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00:00:00♪♪
00:00:10♪♪
00:00:20♪♪
00:00:30♪♪
00:00:34And so it's time for our main event,
00:00:36heavyweight belt holder John Ruiz
00:00:38against undisputed light heavyweight champion Roy Jones.
00:00:41They're scheduled for 12 rounds
00:00:43fighting for Ruiz's portion of the splintered heavyweight title.
00:00:47Ruiz versus Jones is brought to you by
00:00:49Caesars Palace, the home of champions.
00:00:53HBO Pay-Per-View, the best in pay-per-view entertainment.
00:00:57Brought to you by the folks at HBO.
00:01:00And special thanks to America Online.
00:01:03Everyone is here tonight to see if Roy Jones
00:01:05can make history once again.
00:01:07Having first conquered the middleweights,
00:01:09Jones moved up 8 pounds to rule another division,
00:01:127 pounds further up the ladder.
00:01:14He became undisputed light heavyweight champ,
00:01:16but most feel tonight's upgrade to heavyweight
00:01:18is entirely different.
00:01:19In taking a fight against belt holder John Ruiz,
00:01:22Jones is facing a totally different set of obstacles
00:01:25as he attempts to become the first man
00:01:27since Bob Fitzsimmons in 1897
00:01:29to have been middleweight champ
00:01:31and then wind up as heavyweight titlist.
00:01:34♪♪
00:01:38Among the notables on hand, Shaquille O'Neal
00:01:41back in the swing of things now with the Lakers.
00:01:43The Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.
00:01:46The last man to move up from the light heavyweight ranks
00:01:48and become heavyweight champion,
00:01:50Michael Spinks, who beat Larry Holmes in the mid-'80s.
00:01:53Southpaw heavyweight Chris Byrd,
00:01:55recent conqueror of Evander Holyfield.
00:01:58The daughter of Muhammad Ali
00:02:00and a highly regarded fighter in her own right,
00:02:02Laila Ali.
00:02:03The hitman Thomas Hearns,
00:02:05who won titles in five different weight classes
00:02:08between welterweight and light heavyweight.
00:02:10Felix Trinidad with a possibility
00:02:12of a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya,
00:02:13lure him out of retirement.
00:02:15David Tua, who back in 1996
00:02:17devastated John Ruiz in 19 seconds of the first round.
00:02:21The WBC lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
00:02:25And what would any big event be
00:02:27without the irrepressible Charles Barkley?
00:02:30Back in 1897, also in Nevada, in Carson City,
00:02:33when Bob Fitzsimmons dethroned gentleman Jim Corbett
00:02:37for the heavyweight championship,
00:02:38among those at ringside
00:02:40were Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson,
00:02:42who later went on to become a sportswriter.
00:02:44I'm guessing there was no broadcast of that fight
00:02:46since it preceded the invention of either medium
00:02:49but technological advances.
00:02:50Allow us now to bring you Jim Lampley, ringside.
00:02:54All right, thank you very much, Bob.
00:02:56We get ready for the 49th fight
00:02:58of Roy Jones' prize-fighting career,
00:03:00but most ring experts would say the first one
00:03:03since November 18, 1994,
00:03:05when he fought James Toney
00:03:07to present legitimate competitive suspense.
00:03:10Working with me, as always,
00:03:11HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant.
00:03:13Larry, if John Ruiz wins this fight,
00:03:16then the rank and file will say that the bigger man did
00:03:19what the bigger man is supposed to do.
00:03:21If Roy Jones wins this fight,
00:03:23then many will say, so what?
00:03:25He beat a journeyman.
00:03:26What's the essence of the fight?
00:03:28Roy Jones, and not whether he wins,
00:03:31but how he fights.
00:03:33Jones has outclassed most opponents
00:03:36with his sheer ability, with extravagant talent.
00:03:40But the cognizante, the purist,
00:03:43including many fighters,
00:03:44believe that very often there is more to winning
00:03:48than just winning.
00:03:50The great virtuosos Robinson, Ali, and Leonard
00:03:54all showed when pressured
00:03:56that under their gleaming hoods
00:03:58were big engines of heart and courage.
00:04:02At the very least,
00:04:03John Ruiz should open that hood
00:04:06and we'll see what's inside.
00:04:08Indeed.
00:04:09From the great virtuosos
00:04:10and the things they've illustrated
00:04:12to the great pressurizer,
00:04:13the man with the all-time number one knockout percentage
00:04:16among heavyweight champions,
00:04:17two-time champ George Foreman.
00:04:19George, when you fought Evander Holyfield April 9, 1991,
00:04:23you carried a larger weight advantage over Holyfield
00:04:27than the one Ruiz carries into the ring
00:04:29against Jones tonight.
00:04:30He fought you in staccato bursts,
00:04:32throwing bunches of combinations all at once
00:04:34and then trying to get out of the way.
00:04:35Is that what Roy Jones should try to do
00:04:37against John Ruiz?
00:04:38Yeah, Evander Holyfield fought the way he fights
00:04:40all the time anyway.
00:04:41Roy Jones, of course, he's just got to keep his style.
00:04:44He's always been one to throw a lot of shots,
00:04:46take a deep breath, move around,
00:04:48do some showmanship.
00:04:49If he can do that tonight,
00:04:50things can turn around and turn around good
00:04:52for that light heavyweight, if.
00:04:54So what, if Jones chooses to do that,
00:04:57and of course that is the style
00:04:58he's exhibited his whole career,
00:05:00what can Ruiz do about it?
00:05:01Ruiz has got to be like a football player.
00:05:03He's got to bump shoulders, touch shoulders,
00:05:05lean and lay.
00:05:06When the referee tells him,
00:05:08break, don't do it.
00:05:09Wait until the referee comes in and move you off.
00:05:12Make this little guy tired.
00:05:13Let him feel those extra 20 pounds on his back.
00:05:16Then he can tire him out and land those shots
00:05:18that he'll be missing early on.
00:05:19All right, thank you, George.
00:05:21Never has the tale of the tape been more critical
00:05:25to the story of the fight on this telecast.
00:05:29Here is the tale of the tape
00:05:31for John Ruiz against Roy Jones Jr.
00:05:34Jones, 3 years older at 34.
00:05:37He gives up 3 inches in height.
00:05:39He gives up what we measured to be 6 inches in reach.
