By Jake Donovan

Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Or in the case of fights like David Haye’s alphabet heavyweight title defense against John Ruiz in Manchester, England on Saturday, you just won’t get it.

For years, boxing fans – and several in the media – have been less than discreet in masking their contempt for Ruiz’ punch-and-clinch style, longing for the day when they’d never again have to worry about the only Hispanic heavyweight titlist in boxing history gracing their television screens.

The irony being, the demand has now far exceeded the supply the moment his bouts have been limited to online streams.

Five of the last six fights of Ruiz’ career have taken place outside of the United States. The only one to land on American airwaves was his last fight, appearing on the televised undercard of Haye’s title winning effort against Nikolay Valuev in bout that topped a Saturday afternoon pay-per-view telecast.

For Haye, it was just the second time during the relevant portion of his career that the Brit has had the pleasure of performing in front of an American viewing audience.

Unfortunately, the pace of the bout was nothing like his previous stateside network appearance, when he blasted out Enzo Maccarinelli in less than two rounds on SHOWTIME two years ago. The bout with Valuev took approximately 11 ½ rounds to get going, before Haye landed something dramatic in the final round to at least give fans something to remember in what was otherwise a night to forget.

Despite the lack of action, it turned out to be a night to remember for Haye, who left Nuremburg, Germany as a two-division champion, capturing a heavyweight belt almost two years to the day of his off-the-canvas knockout win over Jean-Marc Mormeck to earn the lineal cruiserweight championship.

Haye had his chance to expand his viewing audience with scheduled bouts against both Klitschko brothers. An untimely injury forced the brash Brit to pull out of his planned title challenge against Wladimir Klitschko last June in a bout that was scheduled to air on HBO.

Despite the setback, the cable giant was still interested in remaining in the David Haye business, brokering a deal that would’ve had him facing Wladimir’s older brother, Vitali.

When it came time to put ink to paper, Haye wavered, instead choosing what he and many others viewed as a less challenging path in the pursuit of heavyweight hardware, abruptly backing out of the fight and signing on to face Valuev.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…yet HBO and all involved parties still talk about the possibility of Haye facing one or both of the Klitschko brothers.

The irony of such discussion is that the path Haye chose to become a titlist could ultimately serve as its biggest roadblock towards bigger and better things.

It was known going in that the Haye-Valuev winner would next have to face Ruiz, who somehow always remains no further away than one fight away from a title shot. There was fear of a possible third fight between Valuev and Ruiz, but Haye managed to spoil those plans – but only for the moment.

Valuev is once again back in the mix, next in line for the winner of Saturday’s bout. His status prevents the best laid plans Golden Boy Promotions had in mind – which would be for Haye to defend his title against Bernard Hopkins, providing the former middleweight king gets past Roy Jones in their long overdue (though no longer necessarily a long awaited) rematch a few hours after Haye and Ruiz attempt to settle their differences in the ring.

A Haye-Hopkins bout is a sexy enough storyline to garner network interest, but it’s a fight that may never get made.

There are only two ways such a matchup could be made in the immediate future. One is if Valuev agrees to step aside, which would most likely require a hefty step-aside fee.

Neither Haye nor Hopkins exactly represents box office gold, which makes such a scenario unlikely, which would lead to door number two – Haye dumping his title.

A move like that would defeat the purpose of Hopkins moving up to heavyweight in the first place. Haye’s belt is of the paper variety as it is; no belt at all makes it “just” a heavyweight fight, which – even if Hopkins comes out on top in such a fight – leaves the future Hall-of-Famer as a middleweight champion with non-title wins at light heavyweight and heavyweight as far as the record books would be concerned.

Then of course, there’s also the possibility of Ruiz spoiling the party altogether and pulling off the upset later today. The New England-based Puerto Rican has had his ups and downs in recent years, but has always proven to be a tough out for just about anyone since thrusting himself unto the title picture.

He’s also proven to be tough to watch over the course of his multiple title reigns. HBO was briefly interested in going along for the ride, but only in efforts to build him up as a viable option for more notable fighters in their stable.

That fighter became Roy Jones, who moved up to heavyweight for one night only in 2003, but one night was all it took to become the first former middleweight champion in roughly a century to successfully move up and capture a heavyweight belt.

Jones’ vacating of the title led to Ruiz’ next title opportunity, winning the belt in a God-awful clutchfest against Hasim Rahman on a pay-per-view undercard nine months after the Jones fight. In fact, his only bout since 2002 to appear live in an American televised medium other than pay-per-view was his 2005 loss-turned-no-contest against James Toney.

Six bouts have since followed, none appearing on a US network already included in your monthly cable or satellite subscription.

Such a career path for Ruiz – and quite frankly the majority of the heavyweight division – is a status which fans for years have demanded.

So why is it that a non-televised heavyweight fight suddenly winds up in such high demand?

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.