The Way I See It: 01.27.09: THE Heavyweight Title Fight

Posted by Joe Roche on 01.27.2010

It might be a fight you don't want to hear about but this week 411's Joe Roche tells you why you should care about the April 3rd WBA World Heavyweight title bout between David Haye and John Ruiz, and why it is more interesting than you're willing to admit…

It's the fight that you don't want to read about – but it's the fight I'm going to write about. Before you dismiss this column outright try to stick with me, I promise I'll be more pity then usual and by the end of this column I think you will agree that the WBA World Heavyweight title bout between David Haye and John Ruiz is more interesting then you're willing to admit.

It was initially reported on this site (by this writer) that the fight would take place on April 3rd in London or Manchester (turns out it'll be Manchester) on the home turf of the champion – and that report was confirmed this afternoon in Manchester when the fight was officially announced. It will mark Haye's third fight at heavyweight and first title defense of the belt that he won on November 7, 2009 by beating former champion Nicolai Valuev.

The Way I See It: You may recall that before the November 7th Haye-Valuev fight I wrote a column that called the bout nothing less then the "most important heavyweight title fight ever." I implored everyone to root for Haye to take the belt off the "Russian Giant" and create some interest in the heavyweight division. Many people thought I wrote the column in jest but I could not have been more serious. The best thing to happen to the heavyweight division in boxing since Lennox Lewis retired was David Haye becoming a world champion because it created a plethora of interesting fights that simply didn't exist when Valuev held the belt (and the rest of the division is being dominated by the Klitschkos).



Think about this for a second – earlier in the week it was reported that Wladimir Klitschko will defend his IBF/IBO/WBO World Heavyweight title's against "Fast" Eddie Chambers in Dusseldorf, Germany. Is there a single person outside of the Chambers household that thinks he stands a chance of unseating the younger Klitschko? No offense to Eddie Chambers, he's a good fighter and deserves to have a shot at the champion but the Klitschko's are so dominant and so great that people have honestly considered a super heavyweight division even though it would consist of only three fighters – well four if you still consider Samuel Peter a fighter.

But with Haye you've got excitement in the heavyweight division for the first time in years. We actually have a champion who may lose, and even if he does win he might do so in a fight that is – gasp – close and interesting. However, even as boxing pundits clamor for interest in the heavyweight division they spend far more time tearing it down then trying to create interest by – oh I don't know – talking about the heavyweight division.


- Just because these two dominate the division doesn't mean it's dead

It's much easier to write this: "John Ruiz is a washed up fighter who is boring and who doesn't deserve the time of day." Of course it's much less convenient to write that John Ruiz is a fighter who has been in the ring with any and everyone who was put in his place. He has beaten far better competition then David Haye, and the current crop of "contenders" can't possibly hold a candle to his resume. It's also easy to classify Ruiz as a boring "clutch and grab" fighter but those people who write off Ruiz with that sentiment haven't watched him recently. After his victory on the Haye-Valuev undercard Ruiz was described as having "dominated the fight in every round with a good jab and an aggressive style." It takes far more effort to seek out a John Ruiz fight, or to realize that he is working with Richie Sandoval and Miguel Diaz now a new training team that has him working on his footwork because they found that he was off balance during fights, which left him stumbling into his opponents (hence the clutching and grabbing).

I don't mean for this piece to turn into a defense of John Ruiz (although I could write that column as well). All I'm trying to point out here so that we're all starting on the same page is that David Haye vs. John Ruiz is the heavyweight title fight that you've been waiting for – and I'm here to turn you onto the fight before you miss it under a pile of writers talking about the "death of the heavyweight division."

The first thing that you should understand about this fight is that it means a hell of a lot to both fighters. If you're trying to put together an interesting fight it should be one that means the world to the fighters. On Tuesday morning in Manchester David Haye explained why this fight means so much to him. "It's been 10 years since the heavyweight championship has been fought in Britain and everyone knows I had to go to Germany to take the title away from Valuev. Now it's time to showcase my skills again in front of the great British public. And I'm delighted to have the fight at Manchester's MEN Arena. I've been there on many nights to watch Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, even Mike Tyson, and the atmosphere was always tremendous."



When I spoke to John Ruiz about the fight he told me how important the WBA World Heavyweight Championship has been to him in his career, and how important this fight is for him. "It's a great feeling, winning against Evander Holyfield one of the legends of the sport and becoming champion, being the first Latino, it was an exciting moment in my life and it still is – I still feel proud, and I'm honored to have become a heavyweight champion. I'm happy with my career and not too many people can say that they were 2x heavyweight champion and if I retired today I'd be happy as anyone can be – I've got a good family and what else can you do?"

It's obvious that both of these fighters understand how important this fight is on a grander scale. David Haye is the defending champion, but more then that he carries the banner of the entire British boxing industry on his shoulders – a legacy that includes some of the greatest fighters to ever step into a ring. John Ruiz for his part is incredibly proud of being the only Latino world heavyweight champion – and he must realize that this may be his last opportunity to reach the top of that mountain again.

Beyond the two fighters and their personal role in this fight there is the belt. Go ahead and laugh now but I'm going to explain to you why beyond every other belt in the known boxing universe the WBA's World Heavyweight championship is the one belt – above all others – that should mean something to you as a boxing fan. The WBA was called the NBA up until 1962 – if you trace the lineage of the WBA World Heavyweight championship backwards you will see that each and every important heavyweight fighter in history has held the belt that now resides with David Haye. The names Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, James J. Braddock, Joe Louis, Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, and Evander Holyfield have all been etched on the belt that will be at stake on April 3rd.



