No, Ruiz WAS terrible. In fact, worse than that. Not only did he have all the ability of high grade clubfighter, but he used his connections with Don King to get title shot after undeserved title shot, and a free pass for his illegal holding tactics and other shennanigans that should have gotten him disqualitifed in virtually every fight against decent fighters. Ruiz is exhibit A of how corruption damages boxing, elevating a talentless bum to levels his ability never merited.
Canelo is probably about 5' 8 1/2" - but, yeah, Ruiz eats him. If the jab alone wouldn't finish him, Ruiz's clinching would just squeezzeee all that clenbuterol out of Canelo like juice from a grape...
I didn't like watching John Ruiz fight. Somehow, though, most of the Germans booed the decision that awarded Valuev that first decision over Ruiz. Speaking of Germans, many boxing fans (myself included) cheered like it was fall of the ****ing Berlin wall when Haye stopped Ruiz and sent him off to retirement.
Yes. If you're going to beat a heavyweight champion as a much smaller man, even a weak one like Ruiz, you need to be extremely fast and evasive and probably relatively tall and rangy as well. Jones had the perfect traits to outpoint a slower, less skillful heavyweight. Canelo doesn't even look convincing against a horrifically handicapped and shot Kovalev: imagine how slow, stiff, gassed and useless he'd be as a cruiser-heavy.
Probably Ruiz would win. I just hate typing that because he is probably the worst heavyweight title holder in history that Canelo probably could pull it off. However Ruiz would just hug Canelo and tire him out. Plus Don King protected Ruiz far worse than GBP protected Canelo.
Nah, not John Ruiz. How bout Canelo gets a year to train for a heavyweight fight. A heavyweight fight vs David Tua.
Aside from Wilder and Carnera, Clenelo is the most protected fighter the cards are filled out before he steps in the ring his only job is to finish on his feet the judges have done the rest for him.
Canelo couldn’t have been worse than that dripping fat version of Toney that beat Ruiz. Canelo probably would counter Ruiz to death, just like Toney did.
I still think Canelo takes the cake. He hits just hard enough to gain respect, has speed, mobility, great upper body movement, good footwork. Jawney wouldnt know how to deal with his style. Just another middleweight beating him at hw. Honestly what does Ruiz bring to the table? A creeper right hand he seldom throws, Canelo could evade that. Wrestling on the inside, harmless unless he throws a punch. What else? Just hitting and hugging. Plus Canelo has sparred with Frankie Sanchez, no big deal.
Toney was not acing any eye tests as a HW - that's for damned sure. But he was more than dripping fat when fighting Ruiz in 2005 - he was also dripping stanozolol.
I rate Frankie Sanchez very highly - but sparring can mean all sorts of things. And sparring in front of the cameras as Canelo did with Sanchez - likely means nothing serious at all. Ruiz was a dreadful bore to watch (when I could bring myself to do it) and not a big puncher. He was not explosive, but he was a physically strong guy for his size and Valuev couldn't quite push John around the way he did some other fighters. Also, Canelo is probably rehydrating pretty close to 185 lbs these days for SMW fights...and some of those attributes you cite might not be there if he's at 205 lbs. And, yes, Canelo hits hard enough for his size - but he's not David Tua or David Haye. I say the size difference tells and Ruiz wears him out - albeit in tedious fashion.