The current unified world heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz has the biggest fight of his career on December 7th against Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
Yet, the California native is looking to replicate something Joshua has done twice in his life,, win an Olympic gold medal, but with the added wrinkle of being world heavyweight champion.
For 2016’s Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee made the ruling that much like basketball, professional boxers can step on to the Olympic stage in search of glory. Not many pro fighters took the offer, but Ruiz Jr, who’d have to qualify for the event either on the national. continental, or world qualifiers early next year, is down for the challenge.
Sería un gran honor representar a México en Juegos Olímpicos, tengo que ver los posibles compromisos contractuales, pero haremos todo lo posible para aportar de cualquier forma y poner el nombre de México en alto una vez más. ¡¡¡GRAN iniciativa!!! @lopezobrador_ @MiguelTorrucoG pic.twitter.com/ijyAwVrFK1
— AndyRuizjr (@Andy_destroyer1) September 30, 2019
“It would be a great honor to represent Mexico in the Olympic Games,” Ruiz Jr wrote on Twitter. “I have to see the possible contractual commitments, but we will do everything possible to contribute in any way and put the name of Mexico high once again. Great initiative!”
The move can be seen as a confounding one, because if Ruiz Jr wins or loses, a lucrative trilogy fight with Joshua, or a unification fight with either current WBC champion Deontay Wilder or his next two opponents Luis Ortiz or Tyson Fury, would most likely go down in the late spring or early summer of next year, derailing any tangible Olympic hopes.
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