Why Lewis didn't fight Ruiz

[crold1]

end.....of.......thread!!!

Not really. See my post below. There were actual events not only vindicating Lewis against the duck, but proving Ruiz's team moved HIM away from Lewis.

[Kid McCoy]

This would be a great theory if there weren't facts that explain the situation entirely.

To get the Holyfield unification, Lewis had to sign on to face the WBA mando next. The WBA mando ended up being Akinwande, someone Lewis had beaten and a rematch was unsellable. Lewis made clear he was going to Grant, partiocularly because Akinwande still had Hepatitis and wasn't able to fight. The WBA reworked the 'forumla' to determine mandos and came up with...Holyfield. No move had been made to strip because Akinwande and Holyfield would have looked terrible as being stripped for. King lobbied and the WBA magic 'formula' suddenly had Ruiz up top off his victory, I believe, over Tucker.

Lewis appealed.

The WBA agreed to allow him to keep the belt, with Lewis offering Ruiz the immediate shot after Grant (which went to Botha). King/Ruiz sued, Lewis fought it in court on the same grounds (offering next shot)...and lost.

Ruiz faced Holyfield. Lewis moved on. This is all well documented.

Don King/Team Ruiz could have waited a few months to get either a shot at the undisputed title or, if Grant had won, take their stripped belt then. They didn't, nor was Ruiz the mando at the start of the madness.

If anyone ducked, Ruiz ducked Lewis (though I doubt the fighter had much to do with it).

My take was King always wanted a Holy-Ruiz fight for the vacant WBA title. It looks to me like he was just trying to manoeuvre Lewis out of the belt by giving him a mandatory he had no interest in fighting (and realistically, someone King probably didn't want to face Lewis anyway) and that's exactly how it played out. Lewis moves on, King gets control of the belt.

[Scott9945]

My take was King always wanted a Holy-Ruiz fight for the vacant WBA title. It looks to me like he was just trying to manoeuvre Lewis out of the belt by giving him a mandatory he had no interest in fighting (and realistically, someone King probably didn't want to face Lewis anyway) and that's exactly how it played out. Lewis moves on, King gets control of the belt.

If anything, Lewis was ducking Don King rather than Ruiz. Lewis hated doing business with King and avoided him as much as possible. If I'm not mistaken, the only times Lennox fought on a King promotion was when DK overpaid for the Tucker mandatory fight, and the two Holyfield fights.

[GJC]

If anything, Lewis was ducking Don King rather than Ruiz. Lewis hated doing business with King and avoided him as much as possible. If I'm not mistaken, the only times Lennox fought on a King promotion was when DK overpaid for the Tucker mandatory fight, and the two Holyfield fights.

That's how I read it. Between King's games and the corrupt sanctioning bodies, to keep the HW title unified if you aren't a King fighter, you'd probably have to fight twice a week

[Scott9945]

That's how I read it. Between King's games and the corrupt sanctioning bodies, to keep the HW title unified if you aren't a King fighter, you'd probably have to fight twice a week

King always wanted options on anyone who fought his guy, not to mention his other legendary sleazy tactics. Bowe, Lewis, and the Klitschko's all avoided doing business with him. Holyfield only did to get the Tyson fight.

[JAB5239]

Not really. See my post below. There were actual events not only vindicating Lewis against the duck, but proving Ruiz's team moved HIM away from Lewis.

I was mistaken. Nice post Cliff.

[TBear]

I really doubt Don King wanted Lewis anyways. Don King wanted a champion by any means necessary and putting Ruiz in the ring with Lewis would not have gotten him a titlist. King most likely knew a vacant title would his best chance.