Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on Tuesday that if the party's front-runner Donald Trump won't debate the entire GOP field on Thursday, he wants the two of them to go head-to-head. Cruz's words came just an hour after the real estate mogul said he was boycotting the Fox News GOP debate.

"If Donald is afraid of Megyn Kelly, I would like to invite him on your show to participate in a one-on-one debate between me and Donald, mano y mano," Cruz said during an interview on "The Mark Levin Show" and even said that Trump could choose the moderator, according to CNN. 

Cruz, who, according to RealClear Politics, is running a close second to Trump in Iowa ahead of the early voting state's caucuses on Feb. 1, sought to score political points among voters there, saying, "And the fact that Donald is now afraid to appear on the debate stage, that he doesn't want his record questioned, I think that reflects a lack of respect for the men and women of Iowa, that he's unwilling to go to Des Moines and be questioned," according to The Hill.

"This is a job interview, you need to be willing to answer the questions of the American people, and if Donald is afraid to defend his record, that speaks volumes," he said. "And if he thinks Megyn Kelly is so scary, what exactly does he think he'd do with Vladimir Putin? I promise you Putin is a lot scarier than Megyn Kelly." 

Cruz later stepped up the attack, petitioning supporters to force the debate and calling Trump "Ducking Donald." On his website, the Cruz campaign writes, "If Donald Trump is afraid of Megyn Kelly, then Ted Cruz is willing to debate 'Ducking Donald' one-on-one/ Ted Cruz is willing to stand up and defend his record, anytime, any place. Why isn't Ducking Donald?"