Sebastian Swiecznik – In a rematch of their very controversial 2005 bout, Russian giant Nikolay Valuev managed to beat John Ruiz again. However, on saturday night, the Berlin crowd wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of the fight and booed the judges decision. In a fight, that first seemed to become a much better one than the first encouter, John Ruiz started fast and aggressive and, to the suprise of the audience, without clinching. On my scorecard he was winning the most of the first six rounds in landing the cleaner shots. Even though Valuev looked more agile than in their first battle, he couldn’t manage to keep Ruiz at distance. Until that point I have to admit that it really was a good fight..
Afterwards the bout turned into a clinchfest and became really ugly to watch. While Valuev seemed to win rounds seven, eight and nine, Ruiz had a big round ten, in which Refree Derek Milham also deducted one point from Valuev for pushing Ruiz down. In the last two rounds both fighters looked really tired, although I thought Ruiz had a bit more left in the tank. The judges scored the bout 116:113, 114:113 and a sick 116:111 – all for Valuev. Personally, I thought Ruiz did enough to win the fight.
In a great undercard bout German Heavyweight Cengiz „Khan“ Koc (24-3-0, 15 KOs) beat Rene Dettweiler (22-2-0, 11 KOs) after eight hard fought rounds. After a two year lay-off Koc looked physically very sharp in comparison to his early career. His new trainer, former world class superlight weight Oktay Urkal, tactically also prepared him very well for that fight. After winning the first five rounds Koc faded a little bit and the battle became a toe to toe slugfest. Both, Koc and Dettweiler, showed great heart in the last three rounds, landing big shots on both sides. The judges scored the bout 77:75, 77:75 and 76:76. A rematch scheduled for the whole twelve rounds should be very interesting.
In another good undercard bout undefeated Italian heavyweight prospect Francesco Pianeta (17-0-0, 11 KOs) scored an eight round TKO win over British heavweight Scott Gammer (19-2-1, 9 KOs). Pianeta displayed a good jab and some ring intelligence. After eight competitive, but a little one sided rounds, the always dangerous Gammer decided to quit because of an arm injury.