Holyfield-Ruiz Trilogy - your scores?

I know that watching any of this trilogy again is generally greeted with the same enthusiasm amongst boxing fans as a pickaxe to the nuts, but I thought I'd take a look again at this series and see what other people thought.


For the rounds that I thought were fairly close, I've marked them with an asterisk.

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===HOLY-RUIZ I===
1 Ruiz
2 Ruiz*
3 Holyfield
4 Ruiz*
5 Ruiz
6 Holyfield*
7 Holyfield*
8 Holyfield
9 Holyfield
10 Holyfield
11 Ruiz
12 Holyfield 10-8
TOTAL 115-112 Holyfield

Bad fight for Holyfield. The layoff since Lewis II, his age and Ruiz's awkward style really seemed to affect him, he was waiting for counterpunches too much rather than taking charge and let Ruiz dictate a lot of the action with a snappy jab. Ruiz's best round was the 1st, as he rushed out and landed several shots, but Holyfield had him badly wobbled in the 3rd from a straight right and almost finished it. From then on Ruiz was a lot more negative with his fighting, while Holy strugged because he was looking for the big shots rather than combinations.

The commentators were also pretty awful, especially Czyz. He gave Ruiz 7 of the first 8 rounds which is just utterly myopic, maybe he still had some of that mysterious stuff in his eyes he was always bitching about? Round 9 was a highpoint for nonsense, as they began going on about "a burst of energy from Ruiz" as he was getting thumped, and "big finish from Ruiz" as Holy bounced a one-two off his body. They seemed to be watching something else entirely, which I think was a classic case of where an underdog does better than expected and so therefore the bias swings too far over into their corner where everything they do is highlighted. Particuarly bad were the frequent occasions when Holy and Ruiz would land good punches at the same time, and they'd only mention Ruiz's shot, usually when they were trading jabs. Plus calling it "highway robbery" etc at the end was sensationalism and along the lines of the whole "rooting for the underdog" thing I mentioned, because even at best it was a close win for Ruiz and he really didn't look all that great himself. Close decisions are never robberies.

Ruiz outworked and outlanded Holyfield, but Holy's punches landed a lot harder and did visable damage. I also think there's a case to be made for a knockdown missed in the 12th, when Holyfield landed a left hook, and about a second later Ruiz stutter-stepped and took a knee, but it was called a slip. I've included that one in my scoring.


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===HOLY-RUIZ II===
1 Ruiz
2 Ruiz*
3 Holyfield
4 Holyfield*
5 Holyfield*
6 Ruiz*
7 Holyfield
8 Ruiz
9 Holyfield
10 Even 9-9
11 Ruiz 10-8
12 Ruiz
TOTAL 114-112 Ruiz

In turn, this was probably the best fight of the three for Holyfield (until it all went pear-shaped in the 11th). He got Ruiz on the back foot where he was much less effective, was throwing quick hard punches and forcing Ruiz to fight at close range where Holyfield had the advantage. Ruiz was very badly marked up here, with his left eye very swollen with a big mouse under it, his right eye bruised, a big cut on his forehead and his nose bleeding. After another even few rounds Holyfield was really beginning to turn it on and banging a tiring Ruiz about, until the 10th round where he landed a low blow. The angle sucked, it was hard to tell how high or low on the beltline it fell exactly so I can't say for certain...but Holy was docked a point and Ruiz definitely milked it, collapsing to the canvas and then taking a 3-minute breather which he needed every second of. He then belted Holy with a much worse retaliation low blow but got no penalty for it (and Holy didn't need a 3-minute pantomine to recover either).

Still, it looked like Holy was closing the show when he got blasted with a great right hand from Ruiz in the 11th and wobbled backwards, taking another right hand as he fell down. He looked really shocked by it, and in the post-fight interview admitted he didn't even see it coming. He got back up but he was seriously out of it for the remaining two minutes of the round, first clutching onto Ruiz and refusing to let go and then staggering about the ring as Ruiz landed several shots off him. Holy tried firing back with one or two shots but they were slow and weak punches that didn't land. I didn't score it this way, but I can see why some gave Ruiz a 10-7 round here because Holy was on another planet while Ruiz bounced shots off his head and body.

Holy got his senses together enough to try again in the 12th and put in a game effort, but when Ruiz began landing again he had no real answer and still seemed shaken up from the previous round. While I certainly question Ruiz's theatrics in Round 10, there really can be no argument that he rung Holyfield's bell, put him down in a close fight and was the only guy in the fight come the end. Those that have said Holy was only shaken for a little while after the knockdown are living in the same dream street as Holyfield occupied when he took it.


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===HOLY-RUIZ III===
1 Holyfield
2 Ruiz
3 Holyfield
4 Holyfield
5 Ruiz*
6 Holyfield*
7 Ruiz
8 Holyfield
9 Holyfield
10 Holyfield*
11 Ruiz
12 Holyfield
TOTAL 116-112 Holyfield

Average effort from Holyfield, poor one from Ruiz. Actually the best fight in terms of consistancy but that also means it didn't have the occasional peaks of the previous two fights, so it was the most boring until about round 8. Holyfield was still looking for the big single shots too much, and Ruiz was clutching too much.

First 7 rounds were tight as a drum, and round 10 was both the best of the fight and the hardest to call. Holy caught Ruiz with big shots, but Ruiz also caught Holy with big shots. Gave Holyfield the benefit of the doubt here. He finished the fight stronger and broke Ruiz's nose with a great left hook in the 12th, sending Ruiz into full retreat as blood poured out of it. I also think there's a case to be made for a knockdown missed in Round 1...Ruiz was off balance and possibly falling when Holyfield caught him with a left hook, but then so was Tyson in Round 6 of their first fight and that counted, and I think it should've been the same here. I'm not as certain as with the 'knockdown' in Holy-Ruiz I though, so I've left it out of my scoring...but even without it though, I had it a Holyfield win.
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Most likely the second fight.