Talk:John Ruiz

message: Its hard to find positive POVs due to the fact that Ruiz is pretty much disliked by boxing fans, mainstream fans, and boxing experts and writers alike (including me).  Maya Levy 06:25, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ruiz POV 

message: It's a very telling fact that people dismiss Ruiz's style as a simple 'jab and grab' style to explain his unpopularity, when one of the best boxers in history, Bernard Hopkins (longtime unified middleweight and current [July 06] light heavyweight Ring Magazine Champion) used a similar style. Ruiz is almost universally hated in the boxing community, something that probably has to do with the utter lack of exciting names in the heavyweight division when he boxed, since the retirement of Lennox Lewis, who was also somewhat unpopular among fans, due to his extremely technical--one might say boring--style.
If John Ruiz had been born ten years earlier, he would have been considered something like a Trevor Berbick--a champion on paper who never really proved himself among great heavyweights. As it stands he is an unpopular boxer who has fared well against decent--but not great--opposition, which creates a natural dislike for someone who is supposedly 'The Champ'. 
All things considered, Ruiz is a good boxer, but there will never be a popular point of view considering him a legitimate champion.
* It's a bit inaccurate to compare Hopkins' style to Ruiz's. Even the older Hopkins, to put it simply, moved a lot more than Ruiz ever did. Hopkins was a very defensive fighter, some might say boring, who would lay back and use his reach, since he was a big middleweight, to force his opponent into facing the options of either sitting back and getting hit with jabs, or rushing forward in an attempt to catch Hopkins. Those who rushed forward were often then sitting ducks for Hopkins, who could pick his spots very well. (Admittedly, as he got older, Hopkins would do less jabbing and a lot more looking at his opponent, trying just to outwait them.) Ruiz, on the other hand, would slog forward, throw a few punches, and then hold. While Ruiz used this style to a decent level of success, you can make the argument that had more referees penalized him for holding, which you're not supposed to do in boxing,  he wouldn't have gotten as far as he did. Calling him a "good boxer" is therefore open to debate.
Also, on a topic we might actually agree on, shouldn't there be more discussion of Norman Stone in this article? Love him or hate him, he's a memorable figure in Ruiz's career. HandsomeSam57 00:16, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ruiz style 

message: It says
Total fights 50 
Wins 415 
Wins by KO 28 
Losses 7 
Draws 1 
No contests 1 
 does anyone else spot the mistake he has won more fights than he has fought in. Could someone please change it unless they is a reason for it. I am sorry I arn't doing it myself but I dont know the stats.mattypc (talk) 15:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: mistake

message: Why is he frequently shown with the Puerto Rican flprominentlyag next to his name on Wikipedia if he's American? Jason Quinn (talk) 21:33, 16 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed, this article just an unsourced mention that he is of PR ancestry, besides PR related categories and see also links. I've removed that for now. When someone works an "Early life" section that somehow establishes a relevant connection between this man and Puerto Rico, they can come back. --damiens.rf 18:25, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Re-added because the ESPN reference mentions it.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 16:34, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Puerto Rican??? 

message: Correct me if I am wrong, but last I checked, 'latino' was not a race and it really has no meaning.  How could this man be the first 'latino' HW champ then?
:Latino, people in the U.S. with ties to Latin America.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 17:50, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  First "Latino" Heavyweight Champ?  What is "Latino?"