By Dr. Peter Edwards
John Ruiz (41-5, 28 KOs) will be forced to abandon his moniker of "The Quiet Man" and prepare himself to make a lot of noise in Germany. Before a hostile hometown crowd, Ruiz will defend his WBA heavyweight title against the undefeated 7-foot giant, Nikolay Valuev (43-0, 31 KOs).
Several months ago, Ruiz stablemate and WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster had to dig deep and come from behind to knockout Luan Krasniqi at the Max Schmeling Arena in Germany. Now Ruiz finds himself in a similar position.
The fight, like the Brewster-Krasniqi clash, will not be televised in North America — and probably for good reason. Both Ruiz and Valuev have reputations for competing in bouts that lack any form of excitement. The country of Germany will need a miracle from the heavens if they plan on seeing a competitive bout.
Valuev, hyped as the next big thing due to his size, and let's be honest — his skin color —was very lackluster in his two biggest bouts.
Against Gerald Nobles, the smaller Nobles was giving as good as he was getting, until the referee disqualified him in the fourth round for throwing too many punches that were south of the border. Valuev appeared to have been stunned by Nobles on more than one occasion in the fight.
His next test came against the light-punching Larry Donald and, surprisingly, the much larger and stronger Valuev had problems in the bout. For the most part, Donald controlled the pace of the fight and was able to land big shots on the much slower Valuev without much trouble.
There were several observers who felt that Donald was robbed of a win against Valuev. They felt that he did more than enough to earn the decision and Valuev got a hometown nod. One of the judages even scored the fight a draw.
For all of his power and size, Valuev is very slow and lacks a good defense. He wings his punches and has a problematic tendency to throw one punch at a time. Against light-punching competition like Nobles and Donald, he was able to get away with his lack of basic fundamentals. When it comes to John Ruiz, size and strength may not be enough.
Many of Ruiz's past opponents have agreed on one thing: He hits much harder than people give him credit. The defense of Ruiz is very difficult to crack, unless you have the size and skills of James Toney.
Toney exposed the defense of Ruiz by assaulting The Quiet Man with an arsenal of body punches and followed up with combinations to the head. The reason Toney was able to outbox Ruiz with such ease comes down to a combination of skill, size and speed.
The 7-foot Valuev is not going to be able to attack the body of Ruiz, nor is he known for putting together great combinations. Ruiz has trouble with two kinds of fighters: Those that are excellent boxers with fast hands, and those that are very strong with fast hands. These are qualities that Valuev does not possess.
The big question in the fight is whether or not Ruiz can utilize his grab-and-hold style on a monster like Valuev. The answer could be the difference in the fight. The last time Ruiz tried to "box" his way to victory, he was picked apart by the quicker Toney. Valuev doesn't need to pick Ruiz apart, he just has to land one big shot on the chin.
What will happen if Ruiz is forced to box? He isn't the quickest fish in the sea, but he does hold a significant speed advantage over Valuev. How will the judging come into play if the bout goes the distance, which most think it will?
This is a pick 'em fight. I don't see a rainbow at the end of tunnel in either direction. I mean that regardless of who wins, the heavyweight division is likely not going to get any better or any worse. The only positive for Valuev is the fact that he lacks exposure to the American public. He could end up selling some tickets because his freak-like features may grab the curiosity factor of many fans within the U.S.
