What exactly did Ruiz do to earn a fight with Lewis?

maybe you should take your case up with the WBA or maybe you should tell us who you think should have been the WBA No1 contender instead of John Ruiz?... Ruiz went on and justified the WBA ranking him highly by winning the title on 3 occasions and fighting at the highest level over the next 11yrs.

 

Well, he didn't do much to "earn" it at all.
But that's the nature of the alphabet rankings - they suck.
But if a fighter is going to value the belt as worth winning, I guess he should honour the rules of the organization. Maybe.

It's like Lewis benefited from similar rulings too. Look at his rematch with McCall - what exactly gave McCall a right to contest the vacant WBC title ? It suited Don King, and it suited Lennox Lewis - he could get his revenge and his old title back- and the WBC satisfied them both.
But McCall hadn't done much since Bruno had beat him, and he'd been in drug rehab more than training. It's all about connections.

Same with Ruiz - he had hooked up with King and was therefore well connected.

But guys like Grant and Tua were better supported by HBO and therefore more viable too.
Holyfield probably deserved another chance at Lewis but both him and Lewis would have had to take a pay cut if they went for a 3rd fight - because as a pair they were losing marketability.

The titles split up so everyone can make some money. It's a scam.

 

Slept with Don King?

 

If the rankings were based on true merit, I think Holyfield should have been number 1 in all three organisations still at that point in time.
I mean, he'd just taken Lewis to the wire in their rematch - it was razor close. No one else out there had any credentials to compare.

 

I agree.

 

i agree... Holyfield felt he was robbed in their rematch and should definately have been given a 3rd and deciding bout.

 

:good
I would have liked to have seen a 3rd match in summer of 2000, but most boxing "fans" didn't really want it, so I guess it wouldn't have drawn as well as their first two fights.
The press and Lewis were trying to build up Tyson again ! atsch
And Michael Grant of course.

 

Ruiz beat Holyfield and then retained his title on a draw. I think Ruiz more than earned a shot at Lewis. He fought Holyfield better than Lewis did and even managed to floor him in one of the fights.

 

Let's be honest, Holyfield was clearly a shot fighter in his fights with Ruiz.

 

What was he in the Lewis fight, fresh as a daisy?

 

I think he did enough to earn a fight with Lewis. The excuse of him not being an exciting fighter does not hold much weight with me. Lewis got a shot and he was a boring fighter himself, even when he was in with action fighters like Holyfield and Tua he turned the fights into snooze fests.

 

Actually, come to think of it, Butler was a more worthy choice than Ruiz. He was on a 15 fight win streak, mostly KO's with KO's of former champs Smith and Tubbs.

 

Lionel Butler was one of those fighters who deserves to be called a "bum".
I don't understand how he could turn up for the biggest fight of his career so obviously out of condition. It's baffling.
Well, it's not really .... I just accept that he was a bum, a crackhead, a mental case, or something.

 

No certainly not.

He was 37 years old & badly faded in many areas.

 

Butler was a glorified sparring partner as was Phil Jackson, but Jackson had a better protected record because he was somewhat sane. Butler was a mental case who could never stay in shape.