John Ruiz - Champion or journeyman with a title?

I think they had a big falling out over the loss to Valuev.

 

Still looking forward to see it, Bill. Don't dodge it.

 

I think they had a big falling out over the loss to Valuev.




THX DamonD I'm guessing thats probably when King flew the coop also!

 

Like it or not, Ruiz would have to be classified as a legitimte contender, and had a knack for throwing more talented fighters off their game with an infuriating style. Going strictly on accomplishments, he's probably at the level of say, an Ernie Terrell.

And, no, he really can't be considered the worst titleholder in the history of the division.

 

Ruiz is not pleasing on the eye but he can be effective. He is very workmanly, he has a very good jab and hes quite quick for a 6'3 man.

Ruiz may have been a much more exciting fighter if he didn't find out that exchanges with big punchers wasn't for him when he faced Tua

Ruiz wasn't a real champion but he was a belt holder and has some of the best competition post Lewis:

Holyfield*3 (and not a too far gone version)
Kirk Johnson
RJJ (lost)
Rahman
Golota
Oquendo
Toney (lost)
Valuev (should have got the verdict)
Changeev

Thats better than Vitali and on par or better than Wlad comp wise. Obviously he lost a few of those.

I wouldn't pick him over any ATGs but he may nick a decision over some decent contenders.

 

Ruiz is a fine example of an overachiever. I don't know if I ever saw a Ruiz fight that i enjoyed. Was absolutely not a fan of his but he wasn't as bad as he is made out to be. He beat a number of solid contenders, was a top 10 guy for a long time, and seemed to always take on the best in the division. Yeah, he got away with a lot of holding/grabbing and he could complain with the best of them, but I don't think he is the worst titlist ever. Even if he got a title shot today he'd be, at worst, a slight underdog to 3 of the 4 champs. When he was holding onto his title I'd pick him over the same 3 of 4 champs today. He may have been the worst titlist to watch but I don't think he was the worst in the ring.

 

Ruiz is, if not the worst beltholder of all time, certainly among the worst. It is not just his lack of ability, which others have mentioned - it is the constant violation of the rules against excessive holding, and, even worse, the outright faking of low blows in multiple fights. "Winning" fights using illegitimate tactcs such as this takes Ruiz from the realm of yet another undeserving mediocre fighter who claimed a belt, and truly puts him in a class by himself.

 

What I "hate" about Ruiz is not WHO he "beat" - because he really didn't beat ANYBODY legitimately after King manuevered him into contention. What I hate about Ruiz is the corruption that accounted for his undeserved rise in the HW division - and that allowed him to get away with excessive holding and faking "low blows" with impugnity.

Ruiz a journeyman?? That's about the BEST he would ever have been without King. Easily the least talented fighter to ever hold a HW belt - and without cheating, that never would have happened.

 

Ruiz got his butt whipped by two blown up middle weights ( Jones and Toney ), KTFO by Tua in 18 seconds or so, and lost to two decisions to non top ten level guys.

However, this does not tell the entire story. Ruiz got lucky on the cards vs Golota, was lucky the Oquendo fight ( which was horrible ) was stopped prematurely to preserve a win for Ruiz, and lucky again the referee chose to DQ Kirk Johnson in a fight where Ruiz was just as dirty with head buts. There is not such thing as a clean win for Ruiz. He was boring to watch, and in many cases ripped the fans off who paid to see a professional boxing match.

In truth Ruiz is just a top ten fighter who was " in " with Don King. For whatever reason, Rhaman who by all accounts had the right style to beat Ruiz showed up completely listless and did nothing in a world title match. Why did Rhaman do this? Any chance for a fix in the Ruiz vs Rhaman fight? MAYBE. Don King had Rhaman under his thumb too.

Any chance Ruiz looses the Golota, Johnson, and Oquendo fight with different judges and referee’s? Absolutely!

While Ruiz might have been robbed of a close win vs Valuev, I could care less. Chagaev beat Ruiz fair in square.

To answer the question in the thread, Ruiz was just an average ( not a good one like Wlad ) Alphabet title holder who soiled the reputation of heavyweight boxing with his jab and grab style of boxing. The best thing about watching a Ruiz fight was wathing his corner man go haywire every now and then.

 

I think Ruiz could well be a homosexual with an insatiable pentchant for groping men. He probably wandered in to a boxing gym at some time in his youth thinking it was a gay bar. I assume he observed the semi clad boxers working out and decided to stay.

To answer the question 'Champion or journeyman with a title?'
I would have to say very poor champion with a title who made the most of his poor abilities and got away with hugging his way to a number of questionable victories.

I hope I'm not being too harsh, as I like to consider myself as very fair in my evaluation of boxers.

 

In fights where he clearly deserved the

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Excellent post. Nice to see that there are boxing fans who recognize the Ruiz Fraud for exactly what it is - a medciore fighter with all the boxing ability of a typical journeyman holding a title belt based on cheating and corruption. It's a stain on the sport that should be reviled by all boxing fans - for Ruiz didn't just cheat his opponents and the fans, he cheated the game itself.