Team Ruiz hoping to face Arreola in November

Arreola retired after an August loss to Adam Kownacki.

Earlier today, ESPN’s Tim Keown shared details of his bizarrely difficult quest to get in touch with former unified champion Andy Ruiz Jr a year after Ruiz’s legendary upset of Anthony Joshua. It’s an excellent piece that I don’t wish to sully with paraphrasing and chopped-up quotes, so I’ll stick with sharing a specific piece of information: father Andy Ruiz Sr, who manages his son’s career, claims that the “idea” is to have “The Destroyer” face Chris Arreola in November.

That might take a bit of doing. The 39-year-old Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KO) claimed before his August fight with Adam Kownacki that he would retire if defeated, and though “The Nightmare” averaged nearly 100 punches per round in a terrific effort, he failed to keep up with the younger man en route to a unanimous decision loss. Of course, this is boxing, a sport where retirement has about as much staying power as a major comic book character’s death.

Ruiz (33-2, 22 KO) was tentatively linked to a midyear clash with Luis Ortiz, though that matchup appeared to fizzle quickly. He recently signed a one-fight deal with 2019 Trainer of the Year Eddy Reynoso.

This is obviously a serious step down from “King Kong,” but at least Arreola always goes for it.