By Troy Onderizek
FightNightNews Senior staff
writer
The mere mention of
the name John Ruiz
and boxing fans
everywhere cringe.
Ruiz’ style of
fighting has become
one of the most
reviled aspects in
the history of the
sport. Ruiz’ ability
to lull viewers and
opponents alike to
sleep has left him
as one of the most
unpopular fighters
of our time. Most
people watch Ruiz’
fights just hoping
to see him laid out
unconscious upon the
mat. It is an
absolute shame that
a champion should
evoke these types of
emotions from fight
fans, but John Ruiz
is a one and only
fighter; at least
most fans hope that
there is no other
like him.
I sigh as I admit
this, but I can
appreciate what Ruiz
does in the ring and
understand why he
fights the way he
does. That doesn’t
mean I like or
condone it, I just
understand.
In reality, Ruiz, as
disdained as he is,
he never turned down
the toughest
opponents and he
always looked to
make himself the
premier fighter in
the division, even
if it was obvious
that he wasn’t.
It has been a little over 14 years
since Ruiz started his professional
journey, and for all pertinent
purposes his career came to an end
Saturday night. Ruiz was in against
the undefeated Ruslan Chagaev.
Chagaev is a teak-tough southpaw who
carries a huge left hand, quick
countering skills, and a very sturdy
chin. The fight was fought at close
quarters which favored Ruiz due to
his “Huggy Bear” style and Chagaev’s
poor peripheral vision. However,
Chagaev pushed Ruiz back with his
power, but Ruiz was surprisingly
effective later on in the fight
despite taking several clean shots
from one of the hardest punchers in
the division today. Chagaev earned
his victory over Ruiz, unlike that
of Nikolay Valuev, but that is
another debate.
Now with this being the waning
portion of Ruiz’ career, I searched
hard for what Ruiz’ career truly
meant and how it effected boxing;
and I came to the conclusion that
Ruiz is a vastly underappreciated
fighter (I knew deep down that I
believed this fact, I was just in
denial) and that his impact on the
history of the sport will be felt
for years. Before you scoff and
decree my lunacy, it is true that
Ruiz’ title reign was a farce and a
cancer on this sport. I’m not trying
to disprove that. What I am trying
to do is shine a little light and to
disperse some truth into the cavern
that is known as Ruiz’ popularity
and credibility, and I'm trying to
see if there is anything there.
First off, Ruiz sports a respectable
career record of 41-7-1 with one no
contest and 28 KO’s. Yeah I was
shocked as well when I saw that 28
fighters were stopped by Ruiz, I
have always thought of him as a Zuri
Lawrence type of puncher, but then
again he has never punched me in the
head. Seriously though, Ruiz was
5-3-1 in ten world title fights.
However in those ten title fights
and five victories, Ruiz stopped
only one opponent, Fres Oquendo,
what a dubious claim to fame for
Oquendo.
Before Ruiz ever challenged for an
alphabet title, he met some tough
competition on the way up. Ruiz’
first loss came in his 15th career
bout against the late Sergei Kobozev.
Kobozev was a very talented fighter
whose only loss came in a world
title fight for the cruiserweight
crown, and his life was cut short
presumably by the Russian mafia.
Ruiz would go on to lose a tough
fight to prospect Danell Nicholson.
After gaining some steam again Ruiz
would land the most memorable fight
of his career. The result of which
has been played over and over by
boxing fans for the past decade, and
the fight only lasted 19 seconds. It
was Ruiz’ only KO loss of his career
and it was the best win for David
Tua.
Subsequently it has been putting
smiles on the faces of all the Ruiz
haters and Tuaman fans ever since.
From that fight on Ruiz got his act
together and took out guys like the
once respected Jimmy Thunder, aging
but still dangerous Tony Tucker,
former prospect Fernely Feliz, and
pre journeyman Mario Cawley. Granted
these aren’t the most respected
opponents, but hey it’s more
impressive then some of our current
champs. Those victories catapulted
Ruiz into his reign of terror and
his next ten fights would all be for
a title.
