THE date was March 1, 2003 and the venue The Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
At stake was the WBA heavyweight title, but for Roy Jones Jr. there was so much more. He was trying to make history as the only middleweight to win a heavyweight title since Bob Fitzsimmons 106 years prior. Never mind that he was a tad below six feet and would be giving up about 40 pounds in weight come fight time.
BACKGROUND. At that time, Jones was on top of the pound-for-pound list. He was the undisputed light heavyweight champion, having come up from the middleweight and super-middleweight divisions and collecting trinkets along the way.
His record was 47-1 with 38 knockouts--his only blemish on account of a disqualification. And that loss he would avenge by savagely knocking out Montell Griffin in the first round of their rematch. He was thought to be almost invincible.
Previously, he had dropped hints of attempting to fight for the heavyweight championship because he had not been seriously challenged up to that point. Many salivated at the thought, and indeed it caused a lot of intrigue and speculation.
Jones chose John Ruiz because he owned a title, the WBA belt. Also, Ruiz wasn’t the biggest of heavyweights and this was probably the safest option and the only opportunity for Jones to fulfill his long-time dream.
The fight media was divided in their picks, but the oddsmakers installed Jones as a 9-5 pre-fight favorite. This Last Rounder had Jones all the way.
THE FIGHT. Jones used his cat-quick reflexes early on to land jabs and right hands on Ruiz, who advanced flat-footed. The latter looked huge in there, but at the same time, seemed befuddled by the speed demon in front of him.
In the fourth round, Jones stunned the bigger man with a right straight, causing a nosebleed. As the fight wore on, Jones’s confidence increased and he would stand in the middle of the ring and goad Ruiz to come at him.
He easily piled up the points and dominated Ruiz through his superior boxing ability. In fairness to Ruiz, he would land a big right hand every now and then, but Jones took these well and never seemed hurt at any point of the fight.
In the final rounds, Jones was content to play it safe and potshot Ruiz who seemed unwilling or unable to mount any effective offensive spurt.
The scorecards (118-110, 117-111, 116-112) were hardly emblematic of the one-sided nature of the fight. Jones landed 32 percent of his punches, while Ruiz came up with a dismal 21 percent success rate.
AFTERMATH. Jones was 34 when he beat Ruiz, so he was probably not on his prime years anymore. He would return to the light heavyweight division with disastrous results. After squeaking by Antonio Tarver in a disputed decision win, he was shockingly knocked out in two rounds in the rematch. It went downhill for Jones after that which was quite unfortunate as up until this fight, he was already in the same conversation as Sugar Ray Robinson as one of the greatest ever.
Ruiz went on to regain his WBA belt which was vacated by Jones by beating Hasim Rahman.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my mom, Elena M. Quijano who would have turned 80 this week. We miss you mom, but we know you are in a better place.