CAN ROY JONES JR. DEFY LOGIC AND DEFEAT RUIZ?

By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

(IB – February 11. 2003) – You will want to mark your calendar for Saturday March 1, 2003 to see if Roy Jones Jr. can defy logic and capture a portion of the Heavyweight boxing crown.

Roy Jones Jr. (47-1, 38 KOs) will pile on the beef and bulk up to 190+lbs to challenge the WBA Heavyweight Champion John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz (38-4-1, 27 KOs) live from Las Vegas and broadcasted on HBO’s Pay-Per-View. These types of fights don't come around often and this will surely be a spectacular evening for boxing fans.

Roy Jones Jr. is arguably the most dominant and charismatic fighter of our era.
This former Middleweight Champion, and current undisputed Light Heavyweight
Champion, and boxing’s best Pound-for-Pound fighter is on a quest to become the first Middleweight Champion to win the Heavyweight title in over 100 years. Regardless how lightly regarded Ruiz may be as a Heavyweight Champion, this is still considered to be an amazing feat if Jones can pull off this victory.

In order for Jones to achieve this goal, he will have to face danger head on. This is the same John Ruiz that has fought thirty-six heavyweight rounds with Evander "The Real Deal" Holyfield and walked away with a record of 1-1 and 1 draw. In his victory over Holyfield in March of 2001, he also became only the 2nd fighter in history to knock Holyfield down. The only other Heavyweight to do that was Riddick "Big Daddy" Bowe. Considering the fact that neither Tyson nor Lewis, which both fighters had two fights against Holyfield, were unable to knock Holyfield down, makes John Ruiz a significant threat to knock Jones out.

However, there is a huge gap between threat and reality. In order for Ruiz to knock Jones out, he will have to land a solid shot flush on Roy's chin. This will be like trying to swat a fly out of mid-air with your bare hand. You see him in your reach, but when you go to swat him; he is no longer there.

Ruiz may also discover first hand that Roy Jones Jr., even as a Heavyweight, is more like a wasp than he is like a fly. When you swat at him, he will land on you, sting you, and cause you to swell up. This will get very old quickly and you can expect frustration to set in for Ruiz. Now if Ruiz can maintain his composure, and patiently take Roy deep into the later rounds, perhaps he can catch Roy with a solid shot and hurt him. This is a BIG if.

I picture this fight being more of a stick and move strategy from Jones that exhibits blinding speed and keeps Ruiz off balance all night. While Ruiz continues to search to land the one good punch, he may look up and realize that it’s already the 12th and final round and he needs a knock out to win. Can it be done? The answer is yes. Will it be done? I happen to be one of the reporters that doubt it.

So if you do not have a fight ticket in your possession, you will want to call your cable provider. This has the making of a very entertaining fight. Will speed prevail over power? The answer lies in the middle of the ring on Saturday night in Las Vegas come March 01, 2003. Where will you be when it happens?

You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com