We’ve all seen how ridiculous boxing’s governing bodies can be when it comes to rankings. Actually, “ridiculous” is a word not harsh enough to describe some of the crazy goings on in this regard.
Ruiz gets unexpected oppurtunity against Dawson By Robert Morales We’ve all seen how ridiculous boxing’s governing bodies can be when it comes to rankings. Actually, “ridiculous” is a word not harsh enough to describe some of the crazy goings on in this regard. But the World Boxing Council really took the cake when it ranked Jesus “Chuy” Ruiz No. 15 in its light heavyweight rankings. Here is what Ruiz did in the past three years and three months to earn a slot just high enough so he can challenge Chad Dawson for his WBC 175-pound belt June 9 in Hartford, Conn.: Ruiz knocked out the dreaded Rodney Moore in the first round last November on a club card in Montebello, Calif. Prior to that, Ruiz had not fought since March 2004, when he lost a somewhat controversial decision to Paul Briggs in a WBC title elimination fight in Briggs’ native Australia. That’s right. Chavez has had one fight since March 2004. And his knockout of Moore, a guy who came in 8-16-6 with three knockouts, was good enough for him to first get ranked No. 20 by the WBC, then No. 15. Wow! Even Dawson’s promoter, Gary Shaw, who put this fight together, could not defend this Tuesday during a telephone conversation with yours truly. “When it comes to that, you will never get an argument from me,” Shaw said of the rankings of the four governing bodies in general.Let’s not kid ourselves. The WBC and the other three don’t care what anyone thinks about the way they do business. As long as they get their precious sanctioning fees that come with championship fights, it’s all good. Shaw said he tried to get the aforementioned Briggs for Dawson. But a deal with Briggs’ promoter, Don King, did not materialize. Shaw said he tried other avenues, but that nothing panned out. Of course, since Shaw had trouble getting a deserving opponent for Dawson, boxing would have been best served if Dawson took on Ruiz in a non-title fight. It wouldn’t be the first time a champion did that during his reign. But you don’t think that was going to happen, do you? Oh, hell no. Listen, it doesn’t matter what happens during this fight. Frankly, it wouldn’t be a shocker to see Ruiz take this fight more than a few rounds because he can crack. Ask Briggs, who tasted the canvas during the second round of his victory over Ruiz. Bottom line is, the idea that Ruiz (19-4, 17 KOs) is being afforded an opportunity at a major championship under these circumstances is disgusting. Ruiz, of Long Beach, Calif. via Mexico, understandably is thrilled to get this chance. “I never thought I would get, at this moment in my career, the opportunity,” said Ruiz, in somewhat broken English. “But the chance came, so I said, ‘Sure.’ ” Well, duh. During a telephone conversation with Ruiz on Tuesday afternoon, an interesting revelation popped up. Ruiz, 33, has had three lengthy layoffs during a career that began in April 1994. After beating Paul Jones in December 1997 in Reseda, Calif., Ruiz did not fight again for two years, three months. Ruiz lost a decision to Rodney Toney in September 2001, then did not fight for a year and eight months. Finally, there was the two years and eight months without a fight after his loss to Briggs. Ruiz must get hurt a lot, right? Not so, he said. “Managerial problems, that is the thing,” Ruiz said. “During my professional career, I’ve had 24 managers.” Twenty-four managers? Come on. To be sure, the number was repeated to Ruiz in Spanish. Yup, he said he has indeed had 24 managers. OK, so now we are talking about a fighter with 23 fights in 13 years, who has had two dozen mangers, whose only fight since early 2004 came against a fighter the little old lady from Pasadena could whip. And he’s going to challenge the undefeated Dawson (23-0, 15 KOs) for the WBC light heavyweight championship? (Oh, and by the way, it’s on Showtime). Ruiz was asked how he can possibly win. And what he said made a little sense. “He is faster, but maybe he is a super middleweight,” Ruiz said of Dawson. “I’m a natural light heavyweight all my career. So I think in the fight, he will feel the difference. I think he will feel a real hard punch of a real light heavyweight.” It’s true. Dawson has had several fights at middleweight and quite a few at super middleweight. He has had only three fights at light heavyweight. In his most recent bout, Dawson took the WBC belt from Tomasz Adamek via a wide unanimous decision. Shaw isn’t about to say Ruiz has no chance, and he’s on board with the idea that Ruiz has a puncher’s chance “He can fight,” Shaw said. “He’s a tough opponent. If we were in the eighth or ninth round, it wouldn’t shock me. Some of those Mexican kids really come to fight.” Dawson, during a conference call Tuesday, swore he was not overlooking Ruiz. Dawson also said he is expecting a tough battle. “I have seen that he is a tough guy and a good fighter,” Dawson said. “I know that he will come to fight. I am not looking for somebody who is going to come in the ring just to go a round.” Well, Dawson has to say that. Part of the job of a fighter is to help promote. One would never say that Joe Schmo “doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring with me and it’s a travesty that this fight is taking place.” If a fighter did that, his promoter would have a big problem with it. As would whatever television station was in the mix. As for Ruiz, he admitted he has butterflies. Of course, he does. He is going from that killer Rodney Moore to Chad Dawson. “That nervousness, it’s natural,” Ruiz said. “And it’s a little fear, too. But after that first punch, everything is going to turn to courage.” We’ll see. Oh, by the way, the other fight on this Showtime card is former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver against Elvir Muriqi for one of the very minor belts. Shaw and Dawson on Tuesday made no bones about wanting Tarver should both win a week from Saturday. Now, Shaw is usually good about putting his fighters in with tough opponents. But knowing that Dawson-Tarver could be next makes one wonder if that isn’t the reason Dawson is fighting a part-timer like Ruiz.
