John Ruiz vs. Roy Jones Jr.

John Ruiz vs. Roy Jones Jr. was a professional boxing match contested on March 1, 2003 for the WBA heavyweight championship.

Ruiz vs. Jones
DateMarch 1, 2003
VenueThomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada
Title(s) on the lineWBA Heavyweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer John Ruiz Roy Jones Jr.
Nickname "The Quietman" "Junior"
Hometown Chelsea, Massachusetts Pensacola, Florida
Pre-fight record 38–4–1 47–1
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 226 lb (103 kg) 193 lb (88 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition WBA
Heavyweight Champion		 WBA/WBC/IBF/
IBA/IBO/NBA/
WBF/The Ring
Undisputed
Light Heavyweight Champion
Result
Jones defeated Ruiz via Unanimous decision

Background

Late in 2002, Roy Jones Jr., who at the time was the undisputed light heavyweight champion and had previously held world titles in both the middleweight and super middleweight divisions, announced that he had agreed to move up to the heavyweight division to challenge WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz for his title.[1] Jones had become a star in the light heavyweight division and at the time of his match with Ruiz, held titles from seven different boxing organizations. His record as a professional was an impressive 47–1 with his only loss had been a controversial disqualification after hitting Montell Griffin while Griffin was down. Ruiz had become the WBA heavyweight champion in 2001 after defeating ageing four-time champion Evander Holyfield. Ruiz would successfully defend his title twice, first fighting to a draw in a third match with Holyfield later in 2001 and then defeating Kirk Johnson by disqualification in his only fight in 2002.

Ruiz's promoter Don King spent much of 2002 negotiating with Jones in an effort to get him to agree to move up to heavyweight and challenge Ruiz. Eventually Jones accepted an offer that guaranteed him $10 million. Ruiz, however, received no guaranteed money and instead agreed to take a share of the pay-per-view profits. This led to some bad blood between the two sides as Ruiz accused Jones of under-promoting the fight.[2]

The fight

Despite giving up a lot of height and weight to Ruiz, Jones dominated most of the fight. Jones used his superior boxing skills and hand speed to his advantage and used timely jabs and uppercuts against Ruiz, who was unable to land a sustained amount of offense, only connecting with 89 of 433 thrown punches for a dismal 21% success rate. By round four Jones' punches caused Ruiz's nose to bleed, which hindered Ruiz for the remainder of the fight. The fight went the full 12 rounds with neither man being able to score a knockdown. The official judges' scorecards were one-sided in Jones' favor and he secured a unanimous decision victory with scores of 118–110, 117–111 and 116–112. Unofficial HBO judge Harold Lederman scored the fight 119–109 for Jones, while the Associated Press scored the fight 116–112 for Jones. Jones' victory made him the first former world middleweight champion to become a world heavyweight champion in 106 years, since Bob Fitzsimmons from Great Britain did so in 1897. Jones' victory over Ruiz also made Jones only the second light-heavyweight boxer in history to move up and win a major heavyweight title in his first fight in the heavyweight division (Michael Spinks being the first to do so in 1985, when defeating Larry Holmes).[3]

Aftermath

As a result of his victory, most of Jones light heavyweight titles were vacated (with the exception of his WBA, IBO and The Ring titles). It was not known if Jones was going to continue to fight in the heavyweight division or return to the light heavyweight division. As a result, the WBA named Jones the "champion in recess" and gave him until February 20, 2004 to defend the title. In the meantime, Jones returned to light heavyweight on November 8, 2003 to challenge Antonio Tarver, who had won the WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles that Jones had vacated (Tarver would vacate the IBF title prior to his fight with Jones, however). Jones appeared weak and sluggish after dropping 24 pounds since the night of his fight against Ruiz, but Jones nevertheless picked up the majority decision victory over Tarver to regain the WBC light heavyweight title, becoming the first reigning heavyweight champion to move down and win a light heavyweight title. Though there were rumours of potential heavyweight matchups with Lennox Lewis,[4] Evander Holyfield[5] and especially with Mike Tyson,[6] Jones decided to remain in the light heavyweight division after the Tyson fight fell through, and officially vacated the WBA heavyweight title on February 20, 2004.[7]

Prior to Jones' vacating the title, Ruiz met former WBC and IBF heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman for the "interim" WBA heavyweight championship on December 13, 2003. Ruiz would earn the victory by unanimous decision and following Jones relinquishing his title in February, became recognized as the official WBA heavyweight champion.

References
  1. Light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. will move up to heavyweight, Chicago Tribune article, 2002-11-08, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
  2. Light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. will move up to heavyweight, Sports Illustrated article, 2003-02-26, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
  3. Jones Makes History With Decision Over Ruiz, N.Y. Times article, 2003-03-02, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
  4. Lewis rules out Jones clash, BBC article, 2003-03-02, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
  5. Promoter: Roy Jones wants fight with Holyfield Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine, Access North GA article, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
  6. Jones's Reputation Takes Hit In Lackluster Victory for Title, N.Y. Times article, 2003-11-10, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
  7. Jones relinquishes heavyweight belt, ESPN article, 2004-02-24, Retrieved on 2013-11-09
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