14.04.04 – Janne Romppainen – Even though the heavyweight division has given us little to celebrate lately, one must say that the ongoing two-week period is great in terms of entertainment measured on any scale. We have a world title fight for everyone of the four major belts and at least some of the fights must be considered exciting, which can not be said about many of the bouts we have seen lately among the big boys. Last weekend there was a fight for the ‘fourth’ belt, the WBO, between Wladimir Klitschko and Lamon Brewster. Whether Klitschko’s career is over or not remains to be seen, but Brewster’s victory certainly did mix things up interestingly and brought some fresh air to the division. After one and a half weeks Vitaly Klitschko and Corrie Sanders will collide, and the one who will remain on his feet will be the WBC heavyweight champion and according to most viewers also the most legitimate titlist of the division.
On the upcoming weekend the IBF-champion and long-time top-3 fighter of the division Chris Byrd will take on Andrew Golota, so there is certainly a lot happening. So much, in fact, that the fourth title fight between John Ruiz and Fres Oquendo, a bout that will be held on Byrd-Golota undercard in Madison Square Garden, has so far created very little public interest.
Of course the fact that there are so many other big fights at the same time is not the only reason why Ruiz-Oquendo has been overlooked. The winner of this fight, whoever will it be, most likely will not be the long-searched saviour of the division. Also this fight has the potential to be one of the most slow-paced, unexciting and ugly heavyweight title fights of the recent history. Even so, it is a bout for a major heavyweight title belt and thus it deserves to be noted and broken down. Also the outcome will have its effect to the future of the division so there is something at the table to fight for on Saturday.
The challenger Fres Oquendo earned this chance paradoxically by losing his last title effort. In his IBF title bid against Chris Byrd in last September he did well, so well that in the eyes of many he even would have deserved to win although he was ruled by the judges to be the loser. Now he has a good chance to turn that loss to his edge.
In his professional career that started in 1997 the 31-year-old Oquendo has gathered a record of 24-2, 15 knockouts. He rose to general knowledge surprisingly in 2001 when he met the then highly-touted up-and-comer Cliff Etienne. Oquendo was unbeaten himself, but in that fight he was supposed to be little more than Etienne’s 20th straight victim. Oquendo however had different ideas as he blasted his foe down seven times and stopped him in eight rounds. The achievement was honoured among others by The Ring –magazine which named Oquendo its Fighter of the Month. Good victories over Obed Sullivan and David Izon stabilized Oquendo’s place near the top, but he still had to learn one more lesson the hard way before being ready for the best. The painful experience came in 2002 in his fight against David Tua. After dominating the fight for more than eight rounds Oquendo’s concentration lapsed for a fatal moment and Tua surprised him with a furious attack that led to a ninth-round stoppage. Oquendo regained some of his status last year with a brutal knockout over Maurice Harris in a fight which secured him the shot at Byrd.
Stylistically the 6’2 ft and about 225lbs Oquendo is mostly a skilful boxer whose fighting is based on his good lateral movement and quick hands. He can also score knockouts with his pet punch, the overhand right. His own chin seems to be solid although it must be noted that he hasn’t been included in many wars where his beard would have been really tested. The thing that Oquendo has been most criticized is his style of boxing that sometimes is ugly. He clinches a lot at close quarters and he also has a bad habit of punching his opponents behind the head. However, dirty as these manners might be, they might help him to win and in professional boxing, winning is all that counts. Everything that is not forbidden by the referee is legal.
Year ago this time there certainly wasn’t a single expert who would have believed that John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz would be the newly-crowned WBA world champion by this time. However the boxing politics, whose rules are harder to solve than the plots of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot novels, have made that possible. Ruiz met Hasim Rahman, who had not scored a win in his last three fights, in a WBA Interim title eliminator in last December. With a victory there Ruiz confirmed a chance to rematch his conqueror Roy Jones for the real title. When Jones decided to move back to his old light-heavyweight division, the title was given back to Ruiz. See the logic? It doesn’t matter, I don’t either.
After all is said and done, Ruiz is now a two-time WBA-titlist who will set his crown on the line for the first time in his second reign. Even though he has never been the best heavyweight of the planet, he has come a hard way to earn the status he holds now. He launched his pro career as a cruiserweight already back in 1992. His steady rise towards the bigger fights of heavyweight stopped for years due his 19-second demolition at the hands of David Tua. However, 11 straight victories after that secured him a WBA title bout against Evander Holyfield in 2000. Ruiz lost that bout by a close decision, but in the rematch he equalled the scales and took the title, which he retained in their rubber-match. Ruiz also defended his title successfully against Kirk Johnson before losing to Jones in a lopsided manner.
If Oquendo has been criticized for fighting dirty, the same can be definitely said about John Ruiz too. In fact he has gone so far that he has invented a unique fighting style that often reminds wrestling at least as much as boxing. He spurts to his opponents, hangs on their necks, clinches, wrestles and scores a punch here, another there. His tactics are not nice to watch, he often bends the rules, but undeniably he is effective as his three victories over fellow top-10 contenders and his total record of 39-5-1, 27 knockouts demonstrate. Ruiz also possesses a good left jab and a bit clumsy but heavy right hand that score him points. He is no crowd-favourite, but he knows how to win.
Considering the tactical match-up, Ruiz plan of battle should be clear. What he lacks in physical talent and technique he makes up with the style that has frustrated other good boxers in the past and that is what he will try with Oquendo too. Even though Oquendo clinches a lot himself, he should not get into a wrestling match with Ruiz. If Ruiz is able to fight with his terms, he should take the control with his size and strength advantage. To defeat Ruiz, Oquendo should be able to stop Ruiz from coming. Jones made Ruiz look bad by countering his rushes with quick, sharp shots that prevented Ruiz from attacking and made him to turn pacifistic. Oquendo is not as quick as Jones of course, but he is quick for a heavyweight nevertheless and his reach is listed to be two inches more than Ruiz’ so he should have the necessary weapons to win.
One big factor in a fight between guys such as Oquendo and Ruiz will be the refereeing (as George Foreman so legendarily put it during Ruiz-Jones fight “Tonight the referee is the most important man in the ring apart from the fighters”). If there is a strict ref in the ring on Saturday, either or both fighters could be drawn out of their usual game plans. In this case I think the advantage will be Oquendo’s who seems to be the more versatile of the fighters and he will probably be able to adapt quicker. If it turns out to be an anything-goes brawl, John Ruiz will be in his element.
This might not be a fight to remember and it is very possible that neither fighter will reign as champion very long after the bout. Even so, I think this is an intriguing match-up in its own way. Personally I believe that Oquendo might be the man to end Ruiz’ championship reign. I expect “The Big O” to be a too moving target for Ruiz to catch on and a too sharp a puncher for him to outland. Oquendo’s victory would also probably be welcomed by most boxing fans as he seems to be more interesting figure for the future than Ruiz.
Considering what we have seen in the past, John Ruiz will probably be the WBA titlist again next year despite this fights’ outcome though. But it must be noted he is only fighting under the rules made by others and as long as he keeps winning the correct fights, he has the right to hold the belt. Whether or not that will still be the case after Saturday, we shall see.
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