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04/15/2004 Archived Entry: "New England Chatta"
New England Chatta
By J.D. Vena
No one likes a sore loser. Whether they're throwing stools across the ring, biting ears or offering excuses, it's always better for a loser to help their image by acknowledging defeat or affirming that the other guy was the better man that night. No one said he had to invite him over for cards or buy him a drink, but John Ruiz and his image problem wouldn't have worsened had he just admitted to losing to Roy Jones, Jr. a year ago when the one-time middleweight champion boxed his ears off for 12 rounds to surrender his title.
Since the loss, Ruiz has verbally bashed Jones' character and his performance that night. Ruiz blamed the referee for not allowing him to “fight his fight” among other reasons as why he couldn't beat Jones. This behavior is uncharacteristic of him and he's not living up to his moniker, “The Quietman.”
This isn’t to say Ruiz should like Jones. Prior to facing Jones, the tactful Ruiz was forced to do all of the promoting without the assistance of Roy Jones, Jr. the cash cow who likes to run his mouth and unlike Ruiz, Jones had a guaranteed purse, whereas Ruiz' payment would be solely based on the sales. It was a great scheme, a mind game and for Ruiz, he was just hopeful that the fight would come off let alone sell. Couple this with the fact that Ruiz was going through a painful marital separation, which ultimately led to the divorce of his wife and mother of his children shortly after the defeat.
Preparing for the biggest fight of his life was something he shouldn't have been doing at the time he fought Roy Jones, but even a year later, he refuses to credit the man who had beaten him one-sidedly. In addition to bashing his character, which may be just, he still accuses Jones of running rather than fighting, when in fact it seemed that Roy was doing more of the punching fighting.
"I feel that (Jones) got lucky, so basically why take the chance again," said Ruiz. "That's the way he's thinking, he's going to move back down (to light heavyweight) and stay. I don't see him coming back up again. He got lucky that night and that's the way he's taking it.”
Since beating Ruiz, Jones has moved back down to light heavyweight and will hope to finish his rivalry with local nemesis Antonio Tarver next month before contemplating bigger fish to fry. Ruiz, now 39-5-1 with 27 KO’s, on the other hand will be defending the WBA heavyweight title this Saturday night, against Puerto Rican born, Chicago native Fres Oquendo, one of the three featured fights at Madison Square Garden on HBO PPV. Whether Ruiz realizes it or not, losing to Jones, whether it was in one-sided fashion or not shouldn’t be something to be too embarrassed about considering the fact that he is one of very few of today’s top heavyweights, that hasn’t ducked another fighter.
“People can say what they want about him but he’s beaten a lot of top heavyweights,” said popular Fox boxing analyst Max Kellerman. “He fought Holyfield three times, beat Kirk Johnson who was undefeated and in shape and then he goes out and beats Hasim Rahman. That’s three top echelon heavyweights that he’s beaten. If anything, it really says a lot about Roy Jones’ performance for beating Ruiz.”
In Oquendo, 24-2 with 15 KO’s, Ruiz will be facing a quick-handed opponent who is coming off a controversial points defeat to Chris Byrd, another heavyweight champion that no one is eager to fight. Like Ruiz, Oquendo is of proud Puerto Rican heritage and should Ruiz win, his credibility will rapidly gain acceptance with the boxing public, particularly with the Latinos.
“It's a great chance and a great opportunity,” said Ruiz. “The heavyweight division is wide open basically. It is out there to be grabbed. Someone is going to be the top guy, especially after Lennox Lewis' retirement. Right now the focus is on winning and doing the best that I can.”
Oquendo frustrated Byrd by playing more of a game of cat and mouse as opposed to being the aggressor, which Byrd has been accustomed to facing. The speed of his jab and quick rights helped Oquendo score well but ultimately, he gave away the last few rounds by not throwing more punches.
“I didn't quite see the whole fight between Oquendo and Chris Byrd, but I realize that Byrd wasn't really keeping him out, Oquendo kept coming in and coming in. He usually fights from the outside. He tries to move and he tries to jab. Seeing Oquendo coming in like that is a new thing for me. Not knowing whether he's going to come in or box, I'll just have to train like I normally train. What I've been hearing is that he's going to try to box me and try to out-jab me. He's going to try to do everything and I see it as a cat and mouse game. I'm going to be chasing him all around the ring and he's going to be boxing.”
