How Great A Win Is John Ruiz For Roy Jones Jr?

[Scott9945]

It's impressive that he did so as easily as he did. Ruiz ended up being one of the better heavyweights post Lewis.

Just like Hopkins beating Pascal though, it was the accomplishment more than the opponent.

Yes. When a smallish light heavyweight easily beats a top 5 heavyweight, it is impressive.

Then again, relatively speaking, it wasn't as impressive as Billy Conn's KO loss in the first Joe Louis fight.

[StarshipTrooper]

people **** on Ruiz, but the fact of the matter is that he was a top heavyweight for a solid 10 or so years.

Ranked Heavyweight yes, top Heavyweight no. If not for the machinations of Don King, Ruiz wouldn't have cracked the top-5 at any point in his career. He got his rankings not for what he did in the ring but because he was King's only toehold in the Heavyweight division.

Poet

[The Surgeon]

I rate it as a very good win, not because Ruiz was some killer - he wasnt! Though he was in the end a two time HW Belt holder so as bad as the division was/is he was one of the better ones and that in its self is alarming.

I rate it because Roy was outweighed so heavily, was a former MW champ and had completely skipped the CW division. A feat that hadnt be matched in over 100 years remember, tho as we all know Fitz did it for THE HW championship and not an ABC strap.
Lets not act as if it was a formality now because alot of people felt Roy couldnt live with the size and stregth, hw power. It was a fight, but in the end Jones made it look oh so easy. Very Impressive.


Still as Scott pointed out and i agree, not as impressive as Billy Conns losing effort against the Brown Bomber.....

[IMDAZED]

I wouldnt necessarily call it great at all.

but, lets be fair, it was a quality win. people **** on Ruiz, but the fact of the matter is that he was a top heavyweight for a solid 10 or so years, from the first Holyfield fight till Haye took him out not too long ago. granted, the division has been pretty terrible, but still.

Ruiz was very very clearly not the true HW champ, so you may as well throw that silly 'Roy Jones became HW champ' stat out the window. but, Ruiz was legitimately one of the best guys in the division, and when you combine Roy moving up in weight its a very solid win.

Agreed. His last hurrah. That he moved up about 15lbs and was still outweighed by about 30lbs make it very impressive. I don't count the paper title because that's what it was and it's irrelevant. It doesn't take away fromt he feat as Ruiz was a top five heavy for a long time.

[SCtrojansbaby]

A B+ level win considering up until that point Ruiz made everybody look bad and Roy completely DOMINATED him.

[$Bullsfam$]

I'd actually give it an A. Only because it was a jump up to Heavyweight. Ain't no A+ though because it was the weakest belt holder. If he beat Lennox that would be an A+, but I think Ruiz alone is an A just because he was a midddleweight that went all the way up to heavyweight, skipped Crusierweight. That was a pretty gangsta as Hopkins would put it

[Terry A]

Roy Jones was my favorite fighter from the last 20 years so I was pretty darn happy when he won.
Ruiz was never an easy fight for anybody, let alone for someone jumping 2 weight classes UP to face him.

I thought it was his best win in his career. Toney & Hopkins were better AFTER they fought RJ. The Trinidad fight was his next biggest win, IMO.

The flip side is that the Ruiz fight was probably the last time Jones was at a peak. His career has been on skid row most of the time since then.

[SCtrojansbaby]

Roy Jones was my favorite fighter from the last 20 years so I was pretty darn happy when he won.
Ruiz was never an easy fight for anybody, let alone for someone jumping 2 weight classes UP to face him.

I thought it was his best win in his career. Toney & Hopkins were better AFTER they fought RJ. The Trinidad fight was his next biggest win, IMO.

The flip side is that the Ruiz fight was probably the last time Jones was at a peak. His career has been on skid row most of the time since then.

LOL I think its time for you to stop posting

[Terry A]

LOL I think its time for you to stop posting

Not quite yet SC.

You don't think that beating Felix Trinidad that close to his 3 losses wasn't big for him? If he would have lost that fight, he may have retired right there.
That win was mentally important for him.

Besides Ruiz, Toney or Hopkins, who do you think was his next biggest win?

[TintaBoricua]

Not quite yet SC.

You don't think that beating Felix Trinidad that close to his 3 losses wasn't big for him? If he would have lost that fight, he may have retired right there.
That win was mentally important for him.

Besides Ruiz, Toney or Hopkins, who do you think was his next biggest win?

Trinidad was a big name, but that was nothing more than a fake revival of Jones' career. He vanished into obscurity after his three straight losses to try and rebuild himself and then came up and got a fight with Trinidad...who was coming back after 2 and a half years of inactivity...at 170 pounds! Tito's highest weight was at 160 where he fought guys like Hopkins and Joppy. After those losses he came back down to 154 to fight with Mayorga and Winky Wright.

That was not Trinidad. I never gave Jones credit for that win because I knew it was not going to be competitive from the moment it was signed.

To answer the question: What about Mike McCallum?