The Reign Of John Ruiz Will End, It has to happen. The time has finally come. The long and boring title tenure of John Ruiz is about to end.

On April 30th in New York's Madison Square Garden, Ruiz will take on James Toney. The W.B.A. heavyweight title that Ruiz has held for several unexciting years will be on the line. Except for a short period of time after Roy Jones Jr. slapped him silly and "borrowed" the title, Ruiz has claimed to be king. Roy decided to give up the "title" to return to the light heavyweight division. Ruiz was able to again "reclaim" the championship. During the time that Ruiz has claimed a piece of the heavyweight pie has anyone really taken him seriously ? Was John ever really acclaimed to be the best heavyweight in the world ? It is very, very doubtful. Does anyone really think that Ruiz could have defeated Lennox Lewis ? Vitali Klitschko ? Hell even speedy but light hitting Chris Byrd is probably held in higher regard then Ruiz.

John Ruiz has a chance to change all the conceptions and opinions of him come April 30th. James Toney is a former middleweight and super middleweight champion and a long time light heavyweight contender. He also held the cruiserweight title after defeating Vassily Jirov in a highly entertaining bout. James cracked the heavyweight ranks by giving the great Evander Holyfield a thrashing that "Iron" Mike Tyson could only dream of inflicting upon Evander. Ruiz refers to Toney as a middleweight. Hey John I got a news flash for you, Toney is a legit threat to your title.

Why do I not see Ruiz winning this fight ? Simple...He will be in with a master boxer. A true artist of his trade. I took me years to really appreciate the style and talent of James Toney. All I see is an awkwardly aggressive Ruiz coming forward trying to intimidate Toney and force the action. All he will really connect with are arms and shoulders. Meanwhile a patient and observing Toney will see openings for his vaunted counterpunches. In the time it takes to say "ouch", Toney will have set  the tempo for the fight. I can not see him relinquishing it.

  There will be times when Ruiz will trap Toney on ropes and flail away. James will take a few but avoid the majority of the onslaught. Toney will then proceed to put on a counterpunching clinic. If John Ruiz is nothing else he is courageous. He will take his punishment like a man and as the bout continues he will be taking it in large doses. I see Toney battering Ruiz around the ring in a later round and finally a merciful referee will jump in to save John from further punishment and us fans from a further Ruiz reign.

He went on the beat the legendary Evander Holyfield for the WBA and WBC titles before losing his titles to 40 year old man Big George Foreman in a fight he was winning on all judges scorecards before he got caught with well setup combinations from Big George, he rebounded and again won the IBF heavyweight against Axel Schultz and defended it in tough and bloody affairs against Francois Botha and Vaughn Bean before losing to The real deal in a rematch that had to be stopped as he got up from five hard knockdowns but was simply unable to beat Evader’s timing and delivery. 

After that he went into retirement and returned back to the ring slowly rebuilding his career before suffering a major setback when he suffered a knockout in the very first round and almost first punch delivered by now missing David Tua. 

Both guys are southpaws so it will be interesting to see how the land their shots against each other, expect a war and each has suffered recent setbacks in their careers and maybe looking to make a statement. A win for Moorer will preserve his career a little longer and make him more visible if he can follow it up with another convincing win. A loss for Jirov will derail his already faltering career; a win will place in a vantage position at getting a title shot against one of the alphabet champions immediately. 

But he has to contend with Moorer who has a weak chin but is strong and powerful but atimes seems unwilling to unleash the punches that once made him a terror in the Light Heavyweights. Jirov also is very strong but is not very good at defending himself and does not cover up while moving forward, his conditioning is always great but heavyweight punches could break him down just ask Toney or Joe Mesi and this time maybe Moorer may let his hands go especially since Jirov is comparatively smaller.

 Enough Said May the best Man Win