although there’s a growing chorus of frustration from Fury and his American promoter Bob Arum, whose skepticism about a $150 million offer from Saudi Arabia was evident in multiple media reports this week.
A deal hinges on whether the money is really there. A deal – date and place – has yet to be announced, hence deepening suspicions that the offer is bupkis, just more dust in a Haboob.
Meanwhile, Fury has taken to social media and Hearn is his target. Fury, whose trash talk is as deadly as his jab, is ripping Hearn, saying that the UK promoter has cozied up to Canelo Alvarez in the Mexican’s title fight against UK super-middleweight Billy Joe Saunders on May 8 in Arlington, Tex.
For the May fight, at least, Hearn is the promoter of record for both. But Fury is questioning his allegiances, which means Hearn is probably as popular as a piñata back home in Britain.
Such is that state of the heavyweights, a flagship as rudderless as ever. Yet, chaos at the top hasn’t silenced it.
Andy Ruiz Jr. and Chris Arreola, Joe Parker and Derek Chisora will do what Fury and Joshua may — may not — do.
They’re fighting Saturday, Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) versus Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs) in Carson, Calif., on Fox pay-per-view (9 pm ET/6 pm PT) and Parker (28-2, 21 KOs) against Chisora (32-10, 23 KOs) in Manchester, England, on Sky Sports Box Office.
Both fights are interesting. Both are linked. Both Ruiz and Parker are ex-champions.
Ruiz, the first heavyweight champ of Mexican descent, is the most memorable for his stunning stoppage of Joshua at New York’s Madison Square Garden in June 2019. He’s also the most forgettable for his messy loss in a rematch six months later in Saudi Arabia.
Ruiz blamed the scorecard defeat on lousy conditioning. He was about 30 pounds heavier than he is expected to be Saturday in his first bout with Canelo trainer Eddy Reynoso. Ruiz described the defeat as a kind of “self-death’’ during a news conference Wednesday.
“I killed the old Andy and am reborn with the new Andy,” he said.
It was a good line from Ruiz who looked to be re-energized if not resurrected. At 31, Ruiz still has a chance to be a player at heavyweight if –as expected – he beats the 40-year-old Arreola. Perhaps, a Parker rematch awaits Ruiz, who emerged as a contender in a narrow loss – majority decision – to Parker for a vacant World Boxing Organization title in 2016 in Auckland, Parker’s hometown.
At least, it’s real instead of rumor. No telling what happens to the Fury-Joshua possibility.
Put it this way: Fury expects to take a day off from his training regimen in Las Vegas Saturday. He plans to be in Louisville at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby. The 20-horse field includes a horse named for him after his stoppage of Deontay Wilder in a rematch in February 2020.It’s beginning to look as if the horse, King Fury, a 20-to-1 longshot, has a better chance of winning the Derby than Joshua-Fury has at happening anytime soon.
