Ron Borges Report of Last Night's Card

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This is why I didn't buy the PPV.


Ugly does it for Ruiz
Champ's comeback win is uninspiring
By Ron Borges, Globe Staff | November 14, 2004

NEW YORK -- John Ruiz took winning ugly to new depths last night at Madison Square Garden.

In a match so inelegant it inspired more than a half-dozen fights in the crowd, including one involving the Marine Corps color guard that sang the national anthem, Ruiz managed to survive two knockdowns and a point deduction to retain the World Boxing Association title by unanimous decision over Andrew Golota.

Judges Tom Schreck and Oscar Perez had Ruiz a 114-111 winner while judge Frank Lombardi had Ruiz ahead, 113-112. The Globe card had it a 113-113 draw.

"I felt like I was fighting two fighters in the ring [Golota and the referee]," Ruiz said. "It was very disappointing with the referee. [Golota] hit me in the back of the head numerous times. They just wanted to take my belt away."

Ruiz's volatile manager, Norman Stone, was ejected from the corner by referee Randy Neumann in the eighth round after he refused initially to retape Ruiz's glove, disrespectfully handing the tape to Neumann to do it himself. Neumann, who by then had tired of dealing with Stone's profanity from the corner, ordered Stone to the locker room, an action Ruiz said adversely affected him.

"I had to go back and start working to motivate myself even though I was discouraged," said Ruiz (41-5-1). "I knew I was behind and I had to work really hard to have this win."

All three judges gave Golota a 10-7 round after he twice dropped Ruiz in Round 2 but after that, all three judges felt Golota simply didn't do enough to justify the title changing hands. Mostly he stood watching, holding, and hitting Ruiz in the back of the neck.

Schreck and Perez had the champion winning the next seven rounds while Lombardi gave Ruiz five of the next seven as well as the last two. All three had Ruiz winning two of the last three rounds, although none had the same combination, which indicates how difficult it was to score this fight.

"I thought I won the fight," said Golota (38-5-1), whose right eye was badly cut late from one of the few clean punches Ruiz landed. "He went down twice. I controlled the fight. I am confused here. I am upside down. I have no idea. I am going to watch the tape and see what is going on.

"This is very confusing to me. Maybe the judges were watching the fights outside the ring and not inside the ring."

If they were, one couldn't blame them because this was about as ugly an affair as two men could put on and still call it boxing.

Hours earlier, one thing at least did become clear -- it's difficult to unify a title if you can't beat people who don't even have one.

That is the sad reality Evander Holyfield has to face this morning after he was dominated by a journeyman heavyweight nearly as old as he is named Larry Donald, who won a lopsided 12-round decision.

For Holyfield, it ended the way it often seems to, with a sad ballad being tapped out on an old man's face by a guy who wouldn't have lasted three rounds against him back in the day when Holyfield was The Real Deal.

These days, though, he's no big deal, just another boxer who stayed too long at the dance. From the start, his balance was clearly impaired and he was unable to avoid much that was thrown at him in combination. Fortunately for him, Donald seldom did that, taking no more chances than necessary, periodically landing a jab and a slashing right hand behind it.

Often those combinations seemed to rock the 42-year-old Holyfield, who made his pro debut 20 years ago in the same ring where he should have been receiving a gold watch. But a man who doesn't know what time it is anymore doesn't receive a watch from boxing. He receives a beating.

Judges Melvina Lathan and Wynn Kintz scored the bout 119-110, giving Holyfield only the opening round. Bob Gibson had it 118-109, giving Holyfield the third round as well but also crediting Donald (42-3-2) with a 10-8 round in the ninth, when Holyfield was rocked several times. The Globe card had Donald an easy 118-109 winner.

Compubox statistics made clear how one-sided the match was. Holyfield landed only 78 punches compared with Donald's 260. Donald threw 643 punches, Holyfield just 264. It was the lowest number of punches landed by Holyfield in a 12-round fight and just one of many sad reminders that what he was is no longer what he is.

"I won every round," Donald crowed. "Ain't no doubt I won the fight."

The only debating point was whether he won all 12 rounds or merely 10 of 12. Had Donald chosen to push himself, which he has seldom done in his career, he might have stopped the four-time champion. That he did not was more a failing on his part than anything Holyfield did to prevent it. Yet even after hearing the decision, Holyfield, who is 2-5-2 in his last nine fights, refused to say he would stop, though he hinted he might have to consider the possibility.

"I've never given up on anything," Holyfield said. "If I have a change of heart, I could change my mind [about retirement]. I'm going to pray on it. I felt better than my last fight [when he was stopped by a body shot by James Toney after absorbing a one-sided beating]. When they raised his hand, I considered maybe that was it but I fought better than last time. I saw all the shots coming."

Perhaps so, but he didn't avoid many of them, a clear signal that the message from his brain to his body is not arriving as quickly as it once did.

"I believe I was the better guy," Holyfield said. "Realistically, in my mind, I can't think it's over but I've got to look at the possibility that this is a permanent problem."

The problem he was referring to was being outpointed. The problem he should have been concerned with was being assaulted.

In the semi-main event, International Boxing Fderation champion Chris Byrd came back from being knocked to the floor in the second round by massive Jameel McCline, who outweighed him by 56 pounds, to win a split decision after falling well behind on points after the first five rounds.

McCline dominated the first five rounds but the big man wore out as the fight went on, with Byrd avoiding more and more of his punches as they became slower and more ponderous. As McCline slowed, Byrd seemed to speed up, his hands moving no faster than in the early rounds but appearing to do so because the 270-pound McCline was less able to react quickly enough to avoid them.

Byrd ran off a string of highly productive rounds between 6 and 9 and had McCline holding on late in Round 11. When the champion also won the final round, it was enough to close the early deficit in the opinion of judges Don Trella (who had Byrd winning, 115-112) and Luis Rivera (who saw it 114-113 for the champion). Glenn Feldman had McCline a 113-112 winner. The Globe had McCline winning, 114-113.

Earlier in the evening, former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (40-5-1) overwhelmed Kali Meehan. Rahman beat him from pillar to post for four rounds before Meehan's corner stopped the carnage as their fighter staggered back to his corner with glassy eyes and a bloody nose.



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