Deontay Wilder's coach would rather the heavyweight face Anthony Joshua, Joe Joyce or Oleksandr Usyk over any title eliminator with Andy Ruiz Jr.
The 'Bronze Bomber' made his return to the ring at the weekend after putting aside any plans to retire when he recorded another highlight reel KO against Robert Helenius in the opening round at the Barclays Center. He had already retained his No.1 ranking with the WBC despite being out of action following his defeat to Tyson Fury, which will now likely see him thrust into an eliminator with Andy Ruiz Jr.
Wilder included the Mexican star in his post-fight call-out list, with the governing body expected to order a heavyweight eliminator between the pair at their convention next month. Despite it set to be made official by the WBC that his next opponent will have to be Ruiz Jr, his coach Malik Scott has other plans.
"If it was up to me the negotiations would be in motion concerning Deontay and Usyk or him and AJ at a big stadium," Scott told Vegas Insider. "One of those two. I'm not that big on him and Andy Ruiz fighting or him and Frank Sanchez. I'm not interested in those fights for Deontay. We've got three years left in this game and I want Deontay in the highest level fights possible. He's big time boxing, those guys are not big time boxing.
"I'm not downplaying Ruiz, he's a former heavyweight champion and he's a good fighter. At the top level of the division there are not many fighters I'm interested in fighting. Joe Joyce is a much better fighter for us concerning entertaining fights than Andy Ruiz. Ruiz would be more marketable because he's a former heavyweight champion but Joyce is a much tougher opponent than Andy Ruiz is.
"Joyce would beat Ruiz easily. And if he can take the hardest puncher in the history of this sport over and over again and not be dazed, which is almost humanly impossible - then obviously he'd be the toughest one."
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Despite facing the possibility of a lengthy list of potential opponents, Wilder could be involved in the eliminator against Ruiz Jr which would put him in pole position to fight WBC champion Fury for a fourth time. However unified champion Usyk has also offered the 36-year-old a title shot if an undisputed fight cannot be made between himself and the 'Gypsy King' next year.
On his own list, Wilder failed to include Joshua but prioritised a shot against Usyk. "I've been hearing rumours about [Oleksandr] Usyk but I see he's not here," Wilder said. "Most of the times guys say they want me and they come to shows of mine, they see knockouts like that they turn the corner. I'm ready for whoever, whether it's Andy Ruiz or Usyk, bring it on."
