Totally agree. I’ve never watched the fights but John Ruiz split a trilogy right down the middle with Evander Holyfield didn’t he?stujones wrote: ↑03 Jul 2019, 08:06 Ruiz vs Ruiz would have been intriguing - John is underated. He had a good chin and would have made Andy work more than Joshua did.... would he have had the stamina? I don't know. John find a way (most of the time) to nullify opponents who seemingly had advantages - whether that was size (Valuev - okay I know he lost officially but many saw him winning, there was also McCline who he legitmately beat), skill - Johnson, Oquendo - he seemed to find a way. He even ran a peak Chagaev very close when over the hill a tad himself.
Aside from Tua - Ruiz's non controvesial loses were against fighters far far superior in skill than Andy Ruiz can dream about. Before we start considering Andy Ruiz an ATG - lets not forget he is 1-1 in this current crop of world class heavyweights (and this current crop is nothing to write home). There is still a legitmate school of thought that Hughie Fury ran Joseph Parker closer than Andy Ruiz did.
John Ruiz record in world class is 5-7-1 - but that is still 4 more wins than Andy Ruiz and of those 7 loses - 4 were deemed close / controvesial (Holyfield, Valuev x 2 and Chagaev) and I am also counting the Toney fight as a lose and not a ND which is the official call. The legitimate non controvsial loses in my eyes were vs Haye (when over the hill), RJJ and Toney.... and those three would have beaten Andy Ruiz comfortably IMO.
Lets just see what Andy Ruiz can do in a rematch before hailing him as something special.
Ruiz wasn’t much liked in his career but his record is far from terrible. It’s easy to forget how flipping good RJJ was as well.