Boxer John Ruiz: American heavyweight fights

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

John Ruiz is an American professional ex-boxer of Puerto Rican origin (nickname "Quiet"). His career lasted from 1992 to 2010. More information about the boxer can be found in the article.

Personal and sports biography

Born on January 4, 1972 in the city of Mathuen (Massachusetts, USA). During his professional career, he defeated such great boxers as Hasim Rahman, Evander Holyfield, Thomas Williams and others.

From 2001 to 2005 he was a two-time WBA heavyweight champion. He was the first Hispanic to achieve such success in this category. Also, John Ruiz (photo below, left) is the champion of North America according to the NABF (1997 to 1998) and NABA (1998-1999). His name and surname are immortalized in the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame. He gained great popularity among the boxing community due to his unique fighting style - “hit, clinch; blow, clinch. The boxer's height is 188 centimeters, and the arm span is 198 cm.

Amateur career

In 1991 he competed in light heavyweight at the World Championships in Sydney (Australia). resultsperformances:

• defeated Mohamed Benguesmia (Algeria) PST (22-11);
• defeated Miodgar Radulovic (Yugoslavia) RSC-3;
• lost to Andrey Kurnyavka (Soviet Union) VTS (14-20).

In 1992 he competed at the Olympic Games in Worcester (USA). Unfortunately, he lost to his opponent - Jeremy Williams (USA).

Ruiz's first fight with Evander Holyfield

After Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield for the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles in late 1999, he was ordered by the WBA to defend his title against John Ruiz. However, he refused. During the proceedings, it was decided that Lewis would automatically forfeit his WBA title, and Ruiz would fight Evander Holyfield.

On August 12, 2000, the fight took place. Holyfield won by unanimous decision. In this confrontation, Ruiz was considered an outsider according to bookmaker quotes. Despite this, according to many, he was closer to victory. Evander Holyfield, in turn, said that he agreed to hold a rematch without any problems.

The second and immediately third fight between Ruiz and Evander Holyfield

On March 3, 2001, a re-fight took place between the boxers. Here Ruiz, nicknamed "quiet" the whole fight was as a dominant. Holyfield constantly defended and clinched in response to Ruiz's attacks. However, the "quiet" still managed to deliver a large number of accurate and clean punches, in connection with which Evander was on the verge of a knockout.

This time, John Ruiz won an unconditional victory on points andbecame WBA champion. But again, a scandal unfolded around this fight, during which repeated accusations of dishonest refereeing came into force. As a result, both boxers met in the third rematch, which took place on December 15, 2001. There were no winners in the final confrontation. After long negotiations and disagreements, the judges declared a fighting draw.

Ruiz vs Hasim Rahman

In December 2003, a duel took place for the title of interim WBA heavyweight champion. Two heavyweights met in the ring: John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman. Experts and critics admitted that the fight was, frankly, boring and tedious: the boxers cautiously rushed to the attack and, at the first failure, immediately entered the clinch. However, John Ruiz won on points. Hasim Rahman, in turn, began to protest with the judge's verdict. In an interview after the fight, Rahman stated that he landed more clean punches, in particular jabs. At the end of his remark, the boxer added that Ruiz's face was pretty beaten up.

Professional biography of John Ruiz: epic for the WBA title

Professional record for a boxer: 44 wins (30 of which by knockout), 1 draw (1 failed fight) and 9 losses. Frustrated by criticism from the boxing press and fans, he announced his retirement after losing his second WBA title on April 30, 2005 (to James Toney). However, after 10 days, John Ruiz found out that the result of James Toney's doping test had become positive, after which he took his words to the accountretirement back. Due to the fact that James Toney did not pass the test for anabolic steroids, the WBA retained the title for John Ruiz. After these events, "quiet" filed a lawsuit against Tony, claiming that he undermined his fame and boxing career.

On December 17, 2005, Ruiz lost his title for the third time against Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev. On August 30, 2008, a rematch took place for the vacant WBA heavyweight title. However, the American was again defeated.

Retirement

After losing to David Haye, John Ruiz announced his retirement from the big sport after an 18-year career. In 2013, he opened his gym called Quietman Sports Gym in Medford, Massachusetts, where he and others teach several martial arts (boxing, MMA) for all age groups. Ruiz has repeatedly stated that he wants to return to boxing, however, as a manager or trainer. In 2014, on the official boxing.com website, boxer John Ruiz was included in the list of "The 100 Greatest Heavyweight Boxers of All Time", where he ranks 83rd.