On April 3, 2010, WBA Heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) will defend his belt for the first time since winning it from 7-foot Russian Nikolai Valuev last November. The brash Haye will defend it against former two-time WBA Heavyweight champion John Ruiz (48-8-1-1, 30 KO’s) at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester.
John Ruiz was in the undercard of the Haye-Valuev fight where he beat journeyman Adnan Serin via knockout in the seventh round. Ruiz came in the fight weighing an uncharacteristically 226 pounds, which was his lightest weight since 2001. He dominated Serin and with the win was declared the mandatory challenger to the winner of the Haye-Valuev match.
Ruiz fought two fights against Valuev and lost both times – at least on the scorecards. In their first fight, Ruiz utilized a stiff left jab to keep Valuev at a distance and followed up with either a right to the body or cross. Valuev wasn’t able to do any serious damage but was awarded with the majority decision.
Valuev and Ruiz fought for the second time eight months later with the Russian winning a unanimous decision. Valuev’s win was convincing and despite Ruiz’s protest, it was the right decision.
Ruiz is a mere 3-3 in his last six fights without a quality win over a tough opponent. His three wins were all against journeymen.
David Haye will be fighting for only the third time as a heavyweight in his bout against Ruiz. He is coming off a boring but convincing victory over Valuev. Haye utilized his speed, accuracy and footwork to keep Valuev off balance.
In the last round against Valuev, Haye caught the tall Russian with a flush left hand that staggered Valuev. Haye was smart in moving from side-to-side and using his speed to land clean and crisp punches. He didn’t stay in one spot too long for Valuev to unload on him. It was a very unentertaining fight – contradicting to what Haye promised the fans.
Ruiz will be a much shorter version of Valuev when he steps in the ring against Haye – Haye has a realistic chance of knocking out Ruiz. Ruiz is slow and very predictable. This is what consists of Ruiz’s full boxing arsenal – lead with a left jab and follow it up with either a right body shot or right uppercut. No doubling of the jab and almost no throwing of crosses. Ruiz tends to stand still in his clamshell defense and receive punches. No footwork whatsoever. If he does decide to counter, Haye will be out of the way before Ruiz throws a punch. And at age 38 Ruiz has nothing left in the tank.
David Haye is a dynamic boxer that has a lot of quickness. His power is somewhat not proven in the heavyweight division but if he can knockout Ruiz it would not be surprising. Haye has not proven that he can take a heavyweight punch. He has been staggered by cruiserweights in the past and was even knocked out by Carl Thompson in his eleventh fight as a cruiserweight. It’s not in this fight against Ruiz that Haye will get his chin tested. We will have to wait for Haye to fight the upper echelon of heavyweights to determine if he can take a heavyweight punch.
Barring any lazy training on Haye’s part, it’s hard to envision Ruiz winning this fight. Haye is too athletic and young. Haye will score a knockout late in the match after tiring out Ruiz in the first five rounds.
