John "Quiet Man" Ruiz

When John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30KO) agreed to forgo his mandatory WBA world heavyweight championship bout against Nicolai Valuev to allow David Haye the opportunity to fight the Russian giant “The Quietman” took a calculated risk – and it paid off. During an interview that I conducted with Ruiz at the South Boston Boxing Club the former two (2) time WBA world heavyweight champion told me

“I’m excited that I don’t have to fight Valuev again. It [bypassing the title shot so that Haye could take it] was a good move for us. I feel like we have a better chance with David Haye, he’s more my height and I guess my style will give him a little problem so I’m looking forward to it.”

Ruiz informed me that he was being told the date for his mandatory title shot against the new WBA world heavyweight champion would be April 3, 2010. “April 3^rd, that’s the date they’re telling me now…the talk is either London or Manchester.” Traveling to England isn’t a major concern for Ruiz as he’s used to traveling overseas to fight, though it’s obvious from talking to him that he’s glad he won’t be fighting in Germany.

“It does [feel nice not having to fight in Germany again]. I’m 0-3 there – the people are great but this will be my seventh fight in England and I’m 6-0 there so the odds are good.”

There are people who cringe at the idea of a John Ruiz championship bout and for good reason. During his most popular run in the United States Ruiz had a tendency to put on boring fights that involved far too much clutching and grabbing. His reputation as a boring fighter is one that Ruiz has tried to erase by bringing in a new team of trainers to help him redefine his fight style a move that paid off in his last fight (a 7^th round TKO over Adnan Serin) that Ruiz hoped sent a message to boxing fans that he’s not the same John Ruiz that they remember.

“They noticed [that his style had changed] in the last fight because it was televised in the States that there is a difference. I’m going to step it up – throw more punches and move a little more then even my last fight [in the upcoming fight with Haye]. Working with a new trainer [Miguel Diaz and Richie Sandoval] is working out good for me. We’re working on my footwork so that I don’t lean in too much and that was my problem before – leaning in too much and falling into the person and it’s [the new style] going to be good for me.”

It’s hard to miss that Ruiz is in phenomenal shape and we’re still two plus months away from his date with Haye. In his last fight Ruiz weighed in at 227 pounds and on Wednesday afternoon when I spoke to him he let me know that his weight was at about “230 pounds right now.” As a matter of fact Ruiz looked as if he could step into the ring today and fight – he was in that good of shape, which is amazing when you take into account that on Thursday afternoon David Haye tweeted the following message to his followers:

“just had a good upper body session, feeling nice and pumped, I’m a long way off being in the kind of shape I need to be in to spar hard.....”

While Haye slowly prepares for his date with Ruiz “The Quietman” knows that he may be training for his last shot at the WBA heavyweight championship and that has given him all the extra motivation that he needs. When Ruiz won the WBA world heavyweight title for the first time (March 3, 2003) he became the first boxer of Latino descent to hold the coveted championship belt. That fact remains at the forefront of Ruiz’s mind as he prepares for what may prove to be his final shot at the belt once held by such boxing luminaries as Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, and every other notable heavyweight champion in history.

“It’s a great feeling, winning against Evander Holyfield one of the legends of the sport and becoming champion, being the first Latino, it was an exciting moment in my life and it still is – I still feel proud, and I’m honored to have become a heavyweight champion. I’m happy with my career and not too many people can say that they were 2x heavyweight champion and if I retired today I’d be happy as anyone can be – I’ve got a good family and what else can you ask for?”

While Ruiz realizes that this may be his last opportunity for a world heavyweight championship he’s not ready to be put out to pasture just yet. It seems like every time John Ruiz fights you hear that this will be his last bout – but I’m not going to doubt “The Quietman” because I know that he’s focused on upsetting the apple cart one more time.

“I’m looking forward to retirement; I give myself one or two more years in this sport. Many people think I retired already because they haven’t seen me fight – but I’ve been fighting overseas but every time after I fight I hear that this is it for me but I’m still here, I’m still fighting, I’m still in the game and I feel like I got a good chance against David Haye… Even though I’ve lost a couple fights but I’m still moving forward and hopefully this fight with Haye I can win this one and move on to the next one.”

(Joe Roche can be reached on twitter [@411JRoche], via email at xjdrochex[at]gmail.com, and on Facebook