00:05:42It's been reported elsewhere as high as 7 1⁄2.
00:05:45Roy Jones didn't really weigh 193 at the weigh-in.
00:05:48Closest associates acknowledge he weighed about 189 or 190.
00:05:52But tonight, he's all the way up to 199 pounds
00:05:56on our unofficial scale.
00:05:58Meanwhile, John Ruiz has lost 2 pounds
00:06:01since the weigh-in 2 days ago
00:06:03and is down to 224 tonight.
00:06:05And Larry Merchant, I don't think I've ever seen an instance
00:06:08in which a fighter lost weight
00:06:10since the weigh-in going into the fight.
00:06:12It's happened a few times.
00:06:14You wonder if somehow the nerves have gotten to him,
00:06:17whether he's taken his food properly.
00:06:20But all of those wonderings generally go away
00:06:23after the first bell.
00:06:25You know what happened?
00:06:27What happened is that the guy gets nervous.
00:06:29Let's open George Foreman a second.
00:06:31What happened is the guy gets nervous
00:06:33and he starts going to the restroom back and forth.
00:06:35That's where those extra pounds go if a guy's nervous.
00:06:38You keep running to the restroom.
00:06:40So is it a bad sign for Ruiz's competitive fortunes, George?
00:06:43No, it's a good sign.
00:06:44You're nervous, you're gonna protect yourself.
00:06:46All right, punch that numbers, Larry.
00:06:48Take a look at their activity.
00:06:51And you can see neither of these fighters
00:06:53are high-punch output fighters.
00:06:5637, 36 punches a round.
00:06:59That does not promise for an action-packed fight.
00:07:02Rules of the bout with our unofficial ringside scorer,
00:07:04Harold Lederman.
00:07:05The John Ruiz, Roy Jones Jr. fight
00:07:07is scheduled for 12 rounds
00:07:09using the unified rules of the Association of Boxing Commissions.
00:07:12There is no three-knockdown rule.
00:07:14Only the referee can stop the fight.
00:07:16In case a cut is caused by an accidental headbutt,
00:07:18we go to the scorecards.
00:07:19If the four rounds have been completed
00:07:21and you cannot be hit by the bell at any round,
00:07:23including the 12th and final round.
00:07:26Jim.
00:07:28All right, thank you very much, Harold.
00:07:30And here comes the light heavyweight champion of the world.
00:07:34A lot of people ask,
00:07:36why is Jones doing this?
00:07:39Basically, it's an itch he's wanted to scratch
00:07:43for five or six years,
00:07:45talking about fighting heavyweights.
00:07:47Now he's getting at least twice as much money
00:07:50as he ever got before, a minimum of $10 million.
00:07:53To fight a fighter he thinks he can beat
00:07:56and a fighter with a belt,
00:07:58and he loves to collect belts, Jim.
00:08:11And as Jones emerges into the arena,
00:08:13we'll get our first inkling
00:08:15as to who will own the house tonight
00:08:17in terms of fan support.
00:08:21We have a new challenger,
00:08:23the contender for the belt champion,
00:08:25a big boy from BL,
00:08:27a big boy from BL,
00:08:28and then you look at the stars on our side,
00:08:30the Holy Fever.
00:08:31I see all of my partners,
00:08:33and I'm going to make a name for myself.
00:08:34I'm going to be really excited
00:08:35about this young, young champion.
00:08:37My name ain't for preaching,
00:08:38it ain't for lessons,
00:08:39it's for teaching,
00:08:40it's for critiquing,
00:08:41and then to see a guy like me being a Royce Black.
00:08:45A Royce Black.
00:08:48A Royce Black.
00:08:51A Royce Black.
00:08:54Royce Black.
00:08:56Royce Jones' demeanor all week coming into this fight
00:09:00has been extremely intense
00:09:02to a great degree than prior to any of his other fights.
00:09:06He has projected a sense of violence,
00:09:09and when asked, he suggested
00:09:12that he didn't want to spend 12 rounds in there
00:09:14chasing a decision against John Ruiz,
00:09:16but rather that he will try to shorten the fight.
00:09:20Whether he means that,
00:09:22we'll see after the bell rings.
00:09:38Whoo!
00:09:46Whoo!
00:09:56It's a Jones house.
00:10:03Ruiz is still in the hallway, as you can see,
00:10:05but his image on the Jumbotron screen above the ring
00:10:10elicited the round of boos inside the arena.
00:10:13John Ruiz taking this fight
00:10:16for what was a no-money guarantee,
00:10:20but which will wind up getting him
00:10:23an estimated $1 million to $2 million.
00:10:38The answer?
00:10:39He didn't have many other options for big-money fights,
00:10:44and he's fighting a smaller guy,
00:10:46and though he has much to lose tonight,
00:10:50if he wins, it will give him, at the very least,
00:10:54more visibility with the public.
00:10:56It's a roll of the dice,
00:10:58both financially and competitively,
00:11:00for John Ruiz.
00:11:04He says he's tired of being pushed around
00:11:06by the boxing establishment.
00:11:08He says he's tired of being dissed
00:11:10by commentators and critics
00:11:12who don't accord him the status
00:11:14that is usually reserved for somebody
00:11:16who holds a heavyweight championship belt,
00:11:19and he's gonna vent his frustration
00:11:21in the ring tonight.
00:11:24What happened is, one day,
00:11:26you're a good heavyweight fighter,
00:11:28George Foreman, Lennox Lewis walk by you,
00:11:30and no one recognize you.
00:11:32After tonight, he's got a household name.
00:11:35That's why you take a fight like this.
00:11:38You become a well-known person.
00:11:40We all want that.
00:11:45John Ruiz is the man.
00:11:47He's the man.
00:11:49He's the man.
00:11:51He's the man.
00:11:54He's the man.
00:12:00He's the man.
00:12:12He's the man.