In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about boxing versus MMA but the biggest thing that boxing has at it's disposal that mixed martial arts can not possibly match is the history. The story of boxing is the story of not just this country but the entire world. Joe Louis and Max Schmeling didn't just have a regular boxing match, Muhammad Ali wasn't just another world champion, and Mike Tyson is STILL one of the most popular athletes in the world and he hasn't been in a meaningful bout since 2002 (remember I said meaningful). Boxing has history like no other sport– and no belt carries that legacy more then the WBA World Heavyweight championship. I know there is a cadre of boxing writers who criticize the alphabet belts and kill the WBA for some of their decisions but those people contribute to the problem – the truth is that the WBA World Heavyweight title is the icon of professional boxing and if we as writers and fans would give it the attention that it deserves then those columns about the death of the heavyweight division would seem out of place (and not common place).

Maybe you're not a history buff so the title's lineage and prestige means nothing to you – and maybe you don't care about the two fighters carrying their people on their backs, then could I interest you in an entertaining heavyweight title fight that will be fought in front of a rabbit English crowd that will be singing and waving the Union Jack all over Manchester for the entire day leading up to the fight?

For the "Hayemaker" this fight comes at a pivotal time. Right now the brash former cruiserweight champion comes across as far more style then substance. He defeated Monte Barrett in his heavyweight debut and then talked his way into fights with Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko before backing out of both fights under mysterious circumstances before settling on a fight with Nicolai Valuev that he ultimately won – though many people (including Lou DiBella who I happened to be with on the night of Nov. 7th) thought Haye had lost the fight. However, I'll give Haye the benefit of the doubt and say that his lackluster fights are due mainly to lackluster opponents – while people don't give John Ruiz the same benefit of the doubt the fact is that nobody looks good against Nicolai Valuev and at some point we have to stop blaming the opponent and just realize that nobody is going to look good against "The Russian Giant." Haye now has more then a year under his belt at heavyweight and it's time for him to start showing that he belongs in the division as more then just a mouth piece. Haye has all the skills to be a premier heavyweight and he claims that he is going to settle in on April 3rd and deliver some "hayemakers."



For Ruiz this one is a no brainer – he's got a new team, and he's been fighting a much more fan friendly style recently though nobody has seen his fights so everyone still thinks of Ruiz as the clutching and grabbing bore. The Haye fight is not just a good fight for Ruiz – it's the fight that he gambled to get. When his mandatory title shot against Nicolai Valuev was put at stake so that Haye could fight Valuev – Ruiz stepped aside and let the fight go down, took an undercard fight and got ready to fight the winner. He's 6-0 in England, he's 0-3 in Germany and the judges had stolen fights against Valuev from Ruiz previously. So Ruiz wanted the fight with Haye and not Valuev and that's what he got – but now he has to step up and prove that he made the right choice. John Ruiz has been fighting a more aggressive style recently, he's been using a solid jab and putting pressure on his opponents with good footwork to keep him away from the tie ups and slow downs that plagued some of his earlier fights.

Just to recap this is what you've got in this fight – THE World Heavyweight Championship, an English champion fighting in Manchester in the cities first world heavyweight title fight in 10 years, against the first Latino heavyweight world champion trying to resurrect his career and prove a point. It's two fighters who have aggressive styles; it's John Ruiz who hasn't been knocked out (or down) since he fought David Tua in 1996 while David Haye has shown a tendency to have a suspicious chin in the light heavyweight division. You're telling me that those factors, all added together don't create a fight that you're interested in seeing?

Maybe the heavyweight division isn't dead – maybe we as boxing fans, writers and analysts are just so focused on writing the easy column about how heavyweight boxing doesn't have the stars, fights or fighters to keep people interested. I for one won't fall for that trap – I don't care that many of the people who read this column will call me a Ruiz apologist or that most of you stopped reading two pages ago. I appreciate the history of the WBA World Heavyweight Championship and I am looking forward to John Ruiz challenging David Haye for that belt on April 3rd in Manchester.

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Some Thoughts to Go On

- Kudos to Fox Sports Net for picking up the Golden Boy promoted Fight Night Club series after it was dropped by Versus. This will give FSN both "Fight Night Club" and "Top Rank Live" and if Fight Night Club runs a monthly show (like they're claiming) then FSN should have live boxing on every weekend of the year (or thereabout) which is a very good thing.

- For those who care about such things I'll be at Mohegan Sun on Friday night for a TKO Promotions card that will feature Peter Manfredo Jr. and Matt Remillard in action. You can follow my live fight coverage at twitter.com/411jroche

- Other then the fight that I'll be at Friday night there are some very good fights this weekend (even without Berto-Mosley). Jesse Brinkley fights on ESPN 2's "Friday Night Fights," Chris Avalos fights on ShoBox on Friday night and Gabriel Campillo – Beibut Shumenov the rematch will be on FSN also on Friday night. Thought a note of warning if you're in New England the fight won't air until 11 PM on Saturday night due to the Celtics being on Friday night.

- Isn't it amazing that after all the work Top Rank did to build up Juan Manuel Lopez it may be Yourikois Gamboa who wins up being the better long term fighter? Great night for both guys on Saturday and I hope Uncle Bob doesn't throw them into the ring together for a year at least, let Gamboa get ready for Juanma before this fight happens.

- Last note I read a lot about Jason Estrada feeling disrespected by Tomasz Adamek and with good reason. I hope Adamek doesn't sleep on "Big Six" who throws a lot of punches for a heavyweight and has one of the best amateur backgrounds of any fighter in the world today. It won't be an easy fight for Adamek and we'll talk more about it next week.