Haye-Ruiz & Jones-Hopkins II Previews & Picks
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With a trip to Manchester in prospect tomorrow morning (which includes an early start), I’m left with a pretty small window to complete previews on the two headline grabbing battles taking place this weekend, so deep breaths and away we go.
David Haye v John Ruiz
Haye, the self styled saviour of heavyweight boxing, faces an unattractive looking first defence on Saturday against perennial contender John ‘The Quiet Man’ Ruiz. The fight takes place at the excellent MEN Arena in Manchester and was one which Haye had no option but to accept with Ruiz being his mandatory contender. He also signed away options to Sauerland Promotions so that he could secure the WBA bauble in the first instance, which may yet corner him into rematching Valuev next time out…..uurrghhhhh.
Ruiz is a veteran of over 50 contests and as the great Ali once said of himself is EXPERIENCED!! With a resume including the likes of Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, James Toney, Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Andrew Golota, Ruslan Chagaev and Nikolay Valuev you can appreciate just what we’re talking about here, he’s been around the block, more than a few times.
Haye by contrast has negotiated less than half as many contests, despite the fact he cleaned house at cruiserweight and already holds a major title in the blue riband division. In his 24 bouts to date, he’s been unsuccessful only once, back in ‘04 when the British Arturo Gatti, Carl ‘The Cat’ Thompson, took all he could dish out before answering in kind, halting him in five.
That was a long time ago and Haye is now older, wiser and bigger, weighing in this afternoon at a bulging 15st 12lb (Ruiz scaled 9 lbs heavier). There has been no ballyhoo in the build up, indeed Haye and his manager/trainer Adam Booth were positively gushing in their praise towards the Puerto Rican-American earlier in the week. Haye seems to appreciate that mind games won’t work in this one and that his usual brand of braggadocio would be wasted on his unflappable foe.
There are good judges who are picking Ruiz’s more proven track record at heavyweight over Haye’s dynamism and power. Senior Ring writer, William Dettloff has predicted a late stoppage for John, citing Haye’s suspect whiskers, in-ring temperament and his questionable stamina.
Ruiz has also looked a rejuvenated fighter of late after harnessing the tactical know-how of the canny Miguel Diaz, edging away from his notorious hit and grab style to that of a more action orientated boxer puncher. Diaz is looking for Ruiz to survive Haye’s power early before dragging the Brit into a dogfight and spoke at the final presser of the problems Giacobbe Fragomeni posed David in ’06 before succumbing in nine rounds.
Whilst I can see the method behind this as a gameplan, I don’t see it paying off. Looking back at that impressive list of name opponents I gave you earlier, further examination will show that Ruiz lost to the majority of them and there’s an idea that if you can hit him hard early, you can keep him and his ambitions in check for the remainder of the night.
Haye has badly hurt every man he’s been in a professional ring with and Ruiz has never been easy to find. Despite his tenacity he’ll be hit too hard and too often to derail Haye here, I can see a stoppage victory for the ‘Hayemaker’, sometime around the eighth.
Haye is an overwhelming favourite at around 1/7, with Ruiz out at 9/2. Those looking to pinpoint a method of victory may want to hang around until the fighters enter the arena. Haye and Booth tend to wear red attire to signify aggressive intentions with blue preferred for a more tactical approach (hey they came up that genius strategy not me).
Bernard Hopkins v Roy Jones Jr. II
A few hours after the smoke has cleared in Manchester, ring legends Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. will rematch in Las Vegas 17 years after their last encounter. What would once have been a career defining fight for both, is now seen as little more than an embarrassment to the sport and a chance for Hopkins to publicly beat up a severely shopworn Jones.
In warm up fights in December, Jones was demolished in a round over in Australia by Danny Green. It was a shocking defeat, one which brought back memories of the Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver debacles yet, it did not deter Hopkins in his quest for revenge.
The older man by four years at 45, Hopkins still looks a competent operator and just 18 months back completely schooled the world middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik. An astounding ring technician, he uses ring smarts, solid technique and the dark arts of infighting to break down his opponents. He’s also adept at psychological warfare.
In a parting shot this week, Hopkins, mindful of Jones’s utterings in the past about the dangers of combat, came up with: “It is going to be up to Merkerson (Roy’s trainer) if he lives or dies”.
That’s crass, even by Bernard’s standards and does little to lift this one out of the video nasties section. The hope here is that we see a great fight between two men who are no longer great fighters, just as we did when Sugar Ray Leonard finally rematched Tommy Hearns in 1989. It’s one hell of a long shot though, this one could be ugly, as in Valuev ugly.
Jones’s best chance here is to flurry at the end of rounds in a bid to sway the judges his way, similar to how Ray Leonard did when shocking the world against Marvin Hagler. In what was hailed as a compound optical illusion, Leonard performed better than anyone expected, which caused some to believe he was being more effective than in reality he was. There are even less expectations here for Roy, perhaps he too can spring an epic illusion?
For me it’s unlikely, I can see a similar bout to the one which saw Jones rout the remnants of Felix Trinidad two years ago. Roy’s pride will allow him to see the final bell yet he may catch a shellacking in the process. One can only hope that he calls time on his illustrious career afterwards, one which in all likelihood, will see him rated above his great rival on the all timers’ lists, regardless of what happens tomorrow evening.
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