By Dan Ambrose: Mammoth heavyweight Jameel McCline (38-9-3, 23 KOs) continued with his recent spate of bad luck tonight, losing by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision in a WBC title eliminator. The bout was highly dull, with both fighters spending extended periods wrestling on the inside with one another. As usual, Ruiz, 36, was the superior inside fighter, and easily dominated the slower, 6’6” 268 lb. lumbering McCline. The final judges’ scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111.

Unfortunately for McCline, 37, this was his third consecutive defeat, thus keeping alive his near-perfect record of losing to top tier fighters. Ruiz, who with this win becomes the mandatory for new WBC champion Samuel Peter, was able to pot shot McCline at close range. Using his jab, and close range fighting, Ruiz landed effectively at times, enough to keep McCline confused and guessing as to what would come next from the crafty Ruiz.

In the latter half of the fight, McCline tired out as is his usual custom, and became a slow, plodding target for many of Ruiz’s jabs and lead right hands. In the end, McCline simply didn’t have the fire power to contend with Ruiz and came out on the short end of the stick. It will be interesting to see how this fight will change McClines’s rather.

With three losses in a row, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll continue to land bouts with champions and contenders. In his two most recent defeats, McCline has lost to then WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev and then Samuel Peter, whom he gave all kinds of problems early in the bout. As for Ruiz, he’ll likely have to wait in line for a shot against Peter, until either Vitali Klitschko or Wladimir Klitschko get a first crack at the Nigerian fighter.