By David P. Greisman
Whether you want to refer to it as a paradigm shift or a sea change, like the Oscar-winning Bob Dylan song from the film Wonder Boys, “Things Have Changed.” Gone from the heavyweight picture, perhaps for good this time, is John Ruiz, and in his place as WBA champion is his polar opposite, James “Lights Out” Toney. In this week’s edition of Fighting Words, we’ll take a brief look at the implications of Toney’s victory this past Saturday and, within The Ten Count, preview the big fights in this magnificent month of May.
Toney Ascends, Ruiz Retires
Although talent and ability are important aspects of the fight game, success is also based off of hunger and knowledge. John Ruiz had success, twice winning the WBA heavyweight belt and defending it triumphantly four times. He even had knowledge and talent, Ruiz being cognizant of the strategy he needed to stifle his opponents, frustrating them into fighting at his pace in his game.
But Ruiz was also knowledgeable that his success was coming at a price, namely the size of the bottom line. His style was painful, boring to watch, completely un-fan-friendly, and while he could keep his belts, respect was harder to earn.
So Ruiz tried to change, become more entertaining, going away from what had brought him the championship, kept him alive in the business after a 19 second knockout loss to David Tua in 1996.
That hunger, the desire to come back from defeat and attempt to achieve again, has faded away from John Ruiz after a unanimous decision loss to James Toney, and Ruiz has done the right thing in hanging up his gloves.
As for Toney, his confidence is bursting and the future, obviously, is ahead of him. He’s hungry for facing those other champions. Vitali Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Lamon Brewster. Line ‘em up, knock ‘em down, them bums. Toney is old school, wants any and all comers and is willing to back up his trash talk with bruising body shots and sneaky counter overhand rights. He has the knowledge, the skill and the ability to unify, or at least entertain while attempting to do so.
While the heavyweights had been bogged down, change occurring as fast as molasses, Toney is now trying to kick-start some movement. Sure, he’s foul and full of four-letter words, but his personality is essential in a division ruled by nice guys.
James, keep active, keep being yourself, and keep kicking tail and taking names, and thanks for keeping Ruiz off of our screens. Oh, and keep in shape, because we want to keep you around.
The Ten Count
1. Showtime continues to provide good fights on the first Saturday of every month, May’s offering including lightweight unification between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, and an undercard with featherweights Juan Manuel Marquez and Victor Polo. The boxing press has been favoring Corrales to win, seemingly ignoring Castillo’s recent victories over the three “J”s, Juan Lazcano, Joel Casamayor and Julio Diaz. Still, Corrales is no stiff, although he has the power to knock someone so. As for the featherweights, Marquez needs to retain his belts with a defining performance if he ever wants to deserve the kind of paycheck that he had been demanding for the rematch with Manny Pacquiao.
2. The May 14 HBO pay-per-view featuring Felix “Tito” Trinidad against Winky Wright is getting my money, just based off of the bout’s potential. Trinidad, of course, is an explosive and entertaining warrior, seeking to eventually avenge his having been wiped out by Bernard Hopkins in September 2001. Wright is an underrated, sound and skilled champion who had lived on the edge of anonymity until he beat Shane Mosley twice. The questions are whether Trinidad’s comeback crushing of Ricardo Mayorga signals that Tito has regained old form, or if the technical superiority of Wright will frustrate the Puerto Rican hero much like B-Hops did. It will also be a step up in divisions to 160 ponds for the junior middleweight Wright. But he has spent his entire professional career at or around 154, so Winky at middleweight should not have the belly or the bosom that Oscar De La Hoya carried at the same weight.
3. Andrew Golota gets his third straight title shot on May 21 in Chicago when he faces Lamon Brewster, the WBO heavyweight beltholder and the titlist considered the least worthy champ of the four. This will be an opportunity for Brewster to earn some respect, and it might be Golota’s final shot at glory. Golota had partially redeemed his foul-prone past with his draw with Chris Byrd, but reverted quickly to old form when confronted with the pain that is (was?) John Ruiz.
