How would John Ruiz in his octopus boxing pomp have done against prime Tua? Does Ruiz perform better than he did as a younger fighter? We will assume Ruiz is the champion in this scenario, and Tua is challenging for the belt.
A tricky one. On paper Ruiz should win when you compare their results at the highest level, but it is hard to unsee their actual fight.
Tua puts him through the blender again, it might take a little longer because Ruiz is goin g to be clinching a lot.
i always felt as if that fight was a freak occurrence and had Ruiz survived he’d have shut Tua down with his BS.
Back when Huggy Bear (as his "fans" called him) held a belt, it was generally believed that Ruiz's unique take on boxing developed in response to the Tua defeat. Dunno how accurate this is, since I've never seen pre-Tua Ruiz in action.
Four round in, after Ruiz has held on and smothered Tua, BANG. Ruiz finds himself studying those pretty lights.