411mania Exclusive Interview: John Ruiz

Posted by Joe Roche on 07.24.2009

411mania's Joe Roche talks with "The Quiet Man" about the situation surrounding the WBA heavyweight championship.


Ruiz drilling Valuev on the inside

When news broke the other day that David Haye had signed on to fight Nikolai Valuev for the WBA heavyweight championship on November 7th the boxing world went into over drive. Everyone had assumed that Haye was going to fight Vitali Klitschko for his WBC world championship, I mean as far as we in the boxing media knew the fight had already been signed – hell there was already a date set. The story since the Haye-Valuev announcement has focused on the immediate parties involved, namely Haye's ability to talk immense amounts of trash towards both Klitschko's and then not fight either of them, and Vitali being left out in the cold now without a world title defense on his docket.

My first thought didn't turn to Haye's actions, or Vitali and Wladimir's response. Instead I turned my attention to John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz (43-8-1, 29 KO's) who is the WBA's mandatory challenger to Valuev, and who seemed to be bypassed in this situation. I had the opportunity to speak with Ruiz on Thursday night after his publicist issued a statement from the Ruiz camp in an attempt to get the two time WBA world champion's thoughts on the turmoil at the top of the heavyweight division.

411mania: You are the WBA's mandatory challenger what are your thoughts about the situation with David Haye and Valuev signing to fight one another in November?

He [Valuev] hasn't defended the mandatory in over a year, and at the same time I can't believe that Sauerland will have the nerve to say look we're going to do whatever we want to do and we're going to fight where we want to fight instead of following the rules of the WBA.

411mania: It seems as if David Haye has used his mouth to get himself into title contention, do you have any thoughts on Haye?

Some of these guys [they] got the TV behind them, and the media behind them and they haven't fought anyone yet. It's sad to say that they beat some guy from somewhere, and they feel like they're the best thing since sliced bread and for him to get a shot it just doesn't make any sense. Then again it's his boss, and sometimes bosses are like the stock market you never know what's going on.

411mania: Is it your position that all you're asking for is for Valuev to stand up to the mandatory challenger and fight you before the time for the mandatory defense is up on August 30?

We've been trying a lot of things, I want to get a fight out there - you know me I'm dying to fight, and I'm the type of guy to put my money where my mouth is. I'm willing to put up whatever I need to put up. We tried to talk to Arreola, and these other guys who would rather talk about it but not do anything about it. We talked to the Klitschko's and that's another group that wants to talk about it but not do anything about it. They want to basically say they're the best but at the same time do not want to take a hard fight which they realize that's what I am – a hard fight they don't want to take a chance on. With Valuev we're there to force him to defend his mandatory even though we fought him twice in Germany and it doesn't seem like I can get a break out there. I trained hard last time and hoped I could knock him out and get it done but it didn't come out to plan. It's frustrating to realize that they'd rather fight guys that have been retired for 10 years, or should be retired for 10 years and now instead of taking a fight that makes sure they will show what they're made of.

411mania: You talked about Arreola; he's being brought up with Vitali but is that a fight you'd be interested in? I know you talked about fighting Arreola earlier this year but would you still take that fight if it was presented to you?

I told him you put up you #1 ranking and I'll put up mine and whoever wins gets the next title shot for the WBC or WBA. I'm not going out there crying and saying whatever I need to say to make noise I just want to go out there and fight.

411mania: How soon would you be ready to fight Arreola if that opportunity came up?

Right now we're going through the process with the Valuev situation. It would take some effort to take Arreola and it'd be worthless because he'd pull out as soon as things get close to the fight. You see these guys pulling out of the fight when it's so close to the fight.

If you talk to any boxer going into a fight there is no such thing as a boxer going into a fight with no pain because he's been training all that time. At the same time it only shows who has the heart and who has the will to go out there and fight. This guy [Haye] says he can't fight because he has a bad back that shows me he had cold feet and he didn't want to fulfill his damn obligation.

He [Valuev] says something to the WBA and then things turn out the way he wants it to be. I'm not sure if the WBA is being controlled by Sauerland right now but maybe I should go to Sauerland to see what's going on. David Haye has talked himself into a couple championships right now because in reality who has he fought?

