John Ruiz Great Fighter or Greatest Fighter?

Face it, Ruiz is getting into the Hall of Fame. Ken Norton's in the Hall, so is Barry McGuigan I think....Jawny's getting into the hall.

 

John Ruiz is probably one of the worst heavyweight champions, but he made a lot out of what little boxing ability he had.

 

Everyone knows Ruiz really beat Valuev and should be a three time heavyweight champion of the world which is a great acomplishment.How can you heap so much praise on a glorified clubfighter like Sam Peter and show no respect for a true champion like the Quietman?:good

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJl3qrzVqZY

 

By holding excessively, getting gift decisions - and worst of all, faking low blows. :yep

That's exactly WHY he's such a fraud and disgrace. :nod

 

I think prime Ruiz could cut off the ring and use his cunning tactics to decision either Ali or Louis.

Plus, Ruiz matches Ali because they're both 3-time heavyweight champions.

 

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think someone who's never slipped on a boxing glove calling a man who fought Andrew Golota, Evander Holyfield, David Tua, Nikolai Valuev, James Toney, Roy Jones, and Ruslan Chagaev a fraud and a disgrace is a disgrace. At the end John realized his style wasn't working and tried to fight a more appealing style and he actually wasn't bad with it. He's no great, and I never was a huge fan of his, but he fought the best and he always did try and he tried to make his style more appealing when he realized fans didn't like it. And from what I remember he actually gave Ruslan Chagaev a good fight without holding or clinching excessively, I seem to remember some Europeans on here saying that it was a fairly good fight.

 

Sportsmanship, and playing by the rules is an essential part of any civilized sport, my friend - and what Ruiz does CHEATS the game and his opponents. Excessive holding is against the rules, and faking low blows is simply disgusting.

That's wrong - and so is the corruption that allowed a fighter of such limited ability to hold a world title illegitimately.

In my 30 years of following the sport, I've never seen anything so utterly disgraceful and fraudulent. Ruiz is Exhibit A of everything that's wrong with boxing - and fans SHOULD be outraged. Ruiz didn't just cheat his opponents, he cheated the fans - of the boxing matches they PAID to see.

 

Since when has boxing been a civilized sport though> It has rules, and yeah, you have to floow them, but acting hurt when you get hit borderline on the blet or if the ref doesn't see it; ****, any fighter would do that, it's gamesmanship and it can buy you time you need or even an extra point. I never like Ruiz while he was fighting, his style drove me insane, but when he finally came around in the end and started boxing, you had to appreciate it. The guy tried and back at my old gym there were guys who had worked with him and sparred with him and what not. They said he might not have had the best skills, but he tried and he was determined and that's how he got by as far as he did. Besides, almost every great fighter in history (not calling Ruiz great) had some form of illegal tactic they used. Ali would hold behind the neck and push his opponents head down and he was rarely, if ever, called on it. Duran had so many fouls it was unreal, and let's not even go into guys like Harry Greb.

 

This is what is usually used to excuse Ruiz - yeah, he held excessively (how could ANYONE deny that! atsch) but other guys like Ali did it too, and other fighters like Duran, and Greb engaged in all kinds of illegal tactics.

What that ignores is the EXTENT of the transgression, and WHY it was used. It is one thing to hold periodically, and use it as a SUPPLEMENT to actual boxing skills - it is another thing entirely to use it as a REPLACMENT for them. It's sort of like saying manslaughter is the same thing as murder. Both involve killing, but for different reasons.

And this doesn't even address the faking of "low blows" to "win" and retain the belt. I can't think of a form of cheating more disgraceful than that frankly - and it's something far more offesive than even the excessive holding, for it undermines the very integrity of the game.

 

He had the heart and beard of a legend.

 

His beard is kind've scraggly these days, he oughta shave it.

 

Do NOT speak ill of the beard! It's the reason boxers can't seem to let go when Ruiz gets in close. Incidentally, he this was not an intentional tactic of his, as the beard was grown to move on from his controversial loss to Tua.

 

So it's sort've like the story of Samson then? Only if Ruiz shaves his beard he'll lose his ability to clinch? :yep