Quiet Man out to silence Jones

Somebody, somewhere did John Ruiz no favour when he needed a ring epithet. From the Brown Bomber Joe Louis, through Smokin' Joe Frazier, Iron Mike Tyson and The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, the best heavyweights have entered public consciousness while inextricably linked to colourful nicknames. If Ruiz is to go down in history as the fighter who beat Roy Jones, The Quiet Man doesn't quite cut it.

Tomorrow's intriguing World Boxing Association heavyweight title fight has been sold unashamedly on the brilliance of Jones, who has been dubbed the outstanding fighter of the past decade through his domination of the middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight divisions. But Ruiz is determined to prove himself anything but the bit-part player in a Jones ego trip.

There is more than a hint of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa about Ruiz. Few who watched him plodding his way through the early fights of his professional career could have predicted he would one day become a world champion.

Managed in the mid-90s by Frank Maloney, Ruiz fought in Bristol, beating Julius Francis, defeated Cordwell Hylton in London, appeared against a couple of little known American journeymen at the York Hall in Bethnal Green and even at the town hall in Ipswich, where he defeated the Manchester jazz musician Michael Murray. All decent wins, but hardly the form of a world-beater.

Then, in 1996, Ruiz was all but written off after he suffered a devastating defeat against the Samoan-born David Tua. Caught by a right cross and a left hook, Ruiz was counted out in only 19 seconds, his promising career seemingly in ruins.

Four years and 11 wins later, Ruiz at last was given his chance. The undisputed champion Lennox Lewis was stripped of the WBA belt for facing Michael Grant rather than Ruiz, who had been propelled to No1 challenger status with the WBA as much by the influence of his new promoter Don King as by anything he had achieved in the ring.

But he seized his chance. The marketable Holyfield was matched with Ruiz for the vacant title, with Holyfield expected to be the easy winner. In the event, Holyfield prevailed by courtesy of a contentious judging decision leaving Ruiz to claim robbery and King setting up a rematch.

"Holyfield threw everything at me, including elbows and heads," said Ruiz, and seven months later in their second fight in March 2001, Ruiz was in trouble after an apparent Holyfield head butt sliced open a deep gash on his forehead.

But Ruiz fought back, and the issue was decided in the 11th round when a right hook sent Holyfield to the canvas for only the second time in his career, enabling Ruiz to claim the points verdict and become the first Hispanic fighter to win a heavyweight title.

Among those heaping congratulations on Ruiz was president George Bush, when he invited the new champion to the White House. But you sense the magnitude of Ruiz's achievement hit home in full only when he flew to Puerto Rico, where he was given a hero's welcome.

"I couldn't believe it," Ruiz says. "There were thousands of people on the streets of San Juan, just to see me. And there must have been 15,000 waiting for me in a park at Sabana Grande, where my mother lives."

It is that pride and determination which marks Ruiz, now 31, as a champion who will not be toppled easily. He has retained the title twice, drawing a third fight against Holyfield and scoring a disqualification victory over the Canadian Kirk Johnson. Now, nine weeks of training in Florida have left him lean and fit. At 6ft 2in and around 16 stones, he is a genuine heavyweight and seems ready for the test.

"He thinks he can outbox me and run for 12 rounds, but he's in for a shock," Ruiz adds. "I will be on him, pressuring him and I don't care where I hit him. On the arms, the shoulders, anywhere. He will find out what it is like to be in against the power of a real heavyweight."

Only one light-heavyweight champion has won the world heavyweight championship: Michael Spinks, who controversially beat Larry Holmes in 1985. Twelve have failed. But the latter-day Rocky Ruiz, the 7-4 underdog, is used to upsetting the odds and insists the mercurial Jones is not about to become a lucky 13th.