00:12:21Lennon jr. for the official introductions ladies and gentlemen before we introduce our boxers at
00:12:27this time i'd like to ask you to rise for the singing of our national anthem in the ring
00:12:34presenting the colors we have the color guard from the nellis air force base and to lead us
00:12:39ladies and gentlemen please welcome outstanding vocalist grammy award-winning recording artist
00:12:46from murder inc records introducing ashanti
00:13:16loudly we held at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the
00:13:33perilous fight for the round parts we watched were so gallantly still
00:13:50and the rocket's red glare the bombs bursting in air
00:14:00gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
00:14:15oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
00:14:31for the land of the free
00:14:39and the home
00:14:59thank you very much to ashanti
00:15:08ladies and gentlemen a very good evening to you and welcome to the thomas and mack center
00:15:20here in the boxing capital of the world las vegas nevada for the featured bout of the evening
00:15:29brought to you by don king productions square ring and murad muhammad's m&m sports in association
00:15:37with caesar's palace and cm exchange of chicago ladies and gentlemen a special welcome to america's
00:15:45military at sea and service men and women serving on bases around the world receiving tonight's
00:15:52broadcast courtesy of our promotional team well fans this bout coming away as sanctioned by the
00:16:01wba the president gilberto mendoza supervisor dr calvin inelsing along with the nevada state
00:16:07athletic commission the chairman is dr luther mack introducing to you our three judges scoring
00:16:13this bout from ringside from johannesburg south africa stanley cristodulo from las vegas nevada
00:16:21duane ford also from las vegas jerry roth and our third man of the ring the referee in charge
00:16:28of this bout we have j natey all right fans here we go with the showdown you've all been
00:16:39waiting for and now ladies and gentlemen in attendance and boxing fans joining us around the
00:16:46world live from las vegas it is time for the main event of the evening 12 rounds of boxing
00:16:56for the wba heavyweight championship of the world
00:17:09introducing to you first the challenger on my left fighting out of the blue corner
00:17:15wearing brown trunks fighting out of his hometown of pensacola florida he weighed in at a ready
00:17:23193 pounds with a record of 47 wins only one defeat he has 38 wins coming by way of knockout
00:17:35tonight he attempts to join boxing's most elite as he challenges for the heavyweight crown ladies
00:17:44and gentlemen please welcome the former middleweight world champion the former super middleweight world
00:17:52champion the current undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world here is one of boxing's
00:18:00pound-for-pound superstars introducing roy jones jr
00:18:16and his opponent across the ring ready to fight on my right ladies and gentlemen
00:18:21out of the red corner the defending world champion wearing black trunks with white
00:18:27lettering hailing from chelsea massachusetts and representing his homeland and heritage of
00:18:35savannah grande puerto rico his weight 226 pounds with a record of 38 wins four losses in one draw
00:18:47he has 27 wins coming by way of knockout ladies and gentlemen here is boxing's first
00:18:55latino heavyweight champion tonight making the third defense of his title please welcome
00:19:01the defending and determined wba heavyweight champion of the world introducing john the quiet
00:19:17once again a referee in charge jay nadey now to give instructions
00:19:28do you have any questions obey my commands your front foot look good
00:19:36when i tell you to break i want you to break let's go to work
00:19:40we are about to get an answer to an age-old question
00:19:44can two fighters who have frequently been cautious be rubbed together to create sparks
00:19:53the fight should take place in staccato bursts just to make the point again john luis in his
00:20:0036 rounds with evander holyfield averaged fewer than 40 punches around in fact 37 punches around
00:20:06the heavyweight average is 48 he threw only 20 punches around against the mobile and active
00:20:12kirk johnson lloyd jones does not throw large numbers and punches although he does tend to
00:20:18throw them in bunches ruiz goes to the body to start out and drive stones into the ropes
00:20:26this night the referee is going to be the most important man in the ring other than the fighters
00:20:31when he say break these guys have got to step back if jones is going to get any advantage at all
00:20:37bring your punches out now he's has pounded jones to the body in two separate flurries against the
00:20:44ropes now they go to the center of the ring and roy jones who uses the jab sparingly most of the
00:20:48time begins to jab ruiz and ruiz pulls in roy jones like to get in there and land his best shot
00:20:56early so he can make the other guy cautious gets lands an uppercut he's not like ball foster who
00:21:03wanted a knockout he's a guy who want to hurt you make you respect them and put on the show
00:21:09ruiz driving forward jones whacking him with a left hook
00:21:17right hand over the top by jones already jay natey has been very active
00:21:22roy will catch him coming in but he is not your pure counterpuncher
00:21:26jones jr jones going to the body he believes that john ruiz does not take body punches well
00:21:41roy jones has got an advantage because he's making a big man wait
00:21:45you don't wait for a little guy jones striking like lightning across the top of the right hand
00:21:52as was the case in oscar de la hoya versus fernando vargas you can see that there's a
00:21:56different texture to the fight when they're in the center of the ring than when they're against
00:21:59the ropes against the ropes release would seem to have the advantages in the center of the ring
00:22:05jones's speed may dominate roy jones doesn't like using a jab in his repertoire he'd like to hook
00:22:13you on the side hook you with the left and the right he's not interested in so if you have an
00:22:19advantage of reach he doesn't care about that he doesn't look to jab you anyway but in this fight
00:22:23is it a huge weakness in his arsenal if he doesn't use the jab no i think it's at his
00:22:28advantage when you can't outdo someone do something else there's reese sticking the jab twice
00:22:37as jones backs away when you can see jones have that much time and nothing
00:22:43look and ruiz comes back with his own left hook and lands the first big right hand
00:22:49and jones lands the left in return and they're fighting in the center of the ring
00:22:55big right hand by jones that hurt ruiz ruiz's right hand hurt ruiz's right hand hurt jones
00:23:02this jones's right hand hurt release in my judgment
00:23:11both men have made statements in round number one
00:23:24all right listen stop waiting on him johnny you're waiting on me understand don't wait on
00:23:31this kid take a jab in his face and keep it in here hit him here hit it in just keep it popping
00:23:35keep it popping all the time ronnie when you jab him and he goes straight back a little bit circle
00:23:39off when you're moving out okay circle out don't move straight back on the head let's go give it
