Andy Ruiz Jr has hinted that he already has a fight with Deontay Wilder for the undisputed world heavyweight title lined up if he can win his rematch against Anthony Joshua in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

Both Ruiz and Wilder are signed to Al Haymon’s PBC so a deal would be easy to make. And while Wilder has agreed to a rematch with Tyson Fury – which is expected to be announced for February 22 in Las Vegas, although it is yet to be formally announced – Ruiz, the WBA, WBO and IBF champion, claims he has been speaking on the phone with Wilder, the WBC champion, to discuss a future fight.

“Me and Wilder actually talk on the phone, we are good friends,” Ruiz said. “We know what is in the plan.”

When asked if the deal was arranged, Ruiz replied: “Yeah. I need to get past December 7 before I start working other fighters.”

Despite having knocked down Joshua four times on the way to a seventh-round stoppage in New York in June, Ruiz is again the outsider with the bookmakers, with his odds lengthening again after he weighed in 15lb heavier than for their first fight.

But Ruiz feels that Joshua’s style is made for him and that the Englishman struggles with smaller boxers.

“I don’t know if I am his bogeyman, I think his style was just perfect for me and I think it will be the same,” Ruiz said. “I think he will box around nicely for four or five rounds until I take the pressure to him, start hitting his body and mixing it up.

“I did say he was not good enough to avoid me for the full 12 rounds, on the backfoot, we have been working on this for a round three months now and I know, whatever he brings, we will be ready for it.

“We’ve been training on being small, being more slick, applying pressure, throwing combinations and being first to the punch. I know he is going to try to box me around, that is why he last some weight, he will try to keep me away with the jab but that’s exactly what we have been practicing for.”

Ruiz said he had enjoyed getting inside Joshua’s head in recent weeks and believes he hit a nerve on the Sky Sports show The Gloves Are Off when claiming that Joshua quit in the first fight.

“I am pretty sure he was mad at me, I think he thought ‘you mother f---er’,” Ruiz said. “But that is what I felt in my heart, he spat his mouthpiece out and quit.

“He was waiting too long to fight again and that is exactly what we are going to try to do on December 7. Hopefully we can make him do it again.. I know it won’t be easy, it will be a harder fight.

“I know he is in the right mindset and will be well prepared but so are we. Everyone has a plan until they get hit. I am not too confident and I am not overlooking him.”

Ruiz believes he did not get full credit for his win, but has proved an inspiration, particularly heavier people.

“I made big guys look good,” he said. “A lot of people are more confident, they look at me and go, ‘if Andy Ruiz can do it then so can I’. That was my goal. I have to motivate kids, motivate people and let them know everything is possible, they have to work hard, train hard or whatever it is they do even if it’s not boxing, if it is their job or anything.

“I had my first amateur fight at 7. That was in San Diego, California. I lost too. I was weighing more than all the other seven-year-olds, so my dad brought this 12-year-old for me. It was a hell of a fight. I still have that on videotape.

“My whole life I’ve been fighting big guys. I think that is where I got the experience. I just thank my dad for always pushing me. Even when I didn’t want to box anymore he would drag me out of bed and say, ‘Come on motherf---er let’s train because you will do something’. That is exactly what happened.”