Tyson Fury could fight Andy Ruiz Jr if a title defence against Dillian Whyte falls through, according to Bob Arum.
Fury has been ordered to defend his WBC heavyweight belt against Whyte, who is interim champion and mandatory challenger to the “Gypsy King”, but negotiations seem to have stalled.
Fury’s US promoter Arum said this week that his fighter’s fellow Briton is demanding a £10million purse for a potential clash, with Whyte apparently at risk of pricing himself out of the bout.
As such, alternative opponents for Fury are being sought out, Arum has said, with the WBC champion keen to fight by March at the latest.
“Frank Warren and I are looking for another opponent to do Fury’s fight in Manchester or Las Vegas, depending on who the opponent is,” Arum told iFL TV.
“So we’re looking at Andy Ruiz as a possibility, he’s available. This big Finnish kid, who looked very good on the Fury vs Wilder 3 card, [Robert] Helenius. Those are the two principal guys.
“I guess if it’s Helenius, we do it in the UK. If it was Ruiz, we do the fight in Las Vegas.”
Fury last fought in October, knocking out Deontay Wilder in the pair’s trilogy bout to remain undefeated.
Ruiz, meanwhile, last competed in May, outpointing Chris Arreola.
The Mexican-American famously stopped Anthony Joshua in June 2019 to take the Briton’s WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles, before “AJ” regained them from Ruiz with a points victory at the end of that year.
Ruiz’s win against Arreola marked his first outing since his second fight with Joshua.
