John Ruiz - Would he have been great if he was British??

you've taken too many punches Bomber

 

Possibly, he certainly would have been one of our greatest HW's. Theres two ways of looking at it, either his marquee win over Holyfield gets over-shadowed by Lennox while he was still active, or he gets extra love for competing at world level after Lennox retires.

 

Possibly mate.

Bruno was loved because of his personality more than his accomplishments in the ring in my opinion but Ruiz should certainly be respected. I wouldn't have said he'd have been a superstar purely because for a lot of his career he was fighting in the division alongside Lewis. If the majority of his accolades had come 'post Lewis' then he would have had a good chance of being the next star.

He's probably more respected in the UK than he is in the States anyway.

 

I get this, because we like the gallant loser in this country. Someone who doesn't duck any one even if they aint good enough, and someone who is good enough to get a few good wins, and not disgrace themselves too.
And being a world champ to boot. He would be the queen by now!!

good shout

 

Interesting question....

It depends, the obsession with being unbeaten would count against him.... how many did he lose before running into Tua?

Plus he was always pretty boring to watch, one thing with Bruno was that you always knew someone was going to get chinned, for those that like their boxing a bit raw :yep

 

No, he had a dreadful style, do you really think the like sof ****** and Watt would let him get away with it? they'd be absolutely shelling him, he's like Hatton without the concussing ko body punches. Till the Haye fight, where he came to fight, atleast Bruno went for the KO, and was involved in exciting fights, cant think of a boring fight he was in, even the McCall fight had ppl on the edge of their seats, Kinda like Khan vs Kotelnik, knowing one big blow could change everything lol.

 

I can see where you are coming from Tony but i feel his lack of personality may have counted against him with the British press and they may have failed to capitalise on his achievements in the ring!!

Like them or loath them but Haye, Bruno & Audley have some sort of personality to get the media interested in them!!

 

The guy was a horrible boxer to watch but you seen in his interviews prior to the Haye fight he was a good man. If we were exposed to him more he would've more than likely gained a decent British following.

 

He'd be more popular. But you wouldn't over amplify his achievments (well an unobjective budding historian wouldn't anyway) just because he was British, and therefore he wouldn't be 'great' regardless of nationality IMO.

Prime Ruiz vs Prime Bruno: who takes it? At least if Frank gets buzzed (not too likely against Ruiz) he won't have to remember to clinch: 'The Quiet Man' would do that for him :yep

Interesting thread though. Would Floyd be well-regarded if he wasn't a brash American but a German. Would he be unoutmanouverable genius or padded European?!?

 

I feel the same about Hatton. And he did alright.

 

hmm im not sure, the boxers that the public here most remember are the ones with big personallities and exciting styles

 

And by the way Bruno had a good chin. Certainly better than Khans.