But should Ruiz lose, let’s hope for his sake, that if anything is sore on him after Saturday night, it’s his hands.
Whenever you hear someone talk about the way WBA welterweight champion, Jose Antonio Rivera carries himself, the words you read or hear associated about are usually, “hardworking” and “dedicated.” You won’t hear anything different from friend and former world title challenger “Iceman” John Scully of Windsor, CT. The two have been friends for years and Scully knows that Rivera’s words of wisdom and demeanor are just as advertised.
“I met Jose through Rocky Gonzalez , Sean Fitzgerald and Bobby Harris from Worcester,” said Scully. “Jose was a real cool kid when we met and we became friends. As a matter of fact, a few years ago, Jose, Sean and myself took a vacation to Pensacola, Florida together and what I remember most about that trip was Jose's dedication to boxing even while we were on the trip. He ran every morning and made us run too. Even when we didn't get to bed until real late the night before, he’d get up early and make us run with him.”
It was this work ethic which personified Rivera’s unlikely victory over then unbeaten Michael Trabant of Germany on his home turf. Despite the tough environment and the task of winning in Germany, “el Gallo,” which means ‘the rooster,’ was savvy enough to floor Trabant early and press the entire fight until coming home to Worcester with the WBA belt. This Saturday night, before Ruiz defends against Oquendo, Rivera, 37-3 with 24 KO’s, will be pitted against the fearsome, Ricardo “el Matador” Mayorga (26-4 with 23 KO’s) of Nicaruagua. And though there’s no doubt that Mayorga is hardworking, Rivera will be facing the antithesis of himself. The disrespectful and loose living wild man is the modern day Tony Ayala and since “el Gallo” is not the slickster that world champ Cory Spinks is, he’ll need an incredible tank of gas to out-game the fury of Mayorga. Scully believes his pal is just the individual capable of doing that.
Rivera, with buddies Scully and Sean Fitzgerald
“Matching Jose punch for punch is not easy because he’s like the Energizer bunny rabbit,” said Scully. “He just keeps on going and going and going. Jose is a machine, a work horse. He has so much will, determination and just an abundance of spirit. Like I said, we were on vacation in Pensacola and he made us run every morning.”
If you’re in the Boston area, be sure to tune in to WZNE 1510 AM “The Zone” at 7:00 P.M for the inaugural radio show “Pros on Pros.” The show, which is hosted by former Patriots Tim Fox and Pete Brock and is produced by boxing promoter and sports marketing guru Hank Tuohy of Hyannis, will take place at “The Place” in downtown Boston. Among the guests will be “Gentleman” Gerry Cooney as well as Lowell’s "Irish" Micky Ward and three-time nemesis and life-long friend Arturo Gatti. Gatti will be in town to cheer on Ward who will be running the Boston Marathon Monday for a charity called “K.I.D.S.”
ESNP2 Friday Night Fights returns to Foxwoods on Friday, May 7th for another Sugar Ray Leonard Promoted Card. Headlining will be New Yorker “Big Lou” Savarese, 43-5-0 (35 KO’s) who will square off against unbeaten Leo “Paco” Nolan, 20-0-0 (8 KO’s), in a 12-round IBA Continental America’s Heavyweight Championship title match beginning at 8 p.m. in the Fox Theatre. The card also features Paul “The Punisher” Williams, 22-0-0 (18 KO’s) vs. Luis Hernandez-Chala, 17-0-0 (11 KO’s) in a 10-round Welterweight match. Tickets are $100, $65, and $45 and are available at Foxwoods or by calling the Box Office at 1-800-200-2882.
Ruiz photo by Emily Harney edubbs33@yahoo.com
Rivera photos provided by John Scully
Replies: 2 Comments on this article
Jose RIVERA Seems like agreat kid. iceman john scully and him are two good boxers and credits tothe sport !! figures they woul dbe buddies ! ice scully,i remember he GOT ROBBED against michael nunn
Posted by good stuff @ 04/16/2004 03:15 PM EST
Neat roundup! Too bad Johnny Ruiz doesn't want to own up to the facts re: Roy Jones, Jr.
I hope to hear more good things about Jose Rivera. Boxing could use more guys like him!
Cheers,
Juan C. Ayllon
Posted by Juan C. Ayllon @ 04/16/2004 08:19 AM EST
