Jonny Ruiz in the 1990's vs. Foreman, Holmes, Mercer, Morrer, McCall, and Morrison.

I see your point.

I don't like Ruiz' style, but he was much better than given credit for.
After all, Kirk Johnson, Hasim Rahman, Jameel McCline and Fres Oquendo weren't bad fighters and had some boxing skills. Old Holyfield was still top-5 opponent at that time.

A clubfighter (as some refer to Ruiz) couldn't have had that list of wins, with or without help of judges and referees

 

Ruiz would win several of the matches the OP listed. Ruiz over achieved. He fought spoilerish and found ways to win.
He beat Holyfield and Rahman.
Oquendo got jerked by a very premature stoppage.
Golota edged him on my card very close and Golota's Jab was gone by that point in his career.
Ruiz did more than any heavy I've seen where I would watch and be like this guy isn't very good but somehow he's in this fight.
I'm not sure how many of those fights he wins but he would definitely win at least 2. Probably close and maybe controversial. The guy knew what worked for him and fought accordingly. Believe it or not many fighters fail to do that.

 

He also had Don King in his corner. He also was allowed to get away with excessive clenching which is against the rules. He also faked low blows in fights. Without Don King and the use of excessive clenching. He's average fighter at best this is the guy who lost to Danell Nicholson without King or the use of excessive clenching.

 

So he lost to Danell Nicholson so what - everyone loses- Nicholson was trained by Emmanuel Steward if my memory serves me correct? I know he beat Jesse Ferguson who beat Mercer.
Yeah Ruiz clinched a lot, and yeah he cried about low blows (he was close to beating Johnson anyway in that fight and Johnson of all ppl admits he deserved to be dq'd). But he still won. He beat Holyfield who never could solve him in 3 fights, he beat Rahman. He was competitive with Golota, and Oquendo (whose resume would look much better if he wasn't ripped off so much).
Guy was an ugly fighter who over achieved. Good technical boxers with power would always beat him that's why he stayed far away from Wlad. But i do think of the guys Mendoza listed I think he could win a couple of those fights. His track record indictates that

 

Danell Nicholson was an average fighter at best. Just like in second Holyfield and Thunder fight. He faked half of those low blows in Johnson fight. He also looked foolish against Jones who's a great super middleweight. But nowhere near a heavyweight. John Ruiz was an average heavyweight who connections with Don King took him further then he should ever been.
Besides Ferguson beat an out of shape overconfident Ray Mercer.

 

I'm not debating that Nicholson wasn't average or that Ruiz cried or faked low blows or however you want to call it, I'm saying he found ways to win. Yeah Jones beat him because he was quick and athletic and Ruiz was anything but, that matchup was a nightmare for him. I'm saying Ruiz would win a couple of the fights the OP listed. 90s Foreman- I mean he lost to Morrison, should of lost to Schulz, and was getting dominated by Moorer until the 10th. I can't confidently pick him over Ruiz. 90s Holmes, was outworked by the limited McCall, I can see Ruiz doing the same. Morrison would have ability to ko Ruiz and make him look bad, but Morrison often looked bad against average fighters and his best wins are against non prime fighters. Etc.
it would not surprise me at all if Ruiz won at least 2 of the matches the thread started listed.
And I'm not a fan of Ruiz I thought his style was horrible and I was hoping Wlad would take him out in a few rounds but it never happened.
Ruiz was average in terms of skill maybe even below average. But he had the ability to get a fight into the type of situation he performed best in which was grappling, mauling etc and he won against fighters I never thought he would have. Holyfield, Rahman, Oquendo, Johnson and he placed himself close enough to Golota to get a bad decision in his favor

 

Ruiz beat the hell out of Evander in that second fight, damn near knocked him out. Johnson was hitting him low and the last was seemingly deliberate as Ruiz was on the verge of taking him out.

And Ferguson arguably beat a fit and prepared Mercer too. That was a close fight, the split decision win for Mercer was booed, and the broadcaster had Ferguson winning by a point. Nobody wants to talk about that.

 

Yes John Ruiz beat Evander Holyfield whose skills were greatly fading by the time they fought. Also Mercer was able to give Lennox Lewis all he could handle. John Ruiz would probably get demolished by Lennox Lewis from Rahman 1 .

 

Not one damn time has anyone argued he beat prime Holyfield. But he beat a Holyfield who had just almost edged Lewis and would soundly defeat Rahman, a Holyfield still seen as the #2 guy in the division.

And Mercer was actually fat and coming off a lay off against Lewis. You know Mercer was 238 in Ferguson 1 and the Lewis fight. Logic tells us Mercer wasnt the variable in these fights, the style of his opponent was.

Not sure, Ruiz had a similiar style as old Holyfield, he would be just as troubling. Ruiz and old Holy were better than Rahman. Lewis shows up with an effort that lazy he could surely lose to guys that beat up Rahman.

 

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Some Ruiz highlights to refresh our memory of the quiet man.

Guy was a good brawler. Tua caught him cold but outside that he was hard night work.

 

Old Foreman made Tommy Morrison look like Ezzard Charles, so yeah. Though Older Old Foreman made young Briggs look like old Briggs...there are levels to this stuff.

 

Very ugly and downright sloppy fighter. Still he beat up on Holyfield pretty well and beat Rahman. He has to get some credit for that. That long lunging clubbing right hand of his found it's mark in a lot of fights

 

Ruiz does not have the power Rahman does.

 

Dont need it. Neither did Holyfield.

And while Rahman no doubt a strong man, it took a smiling wide open Lewis to give him a signature KO.

Rahman couldnt hurt Oleg in 2 fights, he couldnt hurt 2 Gunz, he couldnt hurt Ruiz or a 40 year old Holyfield that Ruiz put on his ass.

His next best KO wins behind Lewis were stoppages over Sanders and Meehan. In both instances he had to club gassed out fighters over and over...