By Jake Donovan
It’s been nearly a month since a significant boxing telecast has taken place on a Saturday evening, with the sport all but going on hiatus for much of the month of August. The live weekend action resumes on August 30, with not one but two rematches, both of which happen to take place in the very same arena as its predecessor.
Hours before the sport’s littlest big man, Ivan Calderon aims to repeat his performance from a year ago against Hugo Cazares in Puerto Rico, the sport’s biggest contender Nikolay Valuev seeks a second win over John Ruiz in as many tries when they once again square off at Max Schmelling Halle in Berlin, Germany.
The Valuev-Ruiz rematch comes more than 2 ½ years after their December 2005 contest, when Ruiz marched into Berlin as a heavyweight titlist, only to fall short in the eyes of the judges. Ruiz conceded his crown in a disputed majority decision that didn’t even render favorable with the hometown crowd.
Valuev (48-1, 34KO) has since lost the belt to Ruslan Chagaev, against whom the giant Russian was supposed to square off earlier this year. The rematch was scheduled for May, only for Chagaev to pull up lame, forcing a postponement.
Rescheduled for August 30, the world’s most fragile heavyweight not named Vitali suffered yet another injury, forcing the camps of his top two contenders – Valuev and Ruiz – to file a protest to either have him stripped or allow an interim title match.
The latter wish was granted, with Sauerland Events (who along with Don King co-promotes Valuev) winning the purse bid for the right to promote this weekend’s fight.
For Ruiz, the risk is well worth the reward – Sauerland’s submitted bid of $2,106,401 means a payday of just over a million dollars for each fighter. But even without the two-comma payday, it’s still a risk the Puerto Rican-American still would’ve taken – even if it means returning to the scene of the crime.
“I love Germany,” insists Ruiz (43-7-1, 29KO), who enters the fight riding a two-fight win streak after having lost back-to-back fights in Deutschland. “The German people have always treated me well.”
“The only problems I’ve had were the decisions, particularly against Valuev, which I believe was my easiest title defense.”
The records books show otherwise. Valuev was the busier of the two fighters in a less-than-scintillating battle that didn’t always entertain the crowd of 10,000 or so on hand. Ruiz landed the more telling blows, but were a little too few and far between in the eyes of the judges.
By fight’s end, it was Valuev who escaped with the win and the title, becoming the tallest and heaviest fighter in boxing history to pick up an alphabet strap. For Ruiz, it was his second non-win of the year, though a loss earlier in the year was changed to a no-contest after his opponent, James Toney tested positive for a banned substance.
It goes without saying that Ruiz believes justice was served in that instance. Not the case, he believes, when he left Germany.
“It was robbery without a gun,” he says of the decision.
Some will say it was justice served, with Ruiz’ two separate alphabet title reigns regularly featuring controversial outcomes.
Ruiz became the lone Latino to ever claim a heavyweight title when he outlasted Evander Holyfied in their March 2001 rematch to take a unanimous decision. The bout followed a highly disputed split decision loss eight months prior and preceded a questionable draw verdict in their December ’01 rubber match.
Kirk Johnson wound up losing his “0” to Ruiz when he fouled out of a July 2002 bout that ranked among the worst-ever fights in the once-proud run of HBO’s Boxing After Dark series. Fans wondered when the nightmare would end, only for Roy Jones Jr. to answer the prayers of many, becoming the first former middleweight champion in over 100 years to win a heavyweight belt when he outpointed Ruiz in their March 2003 meet.
When Jones decided to drop back down to 175, the belt became up for grabs. By that point, Ruiz no longer had in his corner longtime chief second Gabe LaMarca. He was instead limited to advice from hotheaded manager Norman Stone, who served as makeshift trainer from the Hasim Rahman fight through the first meet with Valuev.
The proverbial final straw in the relationship between Ruiz and Stone came after the loss to the Russian Giant. Stoney went above and beyond his usual classless schtick, going so far as to literally stealing the title from Valuev, symbolizing his own fighter being robbed.
Ruiz has since hooked up with Manny Siaca, Sr, though his return to the win column wouldn’t come until a tune-up knockout over Otis Tisdale last October on the non-televised portion of an HBO show in Hoffman Estates, IL. In between came a close, but justified loss to Ruslan Chagaev, who went on to defeat Valuev, leaving the Russian three wins shy of his goal to match Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record.
Valuev has since impressed in two subsequent wins, including his virtual shutout over Sergei Lyakhovich in Nürnberg, Germany earlier this year. It was the Lyakhovich fight that put him in a position to possibly regain his old title before enduring back-to-back postponements.
Ruiz was quick to volunteer his name for the open slot, as he’s never been one to shy away from a challenge. Whatever else could be said about his career or fighting style, one common praise afforded to his career was an unbridled willingness to take on all comers.
That hasn’t changed, as proven by his traveling to Germany for the third time in five fights for a return go with Valuev. What has changed, according to Ruiz, is the manner in which he approaches his opponents from bell to bell.
Without giving away the family secret, The Quiet Man insists that everyone – especially Valuev, will see a completely different fighter than the one who remained for far too long within his opponent’s punching range.
“When we get into the ring I want (Valuev) to be thinking about what he’s going to do with me,” says Ruiz. “He’s not going to fight the same guy he did the first time. You can’t let him stand there or he’ll throw punches all night long.”
With the chemistry flowing between Ruiz and Siaca, the two have been able to work on correcting some of the things that contributed to his career-worst three fight non-win streak spanning two years. Chief among them is more movement, which has to please any Ruiz critic forced to witness the dreadful jab and grab style that was far more effective than entertaining.
The irony in his losing his title in the December ’05 bout was that it was Valuev initiating many of the bout’s clinches, with Ruiz at a disadvantage only when he remained stationary. Ruiz has no designs in making things that easy for his opponent this time around.
“When we get into the ring I want (Valuev) to be thinking about what he’s going to do with me. He’s not going to fight the same guy he did the first time. You can’t let him stand there or he’ll throw punches all night long.”
“I’m going to take the fight to him and make him move around. I’m going to stay on him, surround him, and show him different angles and more combination punching.”
All he asks for this time around is for the judges to focus more on who wins from round to round, and less on who the promoter would like to win at night’s end.
“I hope I don’t have to knockdown Valuev every round to get a split decision,” Ruiz joked, before putting on his game face and assessing what it will take to win.
“We don’t want to let him just stand still and throw punches. I’ll be taking the fight to him, but more around him, to see what he can do when he has to move.”
Of course, Ruiz realizes it will take a lot more than seeing what Valuev can or cannot do in order to win a decision in opponent’s home away from home. Anything short, and the 36-year old Ruiz will leave once again Germany empty-handed in what could very well be his last shot at a career revival.
“I have to win rounds decisively; anything close will go to Valuev,” Ruiz believes. “I have to try and keep it out of the judge's hands by either stopping Valuev or making it so clear round by round, if it goes to decision.”
Spoken like a man better equipped to clean up a crime scene.
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com