Andy Ruiz was apparently thrilled to see Deontay Wilder suffer a colossal upset last Saturday night.

Ruiz, the former heavyweight titlist from Imperial, Calif., was ringside for the highly publicized fight card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that featured a slew of top heavyweights, including Anthony Joshua in the main event against Otto Wallin, and Wilder against Joseph Parker. 

A matchup between Joshua and Wilder match had reportedly been set for March in Riyadh on the condition that both fighters came out victorious on Saturday.

But while Joshua easily dispatched Wallin in five rounds, his rival Wilder had his hands full with Parker.

After 12 rounds, New Zealand’s Parker was awarded a unanimous decision over the vaunted puncher from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

In an interview, Ruiz indicated that he felt a bit of schadenfreude seeing Wilder lose to Parker. Ruiz and Wilder have traded bitter words over the past year as it relates to negotiating a deal for a potential fight.

“I was actually praying for Joseph Parker, I wanted him to win,” Ruiz told iFL TV after the conclusion of the card. “I wanted him to beat the sh!t out of Wilder because he was talking sh!t. He talked so much sh!t to everybody saying he’s gonna knock this guy out, that guy out, and I was super happy with Joseph Parker, man.”

Ruiz has suffered from inactivity since he lost a decision to Joshua in 2019 in their rematch. He has only fought twice since then, both unanimous decisions over Chris Arreola and Luiz Ortiz.

Ruiz, who vowed to return to the ring next year, expressed interest in a rematch with either Joshua or Parker, who defeated Ruiz by majority decision in their vacant WBO title bout in 2016.

“He beat me the first time,” Ruiz said. “I know it wasn’t like a real [defeat], but he beat me over there in his hometown and I wouldn’t mind running it back. I just want to see if AJ wants to run it back, get the trilogy, maybe not.”

Sean Nam is the author of .