Two days ago, Lennox Lewis confirmed a long-standing rumour and announced that he will travel to South Africa for his April 21st defence against American Hasim Rahman. While Carnival City might seem an exotic locale for a heavyweight championship fight, it should also be noted that, a week earlier, Don King revealed the winner of the March 3rd World Boxing Association (WBA) title fight between Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz will defend his share of the heavyweight championship in China this June.
Now, first of all you might be wondering just what the Chinese did to deserve this, but you might also be advised that King has additionally obtained from the Chinese government permission to make a documentary film commemorating the enterprise. There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that the proposed theatrical release will be entitled When We Were Mings.
In New York last week, the World's Greatest Promoter somewhat grandly claimed he would be inviting president George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to accompany him to China for the fight.
Of course, two years ago King announced a whole host of prominent women he would be inviting to ringside for the first Lewis-Holyfield fight. His VIP list included Margaret Thatcher, President McAleese and (at least until King learned she had taken her place at that great arena in the sky) Mother Theresa.
The Chinese, for obvious reasons, will be rooting mightily for Holyfield a week from Saturday. Even with an audience of a billion to draw from, they will probably have enough difficulty selling out the venue (as yet to be identified, but here's a hint: the local promotional outfit is called Great Wall Productions) without having to explain just who John Ruiz is.
The 38-year-old Holyfield, alas, knows only too well. When Lewis was relieved of the WBA title early last year, it was assumed that the three time champion would have a cakewalk to his fourth championship against Ruiz, who several years earlier had been knocked cold by David Tua in the official time of 19 seconds.
That Ruiz had not lost since seemed to impress few people, and he was a 4 to 1 underdog when he fought Holyfield in Las Vegas last August. Whether Ruiz had been underrated or Holyfield ill-prepared, the 29year-old heavyweight from Chelsea, Massachusetts, appeared in the eyes of many to have carved out an upset, right up until the moment the judges' scorecards were revealed.
Although the Showtime broadcast team had Ruiz winning, eight rounds to four, the trio of judges gave the fight to Holyfield on a close but nonetheless unanimous decision. (From our ringside vantage point we scored the fight a draw after Ruiz inexplicably gave away the final round, but as it turned out, even had he won the last stanza he would only have merited a draw in the eyes of the judges.)
Add to this some rather controversial work by referee Richard Steele ("I'm not going to complain about the referee," said Ruiz trainer Gabe LaMarca moments after the verdict was announced, "but the referee did suck."), and Ruiz's handlers were able to present a probability of chicanery sufficient to persuade the WBA that a rematch was in order. Holyfield is favoured this time around as well, but the odds have shortened to 2 to 1 for the fight at Vegas' Mandalay Bay casino.
Steele has subsequently retired from the ring, but Marc Ratner, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, says he wouldn't have assigned him to work Holyfield-Ruiz II even if he hadn't.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding the first fight, in fact, Ratner has promised to empanel an entirely fresh slate of officials, which is welcome news to Ruiz's manager, Norman (Stoney) Stone.
Ruiz fights under the nom de guerre "The Quiet Man", but the sobriquet has less to do with the Mayo-based John Wayne film of the same name than with the fact that the softspoken boxer is, well, quiet. (Of course, compared to Stone, Don King is a Quiet Man.)
"If a guy robs a bank, then he's supposed to get caught. That's the referee's job. The referee has to do his job, and if he doesn't do his job, this time I'm gonna be arrested, you can count on that," promises Stone. "They're not getting away with it this time."
With his second straight million-dollar payday on the line, Ruiz could have set up training camp almost anywhere in the country, but the soft-spoken father of two decided against training in Florida or Nevada and elected instead to set up camp in his hometown.
Stone has had Ruiz, along with a quintet of sparring partners, ensconced in a local hotel and doing his roadwork on the icy streets of Chelsea. The fighter explained that he wanted to stay close to home in case his children needed to be picked up after school.
Their earlier fight was theoretically for a vacant title, but in practice both King and the host, Paris Casino, behaved as if Holyfield were the champion and Ruiz the opponent. By the end of 12 rounds, Ruiz had won over not only the respect of his opponent, but also the allegiance of the crowd. This time around the combatants could be on more equal footing.
"Let's face it," said Ruiz. "I was the opponent last time. Everybody loved Holyfield, they wanted to see him fight again and get that fourth title under his belt and become part of history. I understand that.
"This time," promises Ruiz, "it's going be different."
