I didn't see a thread on this, so I thought I'd make one. 19 years ago, Roy Jones Jr. made his mark on boxing history when he beat John Ruiz for the WBA HW title, making him the first fighter in over a century to win titles from MW to HW, and the ONLY fighter ever to fight at JMW and win a HW title. Did you watch the fight when it happened? How did you react when Roy won? How great of an accomplishment was it?
It was a great performance. Ruiz was never special and Roy knew he could outspeed him all night long. Roy picked an easy target to get a HW alphabet strap.
Yep. Nothing much to add here really. Did I ever doubt that Jones would win? I really don't think so. Up to then of course, Jones hadn't really put a foot wrong. This was just the next step. Ruiz was.. Well, Ruiz. If he'd been in with Lennox Lewis he'd have been smashed to the floor. As it was, he just lost wildly on the cards.
Here's a fact I thought was interesting. The lowest weight Roy Jones fought at was 153 and a half pounds against Kevin Daigle. The lowest weight Bob Fitzsimmons fought at was 148 pounds against Alf Brinsmead. So yes Roy Jones is the only fighter to fight at JMW and win a portion of the heavyweight title but this is because JMW didn't exist during Fitzsimmons's era.
It was one of the few times I lost my shirt betting. I knew Ruiz stunk. And, I felt Roy Jones was a generational talent. But, I just thought Heavyweight was a bridge too far for Roy. Boy did Ruiz stink out the joint that night. He was totally clueless in that fight.
He made John look like an amateur and John was so much bigger Who would have known that Roy could be taken out with one shot? The end was near
