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HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Former two-time heavyweight titlist John Ruiz returned from an 11-month layoff to score a dominant second-round knockout of journeyman Otis Tisdale on Saturday night.
The fight was one of the undercard bouts on the show headlined by the Juan Diaz-Julio Diaz lightweight unification bout at the Sears Centre in suburban Chicago.
Ruiz, 35, known for clinching and holding his opponents, didn't resort to that tactic. Instead Tisdale tried to hold because Ruiz came out so aggressively. It didn't work; Ruiz dropped Tisdale twice in the opening round, first from an onslaught of body punches and uppercuts and the second time on a well-placed right uppercut.
Ruiz (42-7-1, 29 KOs), who halted a two-fight losing streak, ended matters at 45 seconds of the second round when he tagged Tisdale (26-19-1, 15 KOs) with a right-left combination that dropped him for a third time and forced the referee to stop the fight.
Ruiz had been out of action since losing a split decision to Ruslan Chagaev in a title eliminator in Germany on Nov. 18. In his previous bout, Ruiz lost his title via majority decision to Nikolai Valuev, also in Germany.
After such a long layoff, Ruiz was happy to be back in the ring and is aiming for another title opportunity.
"I felt a little rusty," Ruiz said. "And I had the butterflies when I went in the ring. It's been awhile. But I was able to perform the things [trainer] Manny [Siaca Sr.] has taught me. I want to get that title back. It got taken away from me in Germany. I came here to get the cobwebs out."
Ruiz hopes he will get a rematch with Valuev in an elimination bout that would give the winner a shot at Chagaev's belt.
To me Ruiz is a very uninteresting fighter....of the handful of fights that I have seen him in, I've been unimpressed. Yet he marches on......
What's your take?
The fight was one of the undercard bouts on the show headlined by the Juan Diaz-Julio Diaz lightweight unification bout at the Sears Centre in suburban Chicago.
Ruiz, 35, known for clinching and holding his opponents, didn't resort to that tactic. Instead Tisdale tried to hold because Ruiz came out so aggressively. It didn't work; Ruiz dropped Tisdale twice in the opening round, first from an onslaught of body punches and uppercuts and the second time on a well-placed right uppercut.
Ruiz (42-7-1, 29 KOs), who halted a two-fight losing streak, ended matters at 45 seconds of the second round when he tagged Tisdale (26-19-1, 15 KOs) with a right-left combination that dropped him for a third time and forced the referee to stop the fight.
Ruiz had been out of action since losing a split decision to Ruslan Chagaev in a title eliminator in Germany on Nov. 18. In his previous bout, Ruiz lost his title via majority decision to Nikolai Valuev, also in Germany.
After such a long layoff, Ruiz was happy to be back in the ring and is aiming for another title opportunity.
"I felt a little rusty," Ruiz said. "And I had the butterflies when I went in the ring. It's been awhile. But I was able to perform the things [trainer] Manny [Siaca Sr.] has taught me. I want to get that title back. It got taken away from me in Germany. I came here to get the cobwebs out."
Ruiz hopes he will get a rematch with Valuev in an elimination bout that would give the winner a shot at Chagaev's belt.
To me Ruiz is a very uninteresting fighter....of the handful of fights that I have seen him in, I've been unimpressed. Yet he marches on......
What's your take?
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