00:23:45here you're doing fine just circle when you come out don't go back straight you understand you're
00:23:52doing good going good here's ruiz trying to muscle
00:24:00jones and that last right hand seemed to rock jones just a little bit jones comes back
00:24:07with a straight lead quick right hand country box numbers in round one fairly typical of both
00:24:14fighters ruiz 9 out of 42 jones 11 out of 41 barely even round
00:24:26what jones will have to do now is discourage ruiz from punching low going to the body you
00:24:31got to hit him so hard that he'll never duck his head down there again that's what jones is trying
00:24:36to do george roy jones seems to have decided that tonight is a good night to use the jab
00:24:43i don't think he's going into the jab he's going to sling a few because that's what you do
00:24:46he's dabbing to the body there ruiz has stopped and given roy jones too much time to think
00:24:52and contemplate you got to make that every round every second of that round busy for this little
00:24:57man gave marie said to john released between rounds john don't wait on him in there release
00:25:03comes in and for most of the first minute here waits on jones
00:25:14this is the tempo at which roy jones loves to fight
00:25:18picking his spots in which to flurry and then go back to the waiting game
00:25:27you see there's evidence that roy jones has hurt ruiz he's taking the faints now
00:25:34and he's going to get a little bit of a kick in the face
00:25:40body shot by ruiz but a left hook by roy jones upstairs
00:25:49if you're going to fight a small guy don't give him time to think he's quicker than you don't
00:25:55someone's going to start off with the block he's going to beat you tactically this is more of a
00:26:00imposing his size and strength on jones
00:26:05which he was supposed to do insisted he could do and may yet do but isn't doing here in fact
00:26:12tactically jones has just fought a near perfect two minutes standing in the center of the ring
00:26:17beating ruiz to the punch nowhere near the ropes and in no way is ruiz making his physicality a
00:26:23factor in the fight in this round he's got a charge in charge in if you're going to do some
00:26:29damage to roy jones jr ruiz has got to charge him and charge him and bump him and bump him
00:26:39quick combination by jones gets in moves away
00:26:45his back comes perilously close to the ropes he circles away
00:26:49no no no no no not going around louise wrestling jones catching louise on the way in
00:26:57with a kind of hook uppercut
00:27:04you see he's with his quickness he's got the bigger guy afraid to leave with anything
00:27:09this is the kind of round roy jones would like to fight all night long
00:27:18so
00:27:27here you go give me some water give me another water bottle up here all right another water
00:27:32bottle give him no water bottle that's good that's good don't let him keep his feet still
00:27:38keep him trying to commit himself okay keep him turning don't let him lock down on you
00:27:42you shot you pot shotting him but make him turn
00:27:50hey you're giving us all warnings give them a little come on
00:27:59don't matter what side you move
00:28:08copy box numbers in round two ruiz four out of 21 jones landing six punches out of 32 but
00:28:14a few of them excellent clean shots hard to imagine that john ruiz can beat roy jones
00:28:19throwing 21 punches around and if you look at the fights louise no longer have the height advantage
00:28:25he's talking down as low as roy jones is so i can actually jab him now if you bigger get tall
00:28:31that's what jones is doing throwing the jab more liberally here than normally although that's his
00:28:36more frequent approach is to lead with the left hook as he did there you got to remember all that
00:28:42take his one good punch from louise to turn things around
00:28:52louise trying to tee off on a body shot jones moves away you know what jones does he moves
00:29:00behind the referee when he says break he steps behind the referee which is extremely smart
00:29:05to give the other guy a long time to catch up with him john ruiz told us in our meeting that
00:29:11he wants to go back to what he sees as his lighter heavyweight style in the early days
00:29:15of his career he was a mobile boxer puncher type and he thinks he wants to do some of that tonight
00:29:21questionable it seems to us as a strategy his advantages are supposed to be those of a heavyweight
00:29:25if ever he should have fought should be fighting like a heavyweight is right now
00:29:30no time to go back if they're trying to outbox a boxer and be and be smart you got to be rough
00:29:35those might be the three best jabs i've ever seen jones laying and two of the hardest body
00:29:41punches he's ever taken those shots around the body by louise those hurt there's jones going
00:29:49to the body and again he believes louise is soft in the belly in fact when one of our producers
00:29:55said you mean he has a glass jock boy jones says yeah that's exactly it i'm gonna break his glass
00:30:00jock he's allowing jones too much time to rest this is no more than a light heavyweight fight
00:30:08for him when he can just have that much time not to do anything but just sit there and even
00:30:12initiate the contact you gotta jab roy jones to his chest to his body and wear him down if you
00:30:21believe again they go to the ropes and again ruiz tries to take advantage of the chance to
00:30:33punish jones to the rib cage except for a few moments like that the first three rounds have
00:30:38been largely a sparring session for roy jones that ruiz is sitting there watching and waiting
00:30:47for something good to happen and he can't talk with the right hand right on the buttons
00:30:52and jones hits him with the left hook and ducks the right
00:30:55the referee warned jones that time and jones hadn't done anything
00:31:01well between rounds ruiz's manager norman stone yelled at jay navy and said you're
00:31:08always warning my guy why don't you warn jones and he reacted to it that's right
00:31:17so
00:31:26okay listen to me listen to me good this kid ain't coming like he wants to now i want you
00:31:30going to steal him but i need the combination so the singles and doubles now let's catch him
00:31:35with the third shot let's catch him with the first shot i want you to try to touch him to
00:31:39the body some but get low and move out to your to your right okay you're moving good you're moving
00:31:46off he's right there for you when he comes here to counter punch him yes that's one two trees now
00:31:58here's jones who has never been a jabber in the light heavyweight division
00:32:03firing jabs landing them flush
00:32:07copy box numbers through round three john ruiz 18 out of 90 punches in other words he's throwing
00:32:1730 per round jones perfectly content to work at that pace 27 out of 112 harold letterman how'd
00:32:23you score the first three okay jim i got a three to nothing 30 to 27 right jones jr jim i just
00:32:30like the way he's keeping that fight in the middle of the ring that's where he wants to fight he's
00:32:34getting off the good left jabs getting off the good lead left hooks and you know just beating
00:32:39john ruiz to the punch so far i think it's a right jones jimmy fight based on clean punching