May 30, 2007 By Leave a Comment
We’ve all seen how ridiculous boxing’s governing bodies can be when it comes to rankings. Actually, “ridiculous” is a word not harsh enough to describe some of the crazy goings on in this regard.
CRICKETS IN BILOXI
May 30, 2007 By Leave a Comment
It’s not exactly a trade secret that Roy “The Negotiator” Jones Jr. has a lofty opinion of himself, but this time he might have put himself in over his head. Last week his team issued not one but two press releases with his plans for the future, not that I would advise taking any of his announcements to the bank, given his history.
This Is Not a Preview
May 28, 2007 By 41 Comments
Some 15 months ago, then-WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman made a dull fight with an obese James Toney, ringside judges scored it a draw, Jim Lampley declared, “Anything would’ve been better,” and fight fans believed the heavyweight division’s prospects could not worsen.
LET ME SEE IF I’VE GOT THIS STRAIGHT
May 28, 2007 By 1 Comment
The out of the ring machinations by the Jermain Taylor team have been harder to follow than “Syriana.” Inside the ropes it’s almost as confusing but at least you can get a handle on it by just coming to the realization that Jermain is simply not as good as advertised.
FAITH, COUNTRY, FAMILY, AND BOXING: STEVE CUNNINGHAM MAKES US PROUD
May 23, 2007 By Leave a Comment
This Saturday night Steve Cunningham, 19-1 (10), tries for the second time to bring the IBF cruiserweight title home from Poland. His opponent, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, 37-1 (27), won a controversial split decision in their first bout for the then vacant title by the wildly diverse scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 109-119 late last November.
Arum: “Kelly Pavlik will be much bigger then Oscar ever was”
May 22, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Bob Arum took Oscar De La Hoya out of the Olympics and promoted him to unprecedented heights. Even before De La Hoya went out on his own and formed Golden Boy Promotions, ultimately breaking every pay-per-view record with his May 5 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., De La Hoya held the non-heavyweight record for generating 1.4 million pay-per-view buys for his fight against Felix Trinidad Jr. in 1999. And that came under Arum. As we know, Arum has never been shy about taking hyperbole to the extreme. He’s the one who said Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Zab Judah last year would do better on pay-per-view than De La Hoya-Trinidad. And, of course, that did not come close to materializing.
THE PETERSON BROTHERS COME HOME
May 21, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Siblings Lamont and Anthony Peterson are headlining “American Champions,” the ESPN 2 Friday Night Fights card in Washington D.C. at the D.C. Armory this Friday. Anthony, the power punching lightweight with a record of 22-0 (16) will face Luis Ernesto Jose, 27-4-2 (24), in a scheduled 12 round defense of his NABO lightweight belt. Jose will be fighting his first fight in the U.S., having mostly fought weak competition in the Dominican Republic. In the 10 round co-feature, Lamont, a 20-0 (8) jr. welterweight, is facing trial horse John Brown, 23-13-1(11), who has fought such names as Miguel Cotto, Steve Forbes, Robbie Peden, Diego Corrales, Shane Mosley, and Jesus Chavez, but the facts are that he is 38 and has not won in his last seven fights, dating back to 2001.
Pavlik’s Right Is All Wrong for Taylor
May 20, 2007 By Leave a Comment
It’s time to feel sympathy for Jermain Taylor. The Middleweight Champion of the World is no longer liked by his former advocates at HBO. Taylor’s other promoter, Lou DiBella, was enraged with him last weekend. Emanuel Steward, Taylor’s trainer, hasn’t improved Taylor’s boxing at all. And in the United States, Jermain Taylor can’t draw more than a tenth the crowd Joe Calzaghe draws in Wales.
