Boxing News Roundup (May 29, 2019): Next for Wilder, Joshua-Ruiz, more

Miss anything on Tuesday? Maybe you did. Here’s what we had.

Top Stories

It’s Joshua-Ruiz fight week, but the biggest story of the day is that Deontay Wilder has announced his next fight is signed. As most everyone expected, it will be a rematch with Luis Ortiz.

Lance Pugmire reported that the fight would be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and Mike Coppinger tweeted that it’ll be a Showtime pay-per-view on Sept. 28, a tentative date.

You have to admire or at least chuckle at the way Wilder has handled this complete inevitability that he very obviously knew was the next step before he ever got into a ring with Dominic Breazeale on May 18. Wilder took care of his business in highlight reel fashion that night, then got the screws put to him by Jim Gray, and he put on the puppy dog eyes and begged the public for patience. Meanwhile, Luis Ortiz was in the ring ready to announce their rematch, but Wilder was savvy enough to realize that with the way Gray had just badgered him, it was absolutely not the right time.

So Deontay did the “please have patience” bit again on Inside PBC Boxing, waited another week or so, and finally dropped the announcement on Twitter, complete with fire emojis and a claim that their first fight was so controversial that it HAD to be run back. He gave it just enough time after the Gray interview and public demands for Joshua or Fury to come next before announcing that, of course, they were not coming next, that it was obviously going to be a Luis Ortiz rematch.

I’m not hating. It’s some well-orchestrated stuff. And he even announced it while everyone is otherwise busy filling their diapers about what a bad fight Joshua-Ruiz is, too, and two weeks short of everyone dumping on Fury-Schwarz fight week.

Quick Hits

Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

• This week’s rankings are up. Jamel Herring is in at 130 and Carlos Canizales made a move at 108.
• Kal Yafai’s mandatory WBA super flyweight title defense against Norbelto Jimenez finally has a home and a date, as it will take place on DAZN’s June 29 card in Providence, headlined by Demetrius Andrade vs Maciej Sulecki.
• Eddie Hearn says that Dillian Whyte is willing to fight Tyson Fury, which Fury said he’d do for the WBC diamond title, for whatever reason. It’s an interesting enough fight all things considered, but I still don’t expect it will actually happen.
• Erislandy Lara is preparing for an Aug. 31 return against Ramon Alvarez, brother of Canelo.
• Callum Smith is still out there hyping himself for a Canelo fight down the road. As soon as his name was thrown out there for that fight, that’s seemingly been his No. 1 focus. Can’t blame him, beats trying to talk up a fight with an aging Hassan N’Dam.
• Luis Nery will face Juan Carlos Payano on the Pacquiao-Thurman PPV card. Not a bad fight, just one where it’s hard to see any result other than Nery trucking him.
• Tommy Coyle is expecting a war with Chris Algieri on Saturday at MSG. I am, too! It’s my expected fight of the night on that card, which I’ll get into more with tomorrow’s Joshua-Ruiz undercard preview at Noon ET. The main event preview goes up at 5 pm ET.
• More heavyweight jibber-jabber: Tyson Fury says he respects Wilder more than he does Joshua, and Eddie Hearn says Joshua is on another level compared to Wilder.
• One massive heavyweight fight is going to happen: Mahmoud Charr will face Trevor Bryan at some point, as they’ve come to terms and will avoid a purse bid. Did you know this will technically be a world title fight? Does anyone?