Better Legacy; Rahman or Ruiz?

I would rather be a 2 time world champion, have the better victories, have gone 1-1-1 with Evander than have the alleged distinction of having had and been one of the greatest KO's.

 

Legacy to me doesn't necessarily mean better fighter. It's about who will be remembered, John Ruiz will not.

 

I must admit when Rahman beat Lewis his personality and 'energy' was a breath of fresh air.

 

It sure was - I enjoyed his charisma it's a shame he didn't get one defense before Lewis but that was how the cards fell. Then his training for fights fell apart ... WTF happen?!:admin:yikes

 

Good point..

That great KO of Lewis by Rahman was followed by one that was just as devastating.

It would have been like Tyson coming back and knocking Buster Douglas out.

Edit: I didn't realise Douglas didn't have a successful defense, Holyfield got him right away.

At the same time, I would have rather been just about anyone other than John Ruiz the night he fought David Tua.

 

You know Rahman let fame go to his head. He kept that DC crew around him and partied in the limelight.

Sad to say, Bermane Stiverne is doing something of a Rahman right now. He's traveling the globe partying and he aint in the gym getting ready for Wilder.

While some like Zakman, Rico, and the rest of the chin checker crew might think he could put Wilder down in his sleep, Im of the opinion that he's gonna need to shed a few pound and get some guys like Takam, Hughie Fury, and Joe Hanks in his camp to work on his defense off the ropes.

He could be a one win and gone titlist if he does like Rahman and overlooks his first defense.:think:-(

 

Lewis was at that point in his career that Floyd is now at

he could of easily retired, but chose to take the best rewards available for the least risk, he didn't have anything left to prove at that point and chose not to fight Ruiz, someone who brought little reward and would make the fight ugly to watch

 

:good agreed it might be a fight. I didnt know Stiverne was partying. I remember seeing Rock everywhere when he won. He came in shape fight 2 but just thought it would be a walk.

 

Lennox Lewis the king of the courts is what happened

 

It should be a good fight, but I think Stiverne wins, simply because he has a better chin than Wilder. Wilder got floored by Nichols.

There's no way it goes the distance, though.

 

Event though Ruiz was awful to watch he is a good guy and they way Tua went threw him was devastating. It's weird how Ruiz went on to become one of the best heavies at the time whilst Tua achieved hardly anything.

 

Ya that tua destruction was something. I don't even think tua won a title did he? Unreal. Probably my favorite hw, all those great kos, granite chin, but then gets dominated by a guy like Chris Byrd.

 

Both Holyfield and Lewis agreed that the winner of their rematch will fight the #1 WBA contender(John Ruiz), who was ironically also promoted by King(which means King made sure he had a "forced" option on Lewis by messing with the rankings, something King is known to properly control). After beating Evander Holyfield for the undisputed WBC/WBA/IBF titles, Lewis went on to fight Michael Grant, who was the #5 contender on the WBA rankings. The WBA agreed to sanction this fight, which was highly demanded at the time, on the condition that the winner will fight the #1 WBA contender within 180 days after the fight is done.

Right after the WBA agreed and Lewis-Grant was already on, Don King made his move and filed suit to strip Lewis off the WBA title and clear way for Holyfield/Ruiz to fight for the vacant title in a 100% "in house"(Obviously meaning two fighters signed with King = 100% profit) fight for King's benefit. Unfortunately, the WBA agreed and Don King's sleazy tactics worked. King made sure he had at least one title to promote otherwise he would have been left with nothing in the heavyweight division, something a highly intelligent man like King wasn't going to allow.

It's more Boxing politics than "Lewis is afraid of Ruiz".

Another interestingly similar(in a different way) story is how Don King contacted Lewis after his fight with Tyson and asked him to drop the IBF title for $1 million Dollars and a Range Rover to clear way for Byrd-Holyfield. Lewis told King that he already planned to retire. Shortly after that meeting with Lewis, which took place in Ghana Africa, Lewis dropped the title and Byrd-Holyfield did indeed happen for the vacant IBF title. Surely not many people know or care to remember this. Ironically, Lewis was in the audience for Byrd-Holyfield. Did Lewis really drop the title because he's "afraid" of Byrd?, would anyone sane really think or dare believe that?. It's just King being the promotional genius that he really is.

 

Man I do miss Ruiz's corner-men Norman Stoney

What a hack job of a coach. Wonder if he's still screaming obscenities at refs somewhere.:think

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TVi6qugGBw

Never gets boring to check out from time to time. :yep