00:32:44and definitely ring generalship i scored the first round even and the other two for jones
00:32:52i've been in the ring with those smaller guys and you just cannot be in the middle of the
00:32:56ring with them you got to keep them up against the rope and do what ruiz is doing now you can't
00:33:01afford to let them go back to the middle of the ring where they outdo everything they're quicker
00:33:07there's a solid right cross by jones ruiz takes it very well when they were pinned against the
00:33:13ropes in the corner ruiz hit jones on both hips what was that about george well you take the man's
00:33:18legs away he can't do all the things he want to do but jones is accustomed to being hit down and
00:33:23he's got a good cup never have you seen his cup so high above his trunk blood trickling from the
00:33:28left nostril of john release after the solid right hand by jones about 30 seconds ago
00:33:38he's got ruiz cautious and that's what you've got to get in there and fight him if you read
00:33:43you can do this thing if you get the ball in this guy
00:33:47ruiz is making a mistake of keep getting caught with shots thinking this guy can't hit
00:33:52all of a sudden those little guys will knock your head off hard to imagine there's any fighter above
00:33:57160 pounds whom roy jones can't beat to the punch he is repeatedly beating release to the
00:34:03punch in the center of the ring only because ruiz doesn't punch until he gets hit
00:34:14jones ducks the jab and ruiz begins pawing at the blood around his nose
00:34:20now roy jones is not even moving backwards much
00:34:23even while jabbing ruiz in the face accurately jones continues to look at the middle of the
00:34:31release and he slides away behind the referee again that's wonderful masterful stuff that's
00:34:38what angelo dundee would teach you're using the referee good good jab to the body by ruiz and
00:34:47that's a tactic that can get him into the fight and get him in the fight good
00:34:53so far it's been jones who's jabbing to the body now ruiz gets in a good one
00:35:02he stumped him with that ruiz walked into a right hand and it shook him and now jones looks to do
00:35:09it again just missed and john ruiz has tasted jones's power
00:35:22what are you doing waiting
00:35:25you all right huh
00:35:30the fuck you're waiting on this kid boy
00:35:34he's coming out johnny he's coming out
00:35:40you gotta get on him get on him don't wait keep it like that you got control you're doing the
00:35:47right thing now just keep it like that okay all right let's keep doing what you're doing
00:35:53watch jones's punches he hits him with a clean right hand a little high stunned
00:36:02he stunned
00:36:05ruiz momentarily
00:36:09that's all you want to do if you're the smaller guy stun the big man make him wait so far this
00:36:16fight has lived up to the odds which reflected the belief that it would be an exceptional smaller man
00:36:23against a rugged journeyman now
00:36:29and he wants vaseline taken off of roy jones's face
00:36:34alton mercerson does the honors power shots in four jones 8 out of 18
00:36:38ruiz 5 out of 21 was pretty much out of his way except for those moments when he's been pinned
00:36:43against the ropes and has taken body shots from ruiz ruiz looks a little bit more determined to
00:36:48get inside to him now
00:37:00every time ruiz covers up roy jones slaps him anyway to make him say take your hands down don't
00:37:06cover up one of the reasons jones likes to lead with the left hook is that the natural motion of
00:37:12the punch takes him to the side as he throws it so it's hard for somebody to pay him back it feels
00:37:16like with the jab he's going straight in and he's more vulnerable to the to the counterpunch
00:37:22but here tonight he's used the jab more liberally than before
00:37:27this has turned into a typical roy jones fight but ruiz still got the power
00:37:31you can't play around with a body shot by roy jones we've twice seen him knocking it out with
00:37:36body shots he starts virgil hill with a single shot to the liver
00:37:47i can still hear
00:37:50the slap of that shot for virgil hill's body in my ear now here's ruiz again pounding against
00:37:59jones's cup and against his hips to try to take roy's legs away he's got to continuously fight
00:38:05like that he can't let these minutes go by where he's not doing anything you beat a guy in the
00:38:10body you got to be right back on him when the referee says break get right back on him otherwise
00:38:15he recuperates it looks like jones is starting to fight more like the big man than ruiz jones
00:38:28busting ruiz with a left hook and another right cross boy mocking ruiz in there
00:38:39this is one time jones cannot play around ruiz landed a right hand
00:38:43he played with the light heavyweight but you can't play with the big guys like this
00:38:48well roy's standing there with his hands below his waist george
00:38:51that's good but don't sit don't play and laugh and try to get into exchanges
00:39:01so
00:39:08jones again whacking ruiz with the left hook
00:39:11ruiz just a little short with that right hand
00:39:17you see before ruiz can get started you're down to 10 seconds you can't get it that way
00:39:23wait another good round for roy jones's boxing side
00:39:31seated at ringside the heavyweight champion of the world
00:39:35lennox lewis waiting to see if john ruiz can elevate his own status as a potential challenger
00:39:43by beating roy jones
00:39:47i'll see what i'm out of
00:40:07all right everything going good try to work your jab a little more offsets and then give me a big
00:40:12i'll take a look at the body punch that roy jones slams into the right side and there's the right
00:40:19hand perhaps the best punch that ruiz has landed roy jones says that he doesn't even like a fly to
00:40:27land on his face he's very seldom been hit by clean punches with serious power and leverage
00:40:34behind it he was hit by that one on harold letterman's guard roy jones has won every round
00:40:40by compubox numbers he's 55 out of 192 to ruiz is 35 out of 160
00:40:48jones attacking sparingly conserving his energy fighting in staccato bursts exactly the way he
00:40:54likes to do it ruiz not pressuring him not making him fight at a pace that might wear him down
00:41:00left hook lands for jones he's trying to be quicker than look faster man you can't do it
00:41:05you got a moat get up on roy jones get your head on his shoulders and his chest and stay there you
00:41:10know you made a great point george when you said ruiz has to go in there and play football he's
00:41:15not playing football basketball that's right he's playing basketball
00:41:27well he got away ruiz has been reluctant to use his size and strength because every time he comes
00:41:34in on jones he gets he has to pay for it and he doesn't want to pay that price
00:41:48stop stop let go let go you see roy jones goes to the middle of the ring he's got five or six
00:41:54steps before the ropes come ruiz shouldn't allow him there keep him over there beside those ropes
00:42:01again the trickle of blood from the left nostril of john ruiz jones looks to his right lands a left
00:42:07hook toying with the release the way he has with a long string of light heavyweight challengers
00:42:14who weren't good enough to test him we're halfway through this fight and i heard you know my
