John Ruiz under appreaciated ?

saw him fight against Haye, an i have to say to keep on gettin up after all that punishment an keep on fighting he showed a lot more heart than most boxers ...... 11 world title fights at heavyweight cant argue with that, though i think most just didnt like the way he performed in them

 

Underrated a little but a massive over achiever and an unjust victor in all honesty. Being a King fighter saw him get 5 WBA title shots, 1 of which King paid Lennox Lewis to vacate for

He performed at a decent level, decent basics, good timing, efficient, tenacious and work man like with his jab.

My take on these fights

Kirk Johnson - gift DQ in a fight he was losing, could well be corruption

Andrew Golota - I'd say he outworked Golota with his jab but with the KDs could have gone either way

Oquendo - good win, better than on paper as Oquendo deserved wins over Byrd and Toney

Valuev - close think he could have got the win here

Holyfield 1 - deserved the decision

Holyfield 2/3 - could have gone to Holyfield I thought

Rahman - out worked and out timed Rahman with the jab, good win

Tucker/McCline - both shot

 

I think he got jobbed in the Tua fight.

 

Not if he makes the Hall

 

I had Rahman very far ahead of him in their little tussle. Even if you hand Ruiz every close round he'd still get the short end 5-7, in my opinion. I went the other way because Rahman outworked him all-night long.

He should have gotten the nod against Holyfield in the first fight 8 rounds to 4.

I had Ruiz-Golota even, but I have yet to score rounds 6, 9, 10, and 11.

 

yes he is. he's not the first, or last, ugly fighter in history. if we had footage of maxie rosenbloom boring the living **** out of us, would we rate him lower based on asthetics? I don't find much entertainment in hopkins or calzaghe but they're effective at what they do: neutralize their opponent and land more punches (even if for johnny that's one punch at a time...)

take ruiz's exact same record but give it to a gatti-type fighter and suddenly he's a top 3 heavy of the decade who was underappreciated in his time

 

Not really,perhaps the most boring heavyweight of all time with his hug/maul style,a good guy and a tough guy but terrible to watch..

 

His style isn't the issue at all. It's the legitimacy of his resume that's in question.

He deserved to come out on top in the Holy trilogy I thought.

I think he lost to golota and I haven't personally seen the kirk johnson fight.

Rahman and Fres are both solid wins (i thought Byrd just edged out Fres imo). I think he also deserved the nod against Valuev first time out.

He'd been a solid top 5 operator for a considerable length of time. For that he deserves credit. Stylistically he was difficult to look good against.

He was never great but he was certainly good. No worse than say Terrell nor Ellis.

 

The Uncrowned King.

He squeaks into my Top 5.

 

His style was ugly, and he had some questionable wins and losses. He wasn't great at all, and the Jones and Toney fights really set him back historically. I wouldn't call him underappreciated. He may have been tough, but he was also protected and got too many undeserved title shots.

 

He was very boring. His style was basically against the rules of boxing... hard to like a guy like that. He did more clinching than fighting. He led with clinches, not jabs... WTF?

In small doses he looked good but overall he looked sloppy.

He was a fair fighter prior to losing in 19 seconds to David Tua. He had lost SD decisions to Sergey Kobozev L10 (at CW) and Danell Nicholson L12. He hadn't really beat any decent fighters at this point. He did beat a 23-0 Boris Powell by decision.

After the loss to Tua he went 11-0 (10) leading up to his first fight with a past prime Holyfield. During this stretch he beat Jimmy Thunder by SD and a past prime Tony Tucker KO11. The other 9 aren't even worth mentioning. Tucker and Ruiz were Don King boys.

3 fights with Holyfield... sloppy, sloppy fights. Foul filled fights. Every time Holyfield hit him he did the funky chicken but I give him credit for doing as good as he did vs. the old man. I thought Holyfield won the 3rd fight.

Sloppy foul filled fight with Kirk Johnson. Johnson could have won but **** got crazy and went Ruiz' way on the DQ.

The loss to Roy Jones Jr.

Rahman had the ability to beat Ruiz but came in out of shape, boring uneventful fight.

Fres Oquendo outboxed Ruiz but Ruiz stopped him, that's the way it goes.

Got knocked around by Golota and should have lost IMO.

Lost to James Toney but Toney was stripped just like Frans Botha had been stripped... 'roid use.

He didn't win one fight vs. a top HW in an impressive fashion.

For what it's worth he gave Valuev 2 tough fights and a case can be made he should have won their first fight. Looked decent vs. a past prime McCline.

 

Ever wonder what Jim Jeffries looked like? Jeffries was a poor man's Ruiz.

Ruiz was drugged.

The greatest run to a title since Dempsey or Liston.

Ruiz did much better in his trilogy with Holy than Bowe did. An accurate measuring stick of his greatness.

The greatest robbery since Jones, Jr's Olympic experience! And where is the outrage? Racism.

Rahman was intimidated. And who wouldn't be?

Billy Conn outboxed Joe Louis but Louis stopped him.

The only way possible to beat a PRIME Ruiz.

I fit him right below Foreman and above Liston.

 

Well, it's hard to argue with that Sea Man