Is Ruiz actually a CW?

He doesn’t need to boil down to CW, he just needs to be able to move around the ring, on his next fight his opponent will be on their bike. A rematch with Parker maybe in the confines of NZ would give motivation to two very skilled but unfocused fighters, this would be a great bout for all the triangulators out there

 

If he had discipline but he don't

 

He's about the same size as John Ruiz who would have never been 168. Can't see it. He's fat as hell that's for sure

 

Andy ain't skinny, that's for sure

 

No.

People said the same about Chris Byrd, and he moved down, and sucked.

People said the same about Eddie Chambers, and he moved down, and sucked.

Not every small and/or fat heavyweight "should be a cruiser". Kill that noise already.

 

Byrd was at the end and Eddie is an underachiever. I think moving down definitely killed their muscles, but either could have done very well at cruiser had they started there.

 

There's absolutely zero reason to assume that. Best you can put it down as is a hard maybe.

They didn't just look kinda bad; they both looked horrible. Byrd wasn't THAT shot when he moved down from HW.

 

Byrd had been visibly declining for a few years. He had lost his speed entirely, which was sort of his thing. I am honestly not sure how this is even a question.

 

He wasn't prime but if he fought the p4p equivalent of Shaun George at heavyweight in 2008 no way does he lose as badly as he did. Ffs he went eleven with Povetkin just seven months before that (and honestly wasn't entirely without competitive moments in that one).

Saying this or that small and/or fat HW could've been a great cruiser is PURE CONJECTURE.

For guys like Arreola, Byrd, Chambers etc, you can say maybe they would've and maybe they wouldn't have done well sub 200, and you can present a case for why or why not - but making a declarative statement about how they would have for sure been as good as they were at HW (or better!!) is and will always be nothing but a reach.

 

And I simply don't agree in the case of Byrd. In his prime, he was faster than any cruiser I remember, and he would have had very good pop at that weight. His chin would not be tested by anyone at 190/200.

The point you are making is a philosophical one. Yes, anything not proven by having happened is "conjecture." But it is a conjecture based on some very good data. You can of course always say "no he wouldn't," but I think most fans know that there is no way that he loses to guys like Hill, Mormeck, Jirov, Braithwaite, Nelson, etc.

Maybe Toney. I never count Lights Out, out.

 

Lol he probably is a cruiser weight but that fat pig doesn’t have the discipline to ever get below 250 let alone 200

 

A 245 to 255 lbs Ruiz would be champ again.