00:42:20colleague said earlier this guy's too small hey you can take that away he's fighting like a big
00:42:25man and he can do this to anyone they don't care if you're 6 12 can you be 6 12
00:42:33ask jack o'neill he's around here someplace
00:42:37straight right hand lands plus for jones hot shotting john ruiz from the outside
00:42:44remember all the texas one good shot by ruiz and things can change
00:42:56this is the way roy jones looks fighting glenn kelly this is the way roy jones looked fighting
00:43:01richard grazer this is the way roy jones looked fighting richard hall guys who couldn't hold his
00:43:07jock in the light heavyweight division he's toying with ruiz the way he did with this now here goes
00:43:13john ruiz looking to impose himself into the fight this is the fight that ruiz has got to fight keep
00:43:18it right there don't let it if the referee breaks you up go right back to it hard body shot by jones
00:43:24hard body shot by ruiz another round in which ruiz mostly waited for jones to do damage
00:43:42come on water water give it here give it here give it here
00:43:45today
00:43:55don't fight this fight yeah don't give it that bullshit he's the best at it don't even go there
00:44:00with him all right come on hands up jab walk him down and wear him out he's just keep putting
00:44:05pressure on this has not been a scintillating action fight but there is drama in watching
00:44:12the smaller man outwit and out hit the bigger guy at the end ruiz does force his way
00:44:23into jones but he can't land anything clean
00:44:31how old how do you have it through six okay jim 60 to 54 six rounds to nothing
00:44:37right jones jr i gotta tell you something jim he's making his fight look so easy i don't know
00:44:42standing in the middle of the ring getting off first constantly now he's landing combinations
00:44:47it's not only one tremendous left hook or one tremendous left jab like you saw there
00:44:51it's combinations hitting them with everything right jones jr all the way
00:44:57you know you could go back in his career and find whole years with two or three title defenses in
00:45:03which jones didn't lose a round so it's not unusual to see a white wash on the scorecard
00:45:09halfway through and in general his fights have been sorted much like this one it looks a lot
00:45:16like this ruiz has got him close enough to the rope well he let it get away again you gotta get
00:45:22him close to the ropes and just start throwing shots now he's close again and he allows him to
00:45:27get that corner again where it's five steps away ruiz's unwillingness to press the action now here
00:45:35he goes all right just as i say his will arises but surely what ruiz is doing in their night
00:45:44tells us that jones did indeed add some power to his punch you think so george i think jones
00:45:50is hitting harder than he did at 175 here oh no doubt about it he's feeling the power but jones
00:45:55is not a guy who's looking for a knockout you can forget that i said earlier bob foster said
00:46:01he couldn't hurt those heavyweights because he was trying to get a knockout jones does not look
00:46:05for knockout he's a 12-round fighter that's true often in the light heavyweight division against
00:46:13outclassed opponents he's gone 12 rounds just because he doesn't like to take chances in the ring
00:46:26get him into the corner pound on him and then let a whole two minutes go go by without doing
00:46:33the thing when they stand in the center of the ring in 10 seconds go by with no action
00:46:37that doesn't help john ruiz that helps roy jones well jones was able to land a body shot a moment
00:46:42ago they got ruiz holding his right hand close to his side that right hand hurt
00:46:56oh now he's got him against the rope he's got
00:47:18right hand lead by roy jones that hurt
00:47:20seven rounds not much change in the flow
00:47:26ruiz trying a little harder in that round to press the action but he's not there yet
00:47:36there's the man who beat larry holmes in 1985 michael spanks he did it by throwing flurries
00:47:43of punches in bunches and then getting out of the way stick and move baby
00:47:59come on roy you gotta john you gotta fucking do it you gotta do this fucking
00:48:02boy he's doing everything man come on norman stone just called his fighter
00:48:08oh
00:48:20we wanted to know whether john ruiz could ask questions of jones that his other outclassed
00:48:28opponents couldn't so far no so far he has been unable to do it absolutely right
00:48:34compubox numbers through round seven ruiz 51 out of 226 jones throwing more landing more
00:48:41fighting the fight he wants to fight as long as this isn't happening
00:48:44now ruiz starts to do what he wants to do and jones punches him away
00:48:52there was a hard right hand by ruiz
00:48:58don't seem to take it pretty well this is when you found out the light heavy
00:49:02weights and the heavy weight when you get into the latter rounds all of that weight
00:49:06starts counting against you these are the rounds that you found out that heavy weights are different
00:49:19it wasn't you george you point it out that
00:49:22billy khan would have beaten joe luis if it was a 12 round round he would have beat him but
00:49:28went into the latter round the 13th round and that's when he failed
00:49:36of course lewis knew it was going to be a fifth rank 15 round fight that's probably
00:49:42but this is when that extra weight and the pushing and shoving and all that stuff starts
00:49:45working against but there really hasn't been particularly if ruiz had been able to do all
00:49:50that early in the fight but he hasn't done enough of it it would seem to have a huge effect on jones
00:49:55well when you hit these big guys to the body they start taking a lot out of you as well
00:50:01but jones has managed to move as he likes to do at a measured pace they trade punches there
00:50:06in the center of the ring probably the biggest thing that's happened in this round
00:50:10is that john ruiz got in a clean right hand shot against roy jones on the ropes and jones was able
00:50:15to handle it roy jones does not stand still long enough for ruiz can land that right hand he's
00:50:21aiming all night to get that right hand on his own and he has an opportunity and jones gets away
00:50:37good quick shot by jones again put ruiz on the defensive what from ruiz's nose now dripping
00:50:45onto his chest he looks like something out of an oil painting but ruiz has been in this boat before
00:50:52he knows about the wave that goes along in these rounds the bleeding and the suffering
00:50:56and the big guys hitting on you he's not discouraged by that he is
00:51:04he just can't get this guy to stand still and determined but he is also very limited
00:51:17you see 10 seconds again and nothing has happened
00:51:25two-thirds of the way through and roy jones is four rounds away from his conquest of the first
00:51:33heavyweight he's fought we got four more hard to imagine that jones doesn't have a left-sided
00:51:40lead on the scorecards based on effective punching we're gonna show you in a minute
00:51:47some pictures of the of the punches that jones has landed cleanly throughout the fight over and
00:51:53over harold letterman tells you it's about effective aggression clean punching and that's
