By Michael Amakor | April 2005
On April 30, John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz the current two time WBA Champion and former NABA, NABF and IBO Heavyweight Champion defends his title against the current WBC Continental Americas and IBA Heavyweight Heavyweight champion James “Lights Out” Toney at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Lights Out is on a mission to become the seventh man in history to step up all the way from the Middleweight Division to capture a recognized heavyweight title. His resume is as impressive as his temper tantrums, over the course of seventeen years he has amassed a record of 68 victories, 43 of them by way of Kayo suffering only 4 losses with two 2 draws. Along the way he has seized the IBF, IBO, IBC and WBU belts in the Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Cruiserweight and the Heavyweight division. He has given us some great fights with one of the most memorable being a free for all war against Vasilly Jirov in one of the best fights of 2004. A Simply Amazing Guy – and now he is trash talking about all the horrible things he is going to do to the Quietman and the world of boxing waits in terror at the havoc he could wreck.
Ruiz on the other hand has a lot to be quiet about especially after a loss in the first round to David Tua and the humiliating loss of his WBA belt to blown up Light Heavyweight Roy Jones who out jabbed him exposing his limited boxing Skills.
To his credit he has re-grouped after every disaster to surprise us with his dogged tenacity and perseverance. A closer look at his resume shows respectable victories over Nate Tubbs, Jimmy Thunder and Julius Francis, enroute to capturing the NABA, the NABF and WBA titles along the way. He has also defended his title in ugly highly unappreciated Roman greeco boxing style affairs against Kirk Johnson, Boxing legend Evander Holyfield, Hasim “The Rock”Rahman, Fres Oquendo and “The Foul Pole” “Andrew Golota.
You might not like his style but he is a rugged champion who always finds a way to win, wrestling and frustrating his opponents into submission.
This fight could be a classic war or a shadow boxing stinker because Toney likes to keep his action against the ropes accurately counter punching incomers while Ruiz on the other hand moves awkwardly and is inclined to clinch when the going gets hectic, he then smothers his opponent wearing them down as he coasts to a comfortable decision.
The two common opponents the have faced may give you an indication of how this fight might go as both guys lost their titles to Roy Jones Jr. But Toney promptly dispatched Evander Holyfield in round nine while Ruiz was unable to impose his will on Evander over 36 rounds.
In the end it may all boil down to who wants it the most, Ruiz has remained unheralded for years as his critics tear him apart with every performance. He will try to prove them wrong against the smaller Toney who may be more inclined to win if only to back up all the trash talking he has done in promoting this bout and his entire career.
May the best man Win
RUIZ VS TONEY PRE-FIGHT ANALYSIS
By Michael Amakor
April 2005 – On April 30, John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz the current two time WBA Champion and former NABA, NABF and IBO Heavyweight Champion defends his title against the current WBC Continental Americas and IBA Heavyweight Heavyweight champion James “Lights Out” Toney at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Lights Out is on a mission to become the seventh man in history to step up all the way from the Middleweight Division to capture a recognized heavyweight title. His resume is as impressive as his temper tantrums, over the course of seventeen years he has amassed a record of 68 victories, 43 of them by way of Kayo suffering only 4 losses with two 2 draws. Along the way he has seized the IBF, IBO, IBC and WBU belts in the Middleweight, Super Middleweight, Cruiserweight and the Heavyweight division. He has given us some great fights with one of the most memorable being a free for all war against Vasilly Jirov in one of the best fights of 2004. A Simply Amazing Guy – and now he is trash talking about all the horrible things he is going to do to the Quietman and the world of boxing waits in terror at the havoc he could wreck.
Ruiz on the other hand has a lot to be quiet about especially after a loss in the first round to David Tua and the humiliating loss of his WBA belt to blown up Light Heavyweight Roy Jones who out jabbed him exposing his limited boxing Skills.
To his credit he has re-grouped after every disaster to surprise us with his dogged tenacity and perseverance. A closer look at his resume shows respectable victories over Nate Tubbs, Jimmy Thunder and Julius Francis, enroute to capturing the NABA, the NABF and WBA titles along the way. He has also defended his title in ugly highly unappreciated Roman greeco boxing style affairs against Kirk Johnson, Boxing legend Evander Holyfield, Hasim “The Rock”Rahman, Fres Oquendo and “The Foul Pole” “Andrew Golota.
You might not like his style but he is a rugged champion who always finds a way to win, wrestling and frustrating his opponents into submission.
This fight could be a classic war or a shadow boxing stinker because Toney likes to keep his action against the ropes accurately counter punching incomers while Ruiz on the other hand moves awkwardly and is inclined to clinch when the going gets hectic, he then smothers his opponent wearing them down as he coasts to a comfortable decision.
The two common opponents the have faced may give you an indication of how this fight might go as both guys lost their titles to Roy Jones Jr. But Toney promptly dispatched Evander Holyfield in round nine while Ruiz was unable to impose his will on Evander over 36 rounds.
In the end it may all boil down to who wants it the most, Ruiz has remained unheralded for years as his critics tear him apart with every performance. He will try to prove them wrong against the smaller Toney who may be more inclined to win if only to back up all the trash talking he has done in promoting this bout and his entire career.
May the best man Win
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
