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Despite calling for the fight, Andy Ruiz Jr. didn't end up as Anthony Joshua's short-notice opponent.
With the adverse finding in Dillian Whyte's anti-doping test, Joshua was in search of a new opponent as he still planned on competing at the O2 Arena in London this weekend.
Ruiz would eventually put his name in the hat as he called for a trilogy fight with Joshua. It wasn't ideal, but it would have made sense as Ruiz is a big name — a former unified heavyweight champion — who had history with Joshua.
In the end, however, the lesser-known Robert Helenius, 39, got the opportunity and the Finnish heavyweight fit the bill for Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn.
“We wanted someone who could prepare him for Deontay Wilder, we wanted someone who was credible, we wanted someone who would come to fight,” Hearn told talkSPORT before adding the following. “… He's had big wins and got chinned by Wilder. He boxed on Saturday and got a knockout.”
Despite all that, Helenius is still far from an exciting opponent or name and that was further evident by Joshua's fight this weekend no longer being a pay-per-view event.
It was also a massive financial difference for the British star, but he didn't mind — according to Hearn, he only wants to fight.
“We are taking the fight off pay-per-view,” Hearn added. “The financial difference to Joshua in this fight is astounding, but he wants to fight and in terms of non pay-per-view cards, I think this is one of the strongest we've ever done.
“… I wasn't sure whether [Joshua] would want to fight, but what I got was someone who was desperate to fight. And not just saying it but this has been one of the best camps he's had in his career, he's been working so well with Derrick James and his sparring has been fantastic and he just said ‘who can I fight?'”
Of course, it begs the question — why wasn't Ruiz picked to fight Joshua?
As far as Hearn is concerned, other than his social media post, Ruiz never actually contacted them at all about fighting Joshua on short notice. Hearn also believes Ruiz would have priced himself out of the fight.
“Andy Ruiz put a tweet out but never contacted us,” Hearn said (via Boxing Scene). “He would have probably wanted $10 [million].”