00:51:58what roy jones has been able to do and not only that when a fighter does this it creates a picture
00:52:05in the minds of the judges as well as the fans that one guy is landing the clean punches
00:52:13the other guy is lunging seldom land something really clean and hurtful
00:52:23so roy jones is surely winning the drama of the fight as well as the fight itself but in round
00:52:31eight for the first time john ruiz threw and landed more punches ruiz 14 out of 46 in the eighth
00:52:37jones 13 out of 34 so if the judges were looking for a round to give the ruiz
00:52:42maybe that was it it's all about roy jones being able to keep his legs strong now
00:52:48continue doing what he's doing he get any weaknesses any weakness at all then that's
00:52:54when ruiz can take over roy jones told us that he trained only five out of every seven days during
00:53:05the week because he knew he'd beat his legs tonight he wanted to keep his legs fresh by
00:53:10cutting back on the volume of training you know we've all celebrated him for his he's getting a
00:53:16little lazy now the talents and his reflexes but he is also one of the smartest guys you've seen
00:53:23in the ring he's getting a little lazy now roy jones trying to coast a little bit waiting on
00:53:29last three rounds you can't post with the big guys
00:53:40you know forget just the ring larry i always say that roy jones is one of the four or five
00:53:44smartest people i've ever met look at the amount of money he's made in the ring compared to the
00:53:49amount of risk he's had to take to earn it that's pretty smart as he said y'all must have forgot
00:53:55dip
00:53:58like i said this fight is turning the way ruiz wanted to now
00:54:01jones is not moving around so much he's standing in one place
00:54:08hard body shot by ruiz jones pounds his belly as if to say give me more
00:54:15ruiz has not taken one chance you gotta take a chance dive in
00:54:20jorge that's who john ruiz is that's who he's always been ever since the tour fight he hasn't
00:54:29wanted to take chances
00:54:34if you're not going to take a chance with roy jones jr uh light heavyweight you're never going
00:54:38to take a chance the tour fight was seven years ago john ruiz wants everybody to forget it
00:54:45wants everybody to forget it maybe he hasn't it was of course the 19 second knockout that
00:54:51devastated him and his career at that time all credit to ruiz for the determination and the grit
00:54:56he's shown in redeveloping and rescuing his career from that point absolutely jim you got to
00:55:02understand that david tool was 50 pounds heavier than roy jones yep yeah well but there's no need
00:55:08in holding back now let it go this is for your title you earned it don't let a guy just kick
00:55:14and pickpack you out of your title a good shot right to the shot to the chest
00:55:27that's maybe the most deflective effective flurry of body punches that john releases
00:55:31and it will throw in the fight i gave him that round
00:55:36he could well have won the last two we're letting him get away
00:55:39we gotta put this
00:55:54you winning them with them slangs we'll put them together for me all right all right way to go
00:56:00way to keep them turning like that you step and it would just pop them with the
00:56:10jab every time he come to you when you get a good shot go ahead and lay it out
00:56:31harold what about how do you have it through nine okay jim eight rounds to one eighty nine
00:56:36eighty two right jones jr i gave round nine to john ruiz because you know he got inside
00:56:42pounded the body right so they just stayed on the outside and popped them with a few jabs
00:56:46but i gotta tell you this fight roy jones jr is keeping it exactly where he wants the fight to be
00:56:51that's great regenerative landed a clean heart effective shots just like larry called it
00:56:56do it on the punching it's all right jones i have it seven one and one
00:57:26uppercut missed uppercut missed again left hook landing right hand landed
00:57:31jones not throwing back as ruiz tries to unload his weapons against him against the ropes
00:57:39this is roy jones's worst habit backing himself onto the ropes and allowing the
00:57:43opponent to wail away oh but roy jones legs are getting heavy now this 12 rounds with the big
00:57:51you tired his hands are still fast though hands are fast the legs are heavy
00:58:01again jones more or less backs himself onto the ropes and gives ruiz an opportunity something
00:58:08roy has done over and over again against lesser light heavyweight opponents but which most critics
00:58:14felt he couldn't afford to do here tonight he's using the jab tonight oh that's a good left hook
00:58:19in there now he's starting to lean in and rub against the big guy this only works for ruiz
00:58:26gets away with a blow right on the belt line and it was a good one
00:58:33jane 80 didn't even think about calling that a low blow i thought it might have been a little low
00:58:37but didn't apparently do any damage it was low but i guess they saw it wasn't intentional
00:58:53right hand by jones snapped ruiz gives jones a chance to get back to the center of the ring
00:58:59drives ruiz to get back again with the right hand ruiz had some moments in the first minute of this
00:59:05but jones has regained command with the speed of his hands
00:59:08the left jab tonight we've never seen roy jones going go back to the left jab
00:59:14and now back into the corner and onto the ropes but only 10 seconds left in the round
00:59:19as jones gets away takes a left hand from ruiz
00:59:22only two rounds to go
00:59:37two more rounds keep it like that give me some water
00:59:43every time that roy jones goes to the corner he has to request some water
00:59:47that's not good i think he can get by with him for two more rounds george i think so
00:59:56fight him go and get him go on fight this fucking guy hands up you think you're going
01:00:02to the party you come up to the head come on come on come on johnny
01:00:07he's taking your fucking title away from you the referee sucks all you work for the ref sucks
01:00:12fight him fuck the referee
01:00:22the genteel stylings of norman stone in the release corner
01:00:26yeah he's trying to give a transfusion of spirit to ruiz
01:00:32they're trying to put a personality into john ruiz that as you pointed out larry
01:00:37isn't really his and we have to remember that it was jones's mild manner trade trader
01:00:44alton merkerson who uh who belted stoney himself the other day yeah knocked him down sent him to
01:00:52the hospital you wondered what it would take to perturb alton merkerson we found out norman stone
01:01:02huh one at a time with those body shots jones has proven he can take it one take it one at a time
01:01:18boy broy jones is able to go 12 rounds with this guy
01:01:21we've let the cat out of the bag he can do anything
01:01:25i gotta tell you george i never doubted for a second that he could do this
01:01:34but uh ruiz has got that punch if he can just get that power in there
01:01:55oh jones better be careful land the shots but don't get into the exchanges
01:02:02ruiz has got the power well it's breathtaking when roy decides to take over and
01:02:08and becomes the aggressor against release because you all know the risk
01:02:13but roy's just staring it down with his hand speed his quickness his skill
01:02:19this much we know this much we see roy jones is a great fighter
