I was suprised after watching Holyfield-Ruiz trilogy. There were thousands of posts that those fight were dull, ugly and unexciting. But for me this rivalry was quite interisting overall. Those fights were rough, dirty with low blows, clinches, rabbit punches but it had it's dramas and good moments - more than I expected. Also the scorecards of this trilogy were interesting as I will post below: Holyfield - Ruiz I 1. 9-10 2. 9-10 3. 10-9 4. 9-10 5. 9-10 6. 10-9 7. 10-9 8. 10-9 9. 9-10 10. 10-9 11. 10-9 12. 10-9 115-113 Holyfield Official scorecards: 114-113, 114-113, 116-112 Holyfield It was a close fight and it could go either way. I think that draw would be the best decision as both fighters had their moments. Holyfield wobbled Ruiz in 3rd but didn't had enough strength to put John down. Ruiz used his jab to the head and to the body very good. He seemed to be the faster and more aggressive fighter. Holyfield landed bigger punches but wasn't very active through the fight and it looked at moments that he has poor stamina. Both fighters often rushed to steal the round in the last seconds so I understand that scorecards of others could be different, but I would'nt consider this decision a robbery. It was very close. Holyfield - Ruiz II 1. 9-10 2. 9-10 3. 9-10 4. 9-10 5. 10-9 6. 10-9 7. 10-9 8. 9-10 9. 10-9 10. 9-10 11. 8-10 12. 9-10 111-116 Ruiz Official: 110-116, 111-115, 111-114 Ruiz This was the best performance by Ruiz in this trilogy. Ruiz was aggresive and game. He outworked Holyfield early but he was also cut on left eye in the 2nd. Evander turned the motor on in 5th and was starting to land some good shots on Ruiz. In 8th Holy was hurt by a tape that was loose on JR's glove. In the most controversial 10th round Holyfield threw powerful body shot that landed Quietman's belt line that put him down on the canvas. Joe Cortez saw it as a low blow and deducted 1 point from Evander. After 3 minutes of rest Ruiz replied with a low blow by himself but with no deduction. In 11th Real Deal was knocked down early and was in big trouble, I think that he was thinking about the point deduction and wasn't focused enough at the start of the round. Both fighters tried their best in the 12th but it was obvious that they are both very tired. Bloodied and bruised Ruiz fully deserved the decision in a dirty fight. Personally I think that the punch from 10th that was declared low blow was legit and I think that Holyfield landed this shotcloser to the borderline than Jack Dempsey hit Sharkey. Holyfield-Ruiz III 1. 9-10 2. 10-9 3. 10-9 4. 10-9 5. 10-9 6. 10-9 7. 9-10 8. 10-9 9. 10-9 10. 9-10 11. 10-9 12. 9-10 116-112 Holyfield Official: 116-112, 115-113, 114-114 Draw Holyfield's best fight in trilogy. At 39 Holyfield clearly beat 10 years younger Ruiz. Evander this time had some serious crisp in his shots. He was more aggressive and more convincing than in his previous fights against Johnny. Ruiz seemed slow and was forcing clinches very often. Holy was better inside and outside, he was throwing nice combos and jabbed sharp. Evander's inconsitency hurts his resume, but in this bout he deserved the nod.
