Lennox refused to fight Ruiz?

[Left Hook Tua]

In 2000 after his 2nd match with Holyfield, Lewis had to drop the WBA and IBF titles because he refused to fight the WBA's number 1 challenger, John Ruiz. WHY?

don king maybe?

[Randall_Hopkirk]

They were also former stable mates. Plus Grant was the guy the Americans were pushing to reclaim the titles for the USA, so Lewis took the more meaningful fight.

[Ray Ray]

Lennox Lewis was scared of John "Hug-a-man" Ruiz..Lennox didnt want any parts of Ruiz because Lennox knew he was the real deal..Ruiz is a ****ing beast!

[Ryn0]

Because Lewis wanted to fight Michael Grant.

[beez721]

that would be the honorable thing to do but I have a hard time believing that Lewis refused to take on an easy contender like Ruiz to keep his belts. He could have beaten Ruiz and fought Grant anyway. Lewis took step-aside money so that tyson could fight Holyfield instead so I doubt he cares about boxing as much as he cares about money.

he did turn down the fight but it certainly wasnt because he feared losing to ruiz. him and manny knew it would be an ugly fight and they were looking for something more exciting. one thing I always liked about lewis is he always took the fights the fans wanted and for the most part never ducked anyone ,,besides vitali,,lol. that was understandable though as he was getting older and risked his legacy by fighting on at that point. I remember manny saying in an interview that they didnt want the ruiz fight because of ruiz's "ugly style"

[Ryn0]

Lennox Lewis was scared of John "Hug-a-man" Ruiz..Lennox didnt want any parts of Ruiz because Lennox knew he was the real deal..Ruiz is a ****ing beast!

Actually forget my answer. It's what he said!

[Pullcounter]

In 2000 after his 2nd match with Holyfield, Lewis had to drop the WBA and IBF titles because he refused to fight the WBA's number 1 challenger, John Ruiz. WHY?

cause ruiz is garbage.

[DiegoFuego]

he lost the IBF title for not fighting Byrd, which would have been another boring fight

[ferocity]

I recall hbo, lewis and steward didn't want the fight. It would be boring was the norm when asked and non one thought Ruiz would be around long after Lewis retired. So now and forever people will ask why didn't Lewis fight Ruiz.

[ferocity]

he lost the IBF title for not fighting Byrd, which would have been another boring fight

Yeah him too. Lewis should have just fought both of them a month apart and be done with it.