Is Ruiz the most underrated hw of all time?

**** no.

He clinches his way to pathetic and boring decision wins, and to close losses, I mean I don't like Valuev and I think he's lost plenty of fights - Holyfield for one - but a SD was bull****. Ruiz lost by about 4 or 5 rounds clearly, and still only got a split against him.

He whines and talks his way into undeserved WBA title shots time and time again, clinches his way to close losses which are used to justify further world title shots, as he always somehow feels he's been robbed.

**** John Ruiz. Most under-rated heavyweight my arse. More like the most un-skilled, boring, shitbag heavyweight to ever somehow win a world title strap. **** him. He will forever be known as a **** who got dominated and lost his title to a former middleweight, and remembered for being a highlight reel KO. And with good reason. He doesn't deserve to be remembered for the positive, of which there are few if any.

 

David Tua based on resume is also up there in being an underrated HW, what fighter has beaten so many HW champs yet has never been a HW champ himself?

 

nutnut:nut

No, Ruiz is not underrated - if anything he is OVERRATED by boxing fans who look at his record and think "oh he fought all these guys, that's gotta mean he was decent," without even considering what happened in those fights.

Ruiz had all the skills of a high-grade clubfighter, which is all he ever would have been without Don King. His connections with King allowed him to get away with illegal tactics like holding excessively, which he did against virtually every opponent above the tomato can level; and blatantly faking "low blows" in several fights (Thunder, Holyfield II, Johnson). Oh, and let's not forget the gift decision against Golota and the bogus draw against Holyfield!

No, Ruiz isn't "underrated" - he's a FRAUD and a DISGRACE. The least talented fighter to ever hold a HW belt, and even worse, one who did it by CHEATING!

 

The referee sucks! The referee sucks! Ya gotta go get em jawnny! ****in...fight the referee! Fight the ****ing referee! He sucks!

 

He must be.

Anyone who shows any inside game whatsoever these days becomes "Little Ruiz".

 

I agree with the original post here..

Ruiz was by no means one of the great heavy weights of all-time, but people hate on his because of his ugly fighting style. Styles don't just make fights, the make stars. You can't deny Ruiz's resume.

People try to diminish the accomplishments of Roy Jones when he spanked this guy back in Ruiz's prime, but the bottom line is he was a guy who hurt Holyfield.. beat Holyfield (truely one of the all-time great heavy weights and easily top 5 heavy weights of the last 25 years.

 

Don't just look at the names, look at the fights. Excessive holding is against the rules of boxing for a REASON - it prevents actual boxing matches from breaking out, and deprives the other fighter of their opportunity to win WITHIN the rules. And Ruiz did this in almost every fight against the fighters people list when they talk about his "resume" - to say nothing of the three fights where he overacted to get bogus "low blow" calls that allowed him to win fights.

 

Zakman, I agree Ruis fights dirty and awful, but then again Mysterious Billy Smith is in the HOF and he was one of the all-time dirtiest fighters that ever lived. Need I mention Tom Sharkey? He used every dirty trick in the book and threw everything short of an iron maiden in the ring. If I recall Tyson, too, was prone to throwing elbows, hell Duran was too. Do I need to bring up Golota? Hell Evander is the head butt king, look what he did to Rahman!

BUT.......how many can say they survived the distance and won against Holyfield or Jones? How many else can say they beat Golota, Johnson, Rahman? At least Ruiz fought Toney fair and didnt use steroids. At least he gave a good effort in being robbed against Valuev. So what, he was kayoed by David Tua almost a decade ago? He's been two times the WBA champion since, and still is a top contender, I dont care what anyone says.

His fights suck, sure. Does he lack charisma? Yes, but Norman Stone made up for it. Is he under-rated? I think he is deserving of the argument. Is he a HOF candidate? I just hope Pete Rose gets accepted into the Baseball HOF first.

 

Ruiz can fight when he wants to. That was one hell of a battle against Chagaev.

 

First of all, Ruiz didn't win against Jones, he was embarrassed by a guy who was, essentially, a blown up supermiddle. Same thing happened against Toney. Forget about the roids, that fat slob obviously wasn't getting much benefit from 'em.

His "wins" against all those other fighters are ALL debatable to one degree or another. Holyfield?? He was knocked down by a body shot in the 8th round, and proceeded to pull one of his ham acting jobs to force a low blow call. He should have been counted out.

Golota?? He was outlanded, knocked to the canvas twice , and lost another point!! And yes still somehow he got the decision? atsch That's what connections with Don King will do for ya?

Rahman? He pulled his usual illegal holding tactics to prevent Rahman from fighting. Not that Rahman's any good anyway, but he didn't even have a shot to win WITHIN the rules - which he likely would have because Ruiz is an even shittier boxer than The Rock is.

Johnson? Here Ruiz put his low blow faking skills into overdrive, to get a bogus DQ. That's hardly a victory - in fact, it's pretty damn disgraceful. Maybe Ruiz is a good actor, but he isn't a good fighter.

I love how people say his loss to Valuev was a "robbery," when Ruiz got at least two decisions that were worse, the bogus "draw" in his third fight with Holyfield and the the Golota fight. Isn't interesting that the moment King dumped him, he stopped getting the nod when it was even remotely close?

As far as the other fighters you mentioned who employed illegal tactics, I would say that first of all, in every case, illegal tactics weren't the ONLY weapon in their arsenal, and consequently, they didn't do it virtually ALL the time. There is a difference between using illegal tactics as a SUPPLEMENT to legitimate boxing skills, and using as a REPLACEMENT for them. Then there is the matter of faking low blows, which I think it one of the most disgraceful things a fighter can do in the ring - and Ruiz did this at least 3 times!! At least when you're throwing an elbow, your FIGHTING, not trying to ***** out to get a point deduction or DQ.

 

Ruiz was a wrestler.

 

Notice how when Ruiz was forced to fight WITHIN the rules after King dumped him, he lost against all the top level guys? There's a reason for that.

 

He got beat by roy jones jr at heavy
nothing against rjj but at heavy He was a shadow of his former self

 

My vote goes to Ridick Bowe as the underrated heavyweight of all time.
He was an undisputied world champion and latter WBO tittle holder. In his short prime 92-95 he was as good as anyone ever been. His only loss was to a very good Evander Holyfield which was latter avenged. He should have fought Lenox Lewis a fight in my opinion he would have won had they meet in his prime 92-95. I also thnk the low-blows by Andrew Glolota played a large roll in the results of their two fights.
John Ruiz is better than he is given credit for but no he is not the most underrated heavyweight of all time.