In his title fights Ruiz defeated
Evander Holyfield (an aging one, but
still a better version than the one
fighting today), Kirk Johnson (who
was a highly touted undefeated
fighter at the time), Hasim Rahman
(whom he hugged to death), Fres
Oquendo (I still can’t believe Ruiz
stopped him), and Andrew Golota (in
which the “Foul Pol” took a
proverbial low blow from the
judges). As for the men who actually
left the ring victorious. Evander
Holyfield (the 4th time the ancient
one won the crown), Roy Jones Jr.
(the last time the future hall-of-famer
looked great), James Toney (later
overturned to a No Contest due to
the pudgy Toney taking Nandrolone),
and Nikolay Valuev (a verdict in
which Ruiz was actually robbed of a
victory). I mean Ruiz’ list of
championship opponents isn’t
overflowing with all-time greats,
but it is filled with some of the
most notorious names in the sport
over the past decade.
I have yet to really give you proof
of Ruiz’ significance to the sport.
So bare with me and pay attention,
because you might not get it. We are
in the times of fractured titles and
multiple claimants to championships.
Well when Lennox Lewis was the
undisputed titlist, there was John
Ruiz to challenge that claim with
his useless alphabet belt. When Ruiz
would have looked like he lost a
fight, the persuaded judges would
let him keep his title. When Ruiz
would actually lose his belt he
would win it back via another judge
and in a court, not a ring. When
Ruiz’ victor would be stripped of
their strap, Ruiz would just be
handed it back by the persuaded
sanctioning body without actually
earning it back. Basically for as
decent as Ruiz was in the ring,
because lets be honest, you have to
be at least decent to hang on as
long as Ruiz did. Yes I know that
with King in his corner a lot of his
accomplishments were assisted by
King’s persuasion over the WBA, but
Ruiz was at least a minimally
talented fighter with a good chin
and an overpowering clinch.
So like I was saying, for as decent
as Ruiz was, his true skill and
ability was to change how titles
were won outside the ring, and to
water down the validity of being a
champion by dubious decisions and
child-like antics when he lost.
Another incredibly important fact
that we learned from Ruiz, and quite
possibly the most important of all,
is that even though you win a
majority of your fights, it’s not
that winning at all cost will equal
money; it’s that in victory or
defeat, to be entertaining is the
most vital attribute a fighter
should have. Fighters these days are
too cautious of losing and possibly
losing their opportunity to cash in.
Now Ruiz is the perfect example that
even if you win, if you aren’t at
least aggressive to a point, winning
doesn’t matter; fans won’t want to
see you fight again. Wladimir
Klitschko, even in his more subdued
way of fighting as he is now, is
vastly more engaging of a fighter
than Ruiz is, thus meaning we wanted
to see Klitschko fight again even if
he was losing fights. Because like
it or not, fighters are entertainers
and to put out a poor product will
hurt their earning potential even if
they are victorious at the end of
the night.
Truth is about John Ruiz is that he
was a tough guy to fight. Many have
speculated that Lennox Lewis avoided
unification with him, but Lewis knew
that a fight with Ruiz would’ve
stunk out the joint. No matter how
you look at him, Ruiz gave us a lot
of things to ponder about boxing.
Ruiz unearthed the dark side of
boxing for all the fans to see, the
litigation and the behind the scenes
quarrels Ruiz put out in the open.
Poor judging and hometown decisions
were put in the spotlight once again
by Ruiz.
The reality of steroids and boxing
became prominent as a result of a
Ruiz fight, and the decline in
viewing of the sport was made real
because of fighters like Ruiz and
their inability to give fans what
they wanted even in victory. That
last point will hopefully guide
other fighters into becoming a
little less cautious in their bouts
and to strike a cord with promoters
that even with a defeat,
entertaining fighters should still
be given a shot. John Ruiz in
synonymous with all that is wrong
with boxing and the heavyweight
division, that is unfair to Ruiz.
Ruiz fought everyone put in front of
him, never had a drug problem and
came to fight in shape. Ruiz fought
his style of fight and let me tell
you, he was a fairly entertaining
fighter up until Tua about knocked
off his head, and then we saw the
overly cautious Ruiz, but Ruiz
executed his gameplan flawlessly.
Ruiz might’ve been a heavyweight
title holder, but he was never
champion, and that is what will
define his career.