This drawing-power comparison – Taylor to Calzaghe – is relevant because, according to gate receipts, it now makes it illogical to put a talked-about Taylor-Calzaghe fight in the United States. And without a favorable crowd to influence favorable judges, Jermain Taylor has no chance. Against Calzaghe, Taylor would be a junior Jeff Lacy without a left hook.
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Taylor-Spinks: Main Event or co-feature?
May 16, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Everywhere you turn these days, some fighter or promoter is talking about doing his part to bring boxing back to its heyday, when there was more than one hot commodity (see Oscar De La Hoya) in the sport.
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING
May 14, 2007 By 41 Comments
In the aftermath of the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight shown on HBO Pay Per View on May 5, 54 year old HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht was arrested around three a.m. on misdemeanor charges of allegedly assaulting a woman, described at the time as his girlfriend. This incident took place in the valet parking area just outside the MGM Grand casino. Ironically, when there were so many of us who were concerned that someone or something would find a way to embarrass boxing on its biggest night, it turns out that the chief of HBO, on a drunken toot, is the only offender among all of the celebrities, athletes, insiders, fat cats and poor folk who found their way in to the big event.
Ferocity and Fragility
May 13, 2007 By 1 Comment
I met Diego “Chico” Corrales only once, and the encounter was short. I was a columnist for a small, local sports website in Phoenix, and I was in a Days Inn conference room because that was where Top Rank held its Thursday weigh-ins. This was when Arizona still had the good fortune of hosting Top Rank shows.
HEARTBREAK IN A SMALL COMMUNITY
May 9, 2007 By 44 Comments
By any definition, this has been a week of sorrow in that small community that makes up the world of boxing. Late Monday night I received the call that former two time world champion Diego “Chico” Corrales was dead at the age of 29, a victim of an incomprehensible, tragic motorcycle accident near his home in Las Vegas.
Remembering Chico
May 8, 2007 By 1 Comment
Diego Corrales will go down as one of the most fearless fighters in history, thanks to his stunning 10th-round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo in May 2005.
NOT A MASSACRE, NOT A MASTERPIECE
May 7, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Regardless of how many box office records are shattered from “The World Awaits,” the last chapter will remain unwritten until we see if there will be a positive impact on the sport of boxing as a result of the event. Most remain skeptical. Many of us still hold out hope. But truthfully, counting on Floyd Mayweather Jr. to provide the kind of scintillating performance needed to make this fight the battle of the ages and impress the masses is an exercise in futility. Oscar De La Hoya gave it his best shot, but at the age of 34 he can no longer carry the weight of the sport on his shoulders alone.
Relief
May 7, 2007 By 39 Comments
The official scores – 113-115 for Oscar de la Hoya, 115-113 and 116-112 for Floyd Mayweather – produced a split-decision victory for “Pretty Boy Floyd.” A fair split-decision victory. There will be those who dispute the how and who, saying that Oscar landed heavier punches or that Oscar didn’t land any punches, but those dissenters will remain in the minority. Blessedly.
My scorecard was a mirror of Judge Jerry Roth’s. I had Floyd leading by a round going into the 12th, and I gave Floyd the final round. Through the fight, Floyd supplied sufficient right hands for the all-action fans who don expert caps every 1,000 days to have to debate the judges’ decision civilly – rather than shout, “Fix!”
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Awaiting The Worlds Reaction
May 2, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I have the highest respect for Oscar De La Hoya as a fighter. I don’t , however, see him as an all-time great in the mold of Sugar Ray Leonard or Thomas Hearns, but few fighters have represented the sport as well as he has over the years and he is the one fighter who transcends boxing to the mainstream. He has, for the most part, established a well deserved reputation as a warrior and a fighter who wants to fight the best.
It’s Floyd’s time
May 2, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Oscar De La Hoya has been involved in several mega-fights, including a welterweight title unification bout with Felix Trinidad Jr. that sold 1.4 million pay-per-view buys, a record for a Trinidad Jr. that sold 1.4 million pay-per-view buys, a record for a non-heavyweight fight.
“OPEN UP YOUR WALLET AND LET US IN”
May 1, 2007 By 43 Comments
Howard Cosell once said that if he had a son who wanted to be a fighter he would want him to be trained by Angelo Dundee. Based on the dedicated, selfless job that he has done for WBC light heavyweight titlist Chad Dawson, Mike Criscio may fit that same description as a manager.