Evander Holyfield vs John Ruiz

Evander Holyfield became heavyweight champion for a fourth time when he was awarded a unanimous 12-round decision over John Ruiz at Paris Las Vegas on August 12, 2000, but the verdict did little to settle the question of who had deserved the vacant WBA title. Judges Duane Ford and Dave Moretti each scored the contest 114-113 for Holyfield, while Fernando Viso returned the wider figure of 116-112. Referee Richard Steele supervised a bout marked by frequent clinching, warnings and interruptions, but there were no official knockdowns. Holyfield weighed 221 pounds and Ruiz 224. The former champion earned a purse of $5 million, while Ruiz received $1.1 million.

The championship had become vacant after the WBA stripped Lennox Lewis, who had defeated Holyfield in their November 1999 rematch to become undisputed champion. Lewis wished to defend first against Michael Grant rather than the organisation’s leading contender, Ruiz, and the WBA then matched Ruiz with Holyfield. Holyfield entered at 37, carrying a record of 36 victories, four defeats and one draw, and attempting to recover immediately from the second Lewis contest. Ruiz, nine years younger and a 4-1 underdog, had rebuilt his career after being knocked out by David Tua in 19 seconds in 1996. He arrived with six successive victories and the opportunity to become the first fighter of Latino heritage to hold a recognised world heavyweight championship.

Ruiz began with greater urgency. He ran to the ring, came forward behind the jab and attacked Holyfield’s body while the older man was near the ropes. Holyfield attempted to impose himself physically, but the exchanges repeatedly ended in clinches. Ruiz landed three consecutive jabs during the opening round and followed with a right uppercut, while Holyfield’s best reply was a left-right combination. The second followed much the same pattern. Both men landed right hands, but Ruiz’s jab remained the more consistent weapon. Holyfield was warned for holding behind the head, and a fall by Ruiz after a left hand was correctly ruled a slip. Steele was required to separate them frequently as the round ended with the fighters locked together. The Associated Press awarded both opening rounds to Ruiz.

Holyfield produced his clearest early success in the third. Ruiz continued to jab, but Holyfield began finding space for the right uppercut and left hook. With approximately 25 seconds remaining, a heavy right hand sent Ruiz reeling across the ring. Holyfield followed, but Ruiz held, covered and reached the bell. It was the nearest either man came to a stoppage during the first half of the contest. Holyfield controlled much of the fourth with his jab and appeared to retain the advantage while Ruiz recovered, although the challenger still landed occasional rights and body punches. Ruiz regained his rhythm in the fifth, reaching Holyfield with a left hand and a right-left uppercut combination. Holyfield was warned for holding and hitting, and the greater part of the round was again fought at close quarters with little clean work.

The middle rounds remained close and unattractive. Holyfield landed a right uppercut and left hook in the sixth, while Ruiz pushed him towards the ropes and continued working from the jab. By the seventh, Holyfield was moving forward more regularly, but his attacks were delivered in brief bursts before another clinch. He landed a strong left hook and exchanged rights with Ruiz, then wrestled the challenger to the floor for the third time and received another warning. Ruiz’s corner continued instructing him to use the jab rather than become involved in unnecessary inside exchanges. The eighth and ninth favoured Ruiz in the Associated Press account. He countered Holyfield’s wider punches, landed clean jabs and rights, and generally appeared the fresher man as both began to tire. Repairs to loose tape on Ruiz’s gloves also caused several interruptions.

Holyfield increased his effort in the tenth. A left hook appeared to stun Ruiz, and the former champion followed him towards a corner with two further punches. Ruiz then complained of a low blow and dropped to one knee while Steele allowed him approximately 45 seconds to recover. It was not ruled a knockdown. When action resumed, both men traded heavily, Holyfield landing an uppercut and combination before Ruiz answered with a left-right. Ruiz recovered sufficiently to take the eleventh on the Associated Press card, using the jab and right hand while Holyfield replied only intermittently. The official fight remained in the balance. Ford and Moretti each had the scores level after 11 rounds, meaning the final round would determine the winner on both cards.

The 12th began slowly and was again interrupted when the tape on Ruiz’s gloves came loose. Ruiz landed a left and several jabs, but Holyfield produced the stronger finish. A left hook appeared to hurt Ruiz, and a second sent him to the floor near the ropes. Steele ruled that Ruiz had slipped rather than been knocked down. Ruiz rose with blood coming from his nose and complained that Holyfield had used an elbow, but the veteran continued pressing, landed a flurry and completed the round on the attack. Ruiz drove him across the ring during the closing seconds, and the crowd booed at the bell. Holyfield’s late rally earned him the round from all three judges and secured the decision. Had Ruiz won the 12th on either Ford’s or Moretti’s card, he would have taken the championship.

The announcement was received with widespread disagreement. Ruiz had been the steadier jabber, had often beaten Holyfield to the punch and had controlled several of the quieter middle rounds. Holyfield had supplied the contest’s most forceful moments in the third, tenth and 12th, but his work was irregular, and much of his inside activity consisted of holding, pushing and wrestling. The 114-113 scores were defensible in a close contest decided by the final round, although many ringside observers believed Ruiz had done enough. The 116-112 card was more difficult to reconcile with the action. Showtime’s commentators condemned the verdict, and Ruiz described it afterwards as robbery. Holyfield maintained that he had won and became the first boxer to claim a version of the heavyweight championship four times, surpassing Muhammad Ali’s three recognised reigns. The controversy brought an immediate rematch, in which Ruiz defeated Holyfield by unanimous decision in March 2001.

I thought Ruiz won this fight. It was not a classic, and neither man boxed particularly well, but Ruiz did the more consistent work. He kept putting the jab on Holyfield, made him reset and controlled too many of the middle rounds for me to accept a 116-112 card the other way.

Holyfield was 37 and coming off two hard fights with Lennox Lewis. The old sharpness was fading. He still produced the contest’s best individual punches, especially the right hand that shook Ruiz in the third, but his attacks came in bursts. Between them, there was too much holding, wrestling and waiting. Ruiz was awkward and hardly pleasing to watch, yet awkward fighters still deserve credit when their tactics work.

The final round decided the two 114-113 cards. Holyfield finished strongly and may have pinched it, but I had Ruiz ahead before that. The scores of 114-113 were arguable twice; 116-112 was poor. Holyfield became the first four-time heavyweight champion, but the achievement looked better in the record book than it did in the ring.

Ruiz had rebuilt himself after David Tua flattened him in 19 seconds and arrived as a four-to-one outsider. He deserved more respect than he received that night. The immediate rematch was necessary, and when Ruiz beat Holyfield clearly in 2001, it confirmed what I had already seen: the first decision had gone to the wrong man.