Roy Jones Jr winning a HW title.

Are you Ruiz?

Or just an emotional Ruiz fanboy.

Blaming the refs and his opponents fouling.

You realize Ruiz fouled quite a bit with his grab and clutch style, right?

Holyfield was old. He continued to contend because the division was very weak and had like 4 champions.

He should have retired after James Toney knocked him out.

The fact that Ruiz, blown up Toney, old Holyfield could contend and Jones could win a title, speaks volumes to how weak the division was.

It improved a bit once the Klitchkos got their acts together.

 

Surely he couldn't have squeezed in two fights that year.

 

Spinks did the smart thing

Tucker was high risk low reward.

Cooney was past it and inactive.

Even so, many actually thought Cooney could beat Spinks, so the money was there.

Spinks had leverage because of beating Holmes twice. He didn't really need the IBF title.

He was able to make more money and still get the Tyson super fight.

Very smart decision by he and his management.

And, it worked out for Tucker as well.

He got the IBF title and got a shot at Tyson

It turned out to be a win-win for both.

 

Correct. Tony Tucker was relatively unknown to the public and still is today. I mean, us who follow the sport remember Tony Tucker, but quite honestly, I had never heard of Tony Tucker before I started watching and following the sport. I heard of Tyson, Ali and Roy Jones.

And that's why it wasn't anything there to make it worth Spinks while to fight Tucker. Spinks still was recognized as the lineal champion and Ring Magazine and Boxing Illustrated still recognized Spinks as the true heavyweight champion, at least until June 27, 1988.

Essentially, Tucker needed Spinks more than Spinks needed Tucker. Besides, I think Spinks could have etched out a close decision win vs Tucker. Though as you said, it would be high risk.

 

It would have been one of most outstanding accomplishments ever no doubt, but for Jones sake he's lucky he didn't fight Lewis!!

 

Just like it wasn't in Jones' interest to get slaughtered by Lewis. Jones might've stepped up if he had a chance at an aging Holmes.

 

Who did Ruiz beat after David Tua and before Evander Holyfield to deserve a title shot? Ruiz was just an average fighter at best.

 

Before fighting HF he had KO'd ten of his previous opponents to earn that mandatory.

Among them were

Thomas Williams TKO 2 (12), 0:50 Dec 11, 1999
Grand Casino, Tunica, Mississippi, U.S. Retained NABA heavyweight title 38 Win 35–3


Fernely Feliz TKO 7 (12), 3:00 Jun 12, 1999 Aleppo Shrine Auditorium, Wilmington, Massachusetts, U.S. Won vacant WBA–NABA heavyweight title 37 Win 34–3

Mario Cawley TKO 4 (12), 1:09 Mar 13, 1999
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. Retained WBA–NABA heavyweight title 36 Win 3
Jerry Ballard TKO 4 (12), 2:17 Sep 19, 1998

Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Retained NABF heavyweight ti
Won vacant WBA–NABA heavyweight title 35 Win 32–3


Tony Tucker TKO 11 (12), 0:58 Jan 31, 1998
Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida, U.S. Retained NABF heavyweight title 34 Win 31–3

Ray Anis TKO 1 (12), 0:22 Jun 17, 1997 Casino Magic, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, U.S. Retained NABF heavyweight title 33 Win 30–3


Jimmy Thunder SD 12 Jan 14, 1997
Hale Arena, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. Won vacant NABF heavyweight title 32 Win 29–3


Yuriy Yelistratov TKO 3 Nov 26, 1996
York Hall, London, England 31 Win 28–


Nathaniel Fitch TKO 3 (6) Oct 25, 1996
The Roxy, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. 30 Win 27–3


Greg Pickrom TKO 1 (10) Jul 18, 1996
The Roxy, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. 29 Win 26–3


BTW

Valuez needed the help of the judges to "beat Ruiz.

Evander needed the help of the ref who permitted the use of elbows and when that failed he got the help of the judges in that first fight that he clearly lost on points. Holyfield cheated his way out of being KO'd during the second fight by cheating. You know, holding on to Ruiz's shorts like a pussey for the entire round. Should have been disqualified but wasn't even given a warning.

Jones needed the help of the judges and theextremely biased ref who constantly prevented Ruiz from fighting on the inside by interrupting the action.

Johnson needed to resort to low blows and to tackling but lost anyway for attempting to win by cheating. He was floored twice but only one was counted.

Anis was KOd in a few seconds of the first round and didn't manage to get off one punch.

Gallotta was outpointed despite help from the extremely biased ref.

Rahman was decidedly outfoxed and almost KO'd in the later rounds.

Oquendo was TKO'd.

According to you those victories are meaningless when evaluating Ruiz.
I guess we simply differ in opinion.

---------------

Didn't deserve a shot?
Nonsense! Mandatories are offered to boxers who have worked their way up to that mandatory position. Ruiz had beaten ten of his previous opponents-most by KO or TK0. So your argument is ridiculously moot.

for greatness, I never mentioned greatness. I simply provided evidence proving previous false accusations to be drivel.

As for deserving a shot, he became mandatory by working his way up to that mandatory position just as all other professional boxers do, by defeating those in his way.

Fact: James Toney considered himself unable to face Ruiz without cheating by taking drugs. Got stripped of his title for doing so. If he considered Ruiz a pushover-why the drugs?

 

Tucker was the only name, but of course, like the other names Ruiz beat later on, Tucker was past it

He was 39 yrs old .

Since you seem to think Boxrec somehow bolsters your claims,

here was his recent record (4-4) going in to the Ruiz fight.

King obviously needed a name guy who was done to "legitimize" a title shot for Ruiz.

Boxrec actually weakens your claims more than strengthening them.

63

1997-12-16
Jerry Haynes

Music City Mix Factory, Nashville, Tennessee, USA W TKO

62

1997-11-18
Abdul Muhaymin 20 6 0


Music City Mix Factory, Nashville, Tennessee, USA W UD

61

1997-06-28
Herbie Hide 28 1 0


Sports Village, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom L TKO

vacant WBO World heavyweight title

60

1996-12-07
Tyrone Campbell 12 2 1


Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, USA W KO
59

1996-06-29
David Dixon 20 2 1


Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, USA W KO
vacant NABF heavyweight title

58

1996-02-24
Orlin Norris 44 4 0


Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia, USA L MD

57

1995-12-16
Henry Akinwande 26 0 1


Core States Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA L UD

56

1995-04-08
Bruce Seldon 31 3 0


Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA L RTD

 

Very true.

 

Ruiz was awful

 

Every top heavyweight is on something get real

 

Yeah, Ruiz beat Holy right after Holy had given Lewis a good fight. Haven't seen the fights, but the first seems to be close and controversial enough to say that he arguably beat Holy twice.

 

Galento would KO em both in the first round.

<Walks away into the sunset>

 

But seriously, I agree with Janitor.
Ruiz was legit world clsss, and it was a very impressive victory for Jones.