How good was John Ruiz

His bouts were great for insomniacs. I'll give him that much praise, and ONLY that much praise.
Losing to RJJ was such a disgrace...a freaking SMW with a chinny chin chin... that all his statues should be toppled and his name erased from the memory of mankind.

 

Great post right there in those two lines. Not only to remain unbroken, but to keep putting the hard hours in day after day. I have problems focusing myself, and I have an admiration for the guys that grab onto something and wring it out for what its worth. It's why I value a consistent resume over a flash in the pan great win. My 2c.

 

Yeah, I'm no fan of Ruiz' style either. However, he was able to beat some guys that he really shouldn't have, imo.

 

I remember once reading a description of Ruiz as a "Greco-Roman boxer" which is kind of funny and pretty accurate. I found his fights unbearable to watch.

 

I used to talk boxing a lot with one friend and I said one day people will look on boxrec and begin to question how good he was, as in his record is probably better than he was. I guess we are reaching that time. Holyfield fights are hard to judge. He was obviously way past it but immediately took Rahman to school - and headbutt city - right after his three in a row with Ruiz...but then he promptly lost his next three contests.

He loses to Roy Jones - who everyone knows Jones Cherry Picked - but then Jones was never the same (I know not because of Ruiz). He then beat Rahman, Golota, and Oquendo. He then lost - but all were debatable in a way - to Chagaev, Valuev twice. Finishing his career losing to Haye.

In short, my worry that Ruiz would be looked at as an all-time great, will not be met, mostly because a lot of his losses were close losses. He was boring to watch, but he did have a sneaky right hand that hurt a lot of people. He was an overachiever who happened to had good ties with Don King/WBA, to always stay in the title picture.

I realize this post was a bit everywhere, but I still don't know the answer after all that drivel lol.

 

The difference between evaluating someone like Greb for whom there is no film and Ruiz is that in the future one could view his fights. So one would go to boxrec, think he's an ATG, the watch his fights. Then a proper ranking could be made. No, he's not an ATG.

 

Of course you are right, but I would bet there are an alarming amount of people who never make it past the "look up his record on boxrec" stage, lol.

 

There are those who say he had to wear the cuffs against Jones. In the end the Devil ask for much more than he delivers.

His loss to Tua is not as bad as Dempsey's to Flynn.

He clearly beat the roided Toney.

So, the argument can be made that he never really lost.

 

I get you are being sarcastic, but want to know if the part about Ruiz wearing cuffs against Jones is true?

 

He was...how to put this.

Very good at doing enough to not clearly lose heavyweight boxing matches against top contenders in his era.

He wasn't very good to watch, and he falls comically short of "greatness" in a historical sense, as I wouldn't favor him against the majority (or even a large minority) of his peers in the HW title lineage, even going pretty far back to near-pioneer days.

 

Not for me, thanks

 

Not good at all. Ruiz is a classic case of how boxing corruption can greatly alter a career trajectory. King picked this mediocrity off the scrap heap after he was destroyed by Tua and maneuvered him into the rankings, where he got title shot after title shot he didn't merit.

Then, the fights. Ruiz never legitimately "won" a fight against a decent opponent without holding excessively; faking "low blows" like he did against Jimmy Thunder to get a crucial point deduction, Holyfield in their second fight to avoid being counted out (as should have happened) and against Kirk Johnson to get a thoroughly bogus DQ.; or without getting some help from Don King's judges, such as the outrageous gift decision he received against Golota in a fight where he was outlanded, knocked down twice and got another point deducted, and yet somehow got the nod!!

Without Don King, Ruiz is a regional beltholder (NABF, USBA, etc.) - at best - who is known for being starched by David Tua in 19 seconds. He's the poster boy for boxing corruption, a shameful cheater who deserves to be remembered as exactly that and nothing more.

 

Ruiz's style was ugly to the point where Puerto Rican boxing fans didn't even support him.

 

He was the poster boy for how a durable alphabet man with the right promoter can keep clogging up the arteries during a period of ill health.

 

I think the guy is a slightly better version of Scott Ledoux. Very slightly version.