4. Other interesting fights this May: Zab Judah defends against mandatory Cosme Rivera on the May 14 Trinidad/Wright PPV; O’Neil Bell and Dale Brown vie for the vacant IBF cruiserweight belt on May 20; the finale of the Contender is on May 24 (more on that later); and a PPV on May 28 features Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Ivan Robinson, Rafael Marquez defending his bantamweight belt against Ricardo Vargas, and Jesus Chavez vs. Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez in a battle of Erik Morales’s victims.
5. Jack Welsh, whose columns occasionally ran here on BoxingScene.com, died late last month after he got home from covering the April 23 ESPN PPV. Showing how classy those involved in the sweet science can be, multiple sites ran tributes, and Top Rank chief Bob Arum generously stepped forward to pay for Welsh’s burial.
6. Manny Pacquiao has hired noted boxing attorney Judd Burstein, and together they are suing Murad Muhammad. The drama between Manny and Murad has been in public view for years now, and the Pacman deserves justice for the money that he was allegedly ripped off of by his promoter.
7. Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor are finally fighting, having hammered out a contract, on July 16. It will seemingly be on pay-per-view, so there better be a decent undercard, what with the Morales/Pacquiao and ESPN shows setting a recent standard for quality. My early pick for the fight is Hopkins, considering that in the past he noted that he “saw something” that he could exploit in Taylor. It might be too early for Taylor to be facing the Executioner, but with Hopkins’s retirement nearing, it had to be now or never.
8. Ricardo Williams Jr., the underachieving former Olympian that once lost to journeyman Juan “Pollo” Valenzuela, starting a downward spiral that included another loss and some serious legal difficulties, made a recent return to the ring for the first time in over a year, defeating Ian Smith. Williams had been highly regarded coming out of the 2000 Olympics, but the pressure got to him much in the same way it has in past prospects.
9. Championship Calendar Update: Word is that Arturo Morua is out as Vivian Harris’s opponent in Harris’s June 25 WBA welterweight title defense. Possibly replacing Morua is Carlos Maussa, who was knocked out by WBO titlist Miguel Cotto in December 2003. Honestly, the opponent for Harris doesn’t matter… it is meant to be a showcase for a champion that rarely receives exposure.
Chris Byrd may finally get to defend his IBF heavyweight belt again, not that the inactivity was his preference. Byrd is tentatively slated for Don King's July 23 card, with no opponent chosen at the moment.
10. The Contender Update: Sometimes, in boxing, strange things happen, and this past episode of Mark Burnett’s reality show was one of those occurrences. Going into the fifth round of a quarterfinal match between Peter Manfredo Jr. and Joey Gilbert, the score was seemingly tied at two rounds apiece. Gilbert had been fighting with what may have been a broken rib suffered as a consequence of a Manfredo body shot, but Manfredo had given away the third and fourth stanzas. A clash of heads, though, opened up a nasty gash on Gilbert’s right eyebrow, causing the doctor to call a halt to the bout. Under the rules, the fifth round had to be scored, even though it wasn’t completed, and Manfredo won with a split decision.
Manfredo is the only guy to have fought three times so far on the show, having been defeated in the first episode, voted back when Jeff Fraza came down with chicken pox, beating Miguel Espino in the first portion of the show, and now Gilbert. For a guy who had been ranked, Manfredo has had difficulty with Alfonso Gomez and now Gilbert, but he has survived.
Now that three of the final four have been decided in Gomez, Sergio Mora and Manfredo, next week will feature the battle of the hamstring injuries, with Jesse Brinkley vs. Anthony Bonsante. NBC is promising the most shocking ending yet. Propaganda, perhaps, but we’ll see.
The May 24 finale of the show is approaching, and it will feature the final for a million dollar prize, as well as matches between the other two semifinalists, and four favorite fighters as chosen by the viewers.
Next Week’s Fighting Words – Castillo/Corrales
Yes, this was a shorter Fighting Words, but not to worry, next week I’ll return in full force, with a focus on the Showtime card of Castillo/Corrales and Marquez/Polo. In the meantime, please feel free to send me your questions and comments at dgreisman@aol.com. Fighting Words is featured on BoxingScene.com each and every Monday.
