Holyfield-Ruiz I and II

They were hard to watch. Holyfields timing was so off because of Ruiz's herky jerky style. That guy was bad for anyone. The Tua knockout was the best thing that could have happened to him, he developed the most undesireable crowd pleasing style, but it was effective against just about every heavyweight that couldnt better him in the speed department.

 

that had nothing to do with it. His timing was off because he needed shoulder surgery which he did not get until after the Byrd fight. He had bone spurs and stretched ligiments against Ruiz and he tore the rotator cuff before the Byrd fight. He got them all fixed after the Byrd fight.

 

And then went onto lose two more in a row. Cmon, Evander was older and slower. Ruiz went on to make technically decent fighters look like **** with that style. Evander in his prime would have schooled Ruiz like Jones JR did.

 

The trilogy wasn't as bad as people often say. Ruiz is always ugly to watch, but the first bout was fairly fast paced for the first few rounds. Close fight that could've gone either way. The rematch was dull in large part, but picked up at the end. The rubber match, however, was terrible.

 

Now, I agree that he was older and slower but he had several problems with his shoulder.

But, Holyfield although still shot did look better after the Byrd fight when he had his shoulder repaired.

In his Prime he would have chewed Ruiz up and spit him out.

 

BTW, does anyone remember if these 3 fights were on HBO or Showtime or were they PPV? I can't remember. :huh

 

1. Showtime
2. Showtime PPV
3. HBO

After the end of the third fight, George Foreman said something about them fighting like champions. Larry Merchant said "do you think they fought like champions?". After Foreman said yes, Larry disagreed. Foreman says "well wait until you have one professional fight and then you can talk about what a champion is".

 

Is boxing that far gone, that the Classic Forum really has to debate the merits of these awful, awful fights?

 

I went 2 this fight back in 2000 & the common concenses was that Holyfield would have an easy night maybe even stopping Juan Ruiz as he was called back then. It was a pretty competitive fight & trying 2 make a tally at a live fight ai'nt the most accurate what with the atmosphere/booze & nagging wife (who hates boxing moaning all the way through it) anyway, after the 1st 4/5 rounds i never had Evander in it as Ruiz appeared 2 box well above himself & Evander seemed 2 fade badly down the stretch & was only fighting in small bursts in each round.

When the final bell went my wife said "who won" i replied Ruiz but he won't get the decision, so we left the ballroom before the scores were read out & obviously new the result by the huge/collective booing that resounded all the way into the Casino.

I've not seen the fight on tape but from my fuzzy recollections 116/112 for Ruiz is not that far out, my wife obviously enquired 2 how this comes about 2 which my reposte was "It's Vegas":smoke

 

An aging Holyfield riddled with injuries of course......

......but this is how I looked at those Ruiz fights.....

First off, Ruiz should have been disqualified in each of them for the exessive holding, especially fights 2 and 3.

I though Holyfield took Ruiz lightly in fight one, and paid for it dearly in how horribly off in his timing that he was.
He looked really out of balance and lethargic in that first fight, and though Holyfield got the decision, I had Ruiz winning it by at least 3 points.


Fight 2, Holyfield knocked out Ruiz with a body shot, but Ruiz fooled the referee into believing it was a low blow....the fight continued after a long wait to allow Ruiz to recover from a shot that replays showed was a legit body shot.......
.....Ruiz must have been clinching and holding Holyfield well over 10 times per round.....it seemed that after any punch was thrown, Ruiz was outstretching his hands to get into a clinch with Holyfield.....it became so predictable that Holyfield from the way I saw it, got knocked down and hurt by a Ruiz right hand late in the fight, lulled into believing that Ruiz was about to reach out and hug him again.....but instead Ruiz finally threw a shot that landed and hurt Holyfield.

.....whats that saying, the shot you're not expecting and dont see coming is the one that hurts you.

In any regards, Holyfield performed much better in fight 2 than he had in the first fight, and I believe should have been given the decision......a knockdown was'nt nearly enough imo in a fight where Ruiz fought very little.

Fight 3 was the best version of the 3 fights from Holyfield.......Even with Ruiz' clinching, Holyfield dominated, and especially late in the fight where Holyfield rearanged Ruiz' face and turned his nose upside down......
Inexplicably, it was ruled a draw......one of the worst if not the worst decisions I've ever seen......


So suprised was Ruiz when the decision was announced, I kid you not, Ruiz started jumping up and down in elation and celebrating what was ruled a draw!

 

I dont believe Ruiz has ever been in a good fight.....at least not from the first Holyfield fight to present.

Honestly, under the word clinch in the dictionary, a word definition is'nt necessary......just a posted picture of John Ruiz outstretching his arms for a clinch should suffice.:yep

How sad of boxing that Ruiz has never been deducted points for clinching, from his Holyfield fights to present!:---(

 

I had them 115-113 Holyfield, 114-112 Ruiz and 116-112 Holyfield off the top of my head.

Ruiz actually started quick in the first fight, aggressive with his jab, but when he got wobbled in the 3rd round he went right to the jab & grab and stuck with it. I still thought Holyfield actually pulled it off, based on his heavier shots.

Second fight, pretty even stuff until the 8th where Holyfield really began pounding on Ruiz. Ruiz's face was a mess, bloody and with a big mouse under the left eye. Then the 'low blow' fiasco which Ruiz milked, I actually blame the ref here more than Ruiz. Holy looked to be winning then got caught with that right hand and was well out of it for the 11th and 12th. Without that knockdown and being so shaky after it as well, Holyfield would've won.

The third fight I find the dullest because it's more of an even effort from Holy, rather than the occasional peaks (and troughs) of the first two fights. Nevertheless, after an even battle Holy raised his game in the championship rounds for what I thought should've been a deserved win.

The trilogy has its moments. But in the minority.

 

IMO, they were close, which gave them an edge the first time you watch them. But like say a Eubank/BennII, they were very ordinary fights.