John Ruiz Appreciation Thread

[Seamus]

Let's hear it for the Quiet Man!

Now that the dust has settled, we can truly appreciate the skills and fortitude he brought to the ring. Please list your best memories from his career along with acute analysis of his style and abilities. This is the first in a 47 part serial post on Ruiz as I plan on heading off Pollack at the pass by beginning my own study of the heavyweight champs with Ruiz and moving backward to the great NABF titleholder Alex Zolkin.

Thanks for your input!

[janitor]

I don't apreciate him!

[Seamus]

Good stamina, nice right hand, game fighter, strong in his oft initiated clinches... what's not to like?!

[lefthook31]

[cross_trainer]

Originally Posted by lefthook31

That's actually a pretty close approximation of what his fights looked like.

[Zakman]

You have GOT to be kidding me. Ruiz cheated his opponents of their opportunity to win fights WITHIN the rules, and he cheated the fans of seeing the legitimate boxing matches they paid to see. And his connections with King allowed him to get away with it.

Ruiz is a fraud, in the truest sense of the word. A glorified clubfighter who used his connections to get away with repeated rulebreaking to attain a status in this sport his ability didn't merit. He deserves NOTHING but scorn for this.

[Seamus]

Something tells me if he had the mustache his manager wore and fought in 1902 with that same style his praises would be never-ending in these parts.

[janitor]

Originally Posted by Seamus

Something tells me if he had the mustache his manager wore and fought in 1902 with that same style his praises would be never-ending in these parts.

McMustasche bludgeoned his oponents into the ground with the ring post, within the rules of the day!

[Swarmer]

the true definition of a pound for pound legend.

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[cross_trainer]

Originally Posted by Seamus

Something tells me if he had the mustache his manager wore and fought in 1902 with that same style his praises would be never-ending in these parts.

Yes and no.

As an outfighter, he's probably a slicker boxer under modern rules than most of the turn-of-the-century heavyweights. (Scary, isn't it?) A century of adaptation to gloves makes a difference.

In the clinches, though, I don't think his style would translate well to Jeffries' era. He got away with his jab-n'-grab because most fighters don't train for that sort of thing these days, since the rules don't allow it. Ruiz gambled on developing a skillset that skirted the edges of 21st century rules.

In a time machine bout against somebody like Jeffries, he'd be up against an opponent who trained with world-champion wrestlers. Same goes to some degree for other heavyweights from that period. If you've seen Ketchel's footage on Youtube, you probably noticed how the first couple rounds against Papke looked a little like a weird Greco-Roman match with gloves.

Under the early 20th century's permissive clinching rules, Ruiz would probably get out-mauled by anybody close to his own size.

[Seamus]

Originally Posted by cross_trainer

Under the early 20th century's permissive clinching rules, Ruiz would probably get out-mauled by anybody close to his own size.

Except he would be considered a freak of nature giant and would be assigned some shitty nom de guerre like "The Chelsea Colossus"... Goddamn those folks were corny in them days.

[lefthook31]

Originally Posted by Swarmer

the true definition of a pound for pound legend.

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Not even a disgusting Wooley Mammoth could stop the Quiet Man.

[cross_trainer]

Originally Posted by Seamus

Except he would be considered a freak of nature giant and would be assigned some shitty nom de guerre like "The Chelsea Colossus"... Goddamn those folks were corny in them days.

Point taken, but Johnson and Jeffries would have been big enough to manhandle him.

[frankenfrank]

Originally Posted by Zakman

You have GOT to be kidding me. Ruiz cheated his opponents of their opportunity to win fights WITHIN the rules, and he cheated the fans of seeing the legitimate boxing matches they paid to see. And his connections with King allowed him to get away with it.

Ruiz is a fraud, in the truest sense of the word. A glorified clubfighter who used his connections to get away with repeated rulebreaking to attain a status in this sport his ability didn't merit. He deserves NOTHING but scorn for this.

Sounds exactly like Bernard Hopkins to me , just replace King with Hopkins' connections . Bernard is a much more acute example of your statements above.
So I say , if you recognize Bernard then you must consider Ruiz as a clean fighter nonetheless .

[teeto]

some legendary comments here!