411mania: Is there a fight out there you're looking for if Valuev doesn't happen?

Here is what I have to do. I have to go out there and take a fight out of nowhere, maybe get dropped down a couple times, fall down a couple times, look like I'm about to lose but end up winning the fight and that's when all these guys [Klitschko's] want to fight me, when I'm down and out. I have to basically retire or do something crazy, take a few shots, just to get a shot at these guys.

411mania: You're going through the WBA and said [in a press release] that you'd go to the court to enforce the mandatory, does it concern you how people/fans might respond to that?

We have to do something; we sent the letter to the WBA to tell them that we didn't agree to step aside so he [Valuev] could fight Haye. At the same time we're just waiting for the call, actually waiting for the WBA to make the decision. The sad part is that they haven't quite made a decision over the Valuev and Chagaev fight that never went through. It takes the WBA this long to make an obvious decision because it's only obvious that if you don't fight your mandatory you're stripped, I've seen them do it a bunch of times.

411mania: There are a lot of criticisms about the mandatory challenger rules with the different sanctioning bodies but it does seem that if you're going to have these rules, then they should be enforced across the board.

Exactly, I never backed away from a mandatory. If I ever backed away from a mandatory I'd be stripped the next day, and these guys are lasting years with it it's like they're holding the belts hostage.

411mania: If the Valuev fight does happen would you want to fight him here [in the U.S.[ or would you be willing to go back to Germany and fight him?

I'd definitely do whatever I can to have the fight here, for many reasons not only that I can't get a break in Germany even though the judges are from all over the world when they go to Germany they tend to vote for Valuev. I'd love to have a fight here, do whatever I can to have the fight here, no question about it. Fighting in the U.S. is one of the things I want to do, especially back at home [Boston] I'd love to take a title fight to Boston.

We're trying to see if we can get a weigh-in or something and we've been working with Don King Promotions to see if we could get a fight there, especially in Massachusetts.

411mania: In the minds of boxing fans you've probably already beaten Valuev once, but you have an 0-2 record against him. Is one of the reasons you're looking to enforce the mandatory so that you can show the world that you can beat Valuev, and that he's not the indestructible monster that people make him out to be?

From my point of view I felt like I beat him twice already, but at the same time what else can you do when you leave it in someone else's hands? Anyone asks me what was my easiest fight I tell them Valuev, he never hurt me I always felt great and it was no big deal. Everyone makes a big deal about how tall he is but at the same time I had no problem with that.

411mania: Assuming the Valuev fight doesn't pan out, would you be interested in a fight with either of the Klitschko's?

Definitely as soon as I heard David Haye pulled out and my lawyer called me to tell me that Haye pulled out of the fight I thought they would want to fight me, but it turned out that they were just calling me to tell me about Valuev, I guess they just wanted to tell me that Haye had pulled out of the fight.

411mania: If the situation came up where you were asked to fight David Haye is that a fight you'd be interested in taking?

Anyone who watched my career I would fight anyone. There is no person I would walk away from. Right now my main focus is to figure out what's going on with the WBA and try to get this title shot, but at the same time someway somehow the WBA makes up a ruling that Valuev – I don't know what's going on – at the same time I'd like to get another fight. I'd fight David Haye tomorrow if the Valuev fight gets postponed.

I would like to have a fight right now; I'm training and definitely losing some weight to be quicker. It seems like I lost track of who I was and now I'm bringing back the old John Ruiz, if people saw the last few fights people see I've been fighting, after people tagged me as a holder.

411mania: You mentioned that you've been in the gym and losing weight, how much weight have you lost? Are you going to drop down and fight Roy Jones?

I don't think I could lose that much. If I go down that much I'll look like a couple stick figures put together.

411mania: Alright John, with that I'll let you go. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me, and as a fellow Massachusetts resident you know we'll be keeping tabs on how this pans out. Thanks again John.

Thanks.

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I just wanted to take a moment to thank John Ruiz again for taking the time to talk to me. I called him in the middle of what can only be described as a torrential downpour and my Skype connection was iffy at best so he was incredibly patient dealing with the technical difficulties on my end.

As always stay tuned to 411mania as this story develops.