By Jason Kim: Two time heavyweight champion John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) seems to be a little peeved at being ignored by the Klitschko brothers all these years and not given a fight. Ruiz, 38, let his feelings known about both of the Ukrainian champions in an article at the Guardian, saying “The thing with the Klitschkos is they only fight people they can beat. They don’t go out there and fight people would actually give them a fight. I’ve been trying to meet up them for a quite awhile. But that’s boxing.” This is an interesting comment by Ruiz, and I can see how he would be upset by being ignored by the Klitschko brothers.
The problem for Ruiz is that he’s been beaten by Nikolay Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev in the past five years. That alone has probably been an obstacle for getting a fight with one of the Klitschko brothers. Also, Vitali Klitschko was retired from 2005 until late 2008, so he wasn’t around as a potential opponent for Ruiz. Wladimir, however, has been fighting steadily and beating the best opponents that he can get in the heavyweight division.
Aside from the Klitschko brothers, perhaps the best heavyweight contender around during the past couple of years has been Alexander Povetkin. Wladimir wanted to fight him but was unable to because Povetkin was injured during training. However, Wladimir plans on fighting Povetkin next barring any unforeseeable injury or opponent like David Haye could intrude.
Ruiz has lost a couple of close controversial decisions to Valuev in the past five years, but did succeed in winning his last fight against Adnan Serin by a 7th round stoppage last November. Ruiz is currently the number #1 mandatory contender in the WBA and will be fighting World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye on April 3rd at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester.
This will be a great opportunity for Ruiz to prove that he still has what it takes to be a champion. If he stops Haye in an impressive manner, Ruiz will no doubt get a shot against one of the Klitschko brothers in Germany. They won’t ignore Ruiz once he has the WBA belt in his possession because the Klitschko brothers, in particular Vitali, really want to capture the last remaining major heavyweight belt that’s not already in their possession. It’s up to Ruiz to defeat Haye and get that belt.
If he can do that, he’s almost assured of getting a nice payday against one of the Klitschko brothers. Ruiz certainly deserves it. He’s been a pro for 18 years, and has been a top heavyweight since the early 90s. Ruiz has shown great staying power with his career. Even at 38, he’s still fighting at a very high level and it’s hard to see any drop off whatsoever in his talent.
That could be bad news for Haye when he meets Ruiz. Haye is under the impression that he’s going to be able to have his way with him and score a knockout. Ruiz has other plans in store for Haye on that night, and will be looking to take him out.
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