John Ruiz

[JAB5239]

How much better would Ruiz have been had he a world class trainer for the better part of his career?

I always like Ruiz because one, everyone else hated him. Two, he was an over achiever. I think he would have been a much better fighter had he a decent trainer instead of the quotable and entertaining Norman Stone.

Could The "Quiet man" have gone further with Manny Stewart, Roach or one of the other top trainers today? Thoughts?

[Ivansmamma]

As pretty much everybody else i never really liked Ruiz but i was impressed with him in his fight against Haye. He kept coming forward, not complaining, hanging in there with a younger, faster, better boxer hitting him with illegal punches to the neck. I respect Ruiz. About your question, who knows? He had some ability and with a better trainer, better help coming up with gameplans, he might have gone further, maybe mixed up his game a little instead of the endless clinching.

[JAB5239]

As pretty much everybody else i never really liked Ruiz but i was impressed with him in his fight against Haye. He kept coming forward, not complaining, hanging in there with a younger, faster, better boxer hitting him with illegal punches to the neck. I respect Ruiz. About your question, who knows? He had some ability and with a better trainer, better help coming up with gameplans, he might have gone further, maybe mixed up his game a little instead of the endless clinching.

Stone was just horrible between rounds and never helped him adjust. He never gave advice, only yelled things like "Kick this guys ass!". Drives me nuts to see a fighter with no representation in his corner.

[Steak]

Norman Stone was hilarious. I gladly would have traded whatever Ruiz 'could have become' for the ridiculous moments off Stone's in the ring.

All things considered, Ruiz did pretty damn well in his career, considering how mediocre he was. Whats odd is that occasionally he would have flashes of actually being good, but they were very few and far inbetween.

People put down Ruiz, but when it gets down to it, he was one of the most consistant heavyweights of the last 10 years...consistantly mediocre, but sometimes thats all he needed. honestly, youd be pretty hard pressed to find someone that did as much as Ruiz during the last decade.
Whats also hilarious is that Ruiz was incredibly dirty despite his low contact hugging style. If you fouled him once he would retaliate at least twice as bad

..All things considered, even though his fights are boring, I find them entertaining. One of the most hilarious, controversial and messy careers Ive seen in a long time.
I thought he beat Valuev in at least one of their godawful fights.

[Scott9945]

Stone was just horrible between rounds and never helped him adjust. He never gave advice, only yelled things like "Kick this guys ass!". Drives me nuts to see a fighter with no representation in his corner.

You're not wrong about that. But somehow I still feel that Ruiz was as good as he could have been.

[JAB5239]

You're not wrong about that. But somehow I still feel that Ruiz was as good as he could have been.

I don't know. He was a tough kid willing to learn, he just had a horrible teacher.

[Scott9945]

I don't know. He was a tough kid willing to learn, he just had a horrible teacher.

I don't know who taught him, but fundamentally Ruiz wasn't that bad. It's just that I don't think his natural athletic ability had much upside.

[JAB5239]

I don't know who taught him, but fundamentally Ruiz wasn't that bad. It's just that I don't think his natural athletic ability had much upside.

Very true.

I always thought he had a very good right hand but don't think he ever learned angles. Had he learned to slide to the right or left after a jab or right hand and than start a new series of punches instead of clinching he would have been a better fighter in my opinion.

[RINGG]

I think him as an over achiever. I doubt he would have been discussed as much if he fought in a time where there was one heavyweight champ but he did alot with what he had. Remember he was another fighter that started out as a cruiserweight and moved up.

[bojangles1987]

I don't know who taught him, but fundamentally Ruiz wasn't that bad. It's just that I don't think his natural athletic ability had much upside.

That's why we probably did see the best of Ruiz. He fought a style that made up for his lack of athletic ability, so if he fought a different style learned from a better trainer maybe he can't hide his lack of athleticism.