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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Save a chair, folks. John Ruiz is sidling back to the heavyweight title table.
Already a veteran of 10 championship bouts and one of history's select few with multiple bites of the division's fractured pie – the "Quiet Man" will meet his verbal converse when he shares a ring with newly minted WBA belt- holder David Haye sometime between now and mid-2010.
Date and site logistics are unclear, but a contract is in place for the fight to occur before the end of May, according to Ruiz's manager Anthony Cardinale.
"The fight with Haye was negotiated and closed before the bouts (in Germany)," Cardinale said. "It is a done deal. Otherwise we would not have agreed to step aside. There will be no further negotiations necessary."
Haye earned his first title as a heavyweight with a majority decision over Nikolai Valuev on Nov. 7 in Nuremberg, where Ruiz toppled European journeyman Adnan Serin in seven rounds on the undercard.
As the WBA's official challenger, Ruiz had been in line for a third match with Valuev, but agreed to defer to Haye in exchange for first dibs if the brash Londoner dethroned the towering 7-footer. [details]
Already a veteran of 10 championship bouts and one of history's select few with multiple bites of the division's fractured pie – the "Quiet Man" will meet his verbal converse when he shares a ring with newly minted WBA belt- holder David Haye sometime between now and mid-2010.
Date and site logistics are unclear, but a contract is in place for the fight to occur before the end of May, according to Ruiz's manager Anthony Cardinale.
"The fight with Haye was negotiated and closed before the bouts (in Germany)," Cardinale said. "It is a done deal. Otherwise we would not have agreed to step aside. There will be no further negotiations necessary."
Haye earned his first title as a heavyweight with a majority decision over Nikolai Valuev on Nov. 7 in Nuremberg, where Ruiz toppled European journeyman Adnan Serin in seven rounds on the undercard.
As the WBA's official challenger, Ruiz had been in line for a third match with Valuev, but agreed to defer to Haye in exchange for first dibs if the brash Londoner dethroned the towering 7-footer. [details]
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