01:02:23the guy he's fighting is not
01:02:31remember it got late into the heavyweight light heavyweight title
01:02:35sugar ray robertson was challenging joey maxwell joey max and he just couldn't take
01:02:41anymore he said it was the lights but it would cause that extra weight leaning and bumping
01:02:46well but that was a night when it was 110 degrees under the under the lights
01:02:56and robertson was constantly moving
01:02:59roy jones has been an absolute genius of economy in this fight he hasn't had to use his legs all
01:03:07that much
01:03:12ruiz telling roy jones to come on come on maybe she's telling him to stop it stop it
01:03:19round 11 has been a virtuoso round for roy jones who has short the ring to all of its corners
01:03:26taking a little bit of punishment against the ropes and by and large tattooed john ruiz whenever
01:03:31he wanted to
01:03:52come on
01:04:02i'm gonna
01:04:15now i know
01:04:22one of the good things that's happening is here we'll never
01:04:25probably never have to see norman stone again that'd be good
01:04:28him that'd be excellent ruiz is mad and he's lost his jumper he's calling him cussed him out
01:04:36he's gonna fight now he's gonna try they told him he needs a knockout harold how do you have it
01:04:41okay jim i've got a 10 rounds to one 109 100 roy jones jr jim i can't see where john ruiz can win
01:04:50one of the rounds of two in his fight all he's doing is plodding forward and getting nailed by
01:04:54lead rights and hard left hooks or you know lead left jabs i mean right hit them with everything
01:04:59but the kitchen sink easy roy jones jr based on clean punching and that that effect of aggressiveness
01:05:05and a regeneration well roy jones has done so far is to expose a real paper champion bingo
01:05:15john ruiz's wba heavyweight belt doesn't mean he's a heavyweight champion hey guys
01:05:21don't say that that's not true don't go be hypocritical you have promote the fight now
01:05:27you tear down in the last couple rounds we didn't promote it as a heavyweight championship fight
01:05:31towards the promoters did well the promoters they sold it to us now don't take the money away from
01:05:36them the guy's winning he's winning big because he's fighting a guy who's beaten he's had the
01:05:40holy field everyone else he beat a brand of holy field once in three fights don't take the site
01:05:47but he's don't take the glory from roy jones nobody said he didn't have a title he just says
01:05:51it's a paper title yeah everyone is a paper title meanwhile with a minute and a half to go in the
01:05:58fight the action continues pretty much the way it has up to this point and john ruiz after coming
01:06:04out determined that george pointed out in this round hasn't been able to make it translate into
01:06:09anything has been brilliant
01:06:18as he knows because he's smiling about it right now
01:06:23ruiz still got a chance steel's got a chance no he doesn't george oh okay
01:06:31i applaud you for for wanting to give him the credit that he might make for himself
01:06:39to give him the chances of you know who's giving it right jones win this fight
01:06:45people are going to start picking on those guys picking on shaquille o'neal
01:06:59so the predictions of those who thought that roy jones couldn't possibly last 12 rounds in the ring
01:07:04with a man who outweighs him by his margin prove empty and false
01:07:12and the crowd storms and cheers roy jones and he deserves it he chose his niche
01:07:21he creatively picked his risk he excited the boxing world and he dominated the fight
01:07:28so
01:07:45victory celebration in the jones corner
01:07:49john ruiz tentatively held his fist up in the air and then
01:07:52sort of quietly walked back into his own corner
01:07:59now norman stone wants to control ring security
01:08:04in addition to all the other good things he's done
01:08:09michael spinks 18 years after his conquest of larry holmes watches as another light
01:08:16heavyweight champ appears to have moved up and won a heavyweight title belt
01:08:23in a round he had to have john ruiz landed three out of 43 punches
01:08:29roy jones danced around landed 9 of 23 on his own and closed out the near shutout on the harold
01:08:35letterman card mackie showstone the man who helped condition spinks for his conquest of holmes
01:08:43was here to work with roy jones for this fight and appears once again to be celebrating victory
01:08:52and the tumult has calmed down in releases corner
01:09:00good we've always known roy jones was a great fighter is he even better than you thought
01:09:04that's why i wanted to make sure that we garnish this man with the pride and dignity that he
01:09:09deserved he stepped up to the bat and he got a win here tonight before the whole world he showed
01:09:14that being small doesn't mean anything and i mean he's the heavyweight champion of the world
01:09:19no one can take that away from him well if he wins we still got the judge's decision oh i know
01:09:24you never know george that would be yeah i've seen worse flaunt pedersen the only one i've
01:09:31ever seen that might have been worse was shannon briggs getting a decision over you in a fight in
01:09:36which i think you won 10 rounds but i don't think that's going to happen here let's go to jimmy
01:09:40lennon jr ladies and gentlemen after 12 rounds of boxing the judges are in agreement
01:09:49we have a unanimous decision here are the score totals judge at ringside jerry roth scores about
01:09:58116 to 112 duane ford scores about 117 to 111 judge stanley cristodulo sees about 118 to 110
01:10:13all three in favor of the winner joining boxing's elite the new wba heavyweight champion of the
01:10:24world
01:10:28jr
01:10:53oh
01:10:58roy jones loves title belts he has collected as many or more than any other current fighter and
01:11:05he's got another belt now and i got a hunch this is going to be his favorite one final
01:11:09compu box numbers an economical fight not a lot of punches thrown jones throwing more and landing
01:11:17more overall or actually throwing fewer and landing more as ruiz overtook him in those last
01:11:22few rounds in the punches thrown category jabs and when have you ever seen roy jones throw 220
01:11:28jabs win the battle of the jams and land 57 and george i don't want to take credit but i told
01:11:33you early in the fight it looks like tonight he's chosen to jab right but all great heavyweight
01:11:37champions had a good jab and larry merchant stands by with the winner thank you very much jim and
01:11:43congratulations roy you went into this fight saying you had doubt when did that doubt go away
01:11:51let me tell you something first of all i have to take this time out to thank god for blessing me
01:11:56for giving this vision so many years ago actually and uh just putting it in me man to come out and
01:12:01show what god can do through you if you only believe that's what took the doubt away i knew
01:12:06god plans for me i've been knowing god had this plan for me i just didn't know how it would happen
01:12:11when it would happen where it would happen but i knew god had a plan for me when you went into
01:12:15the ring the bell rings you're going out there you're facing the biggest man you've ever faced
01:12:22what concerned you at that moment uh just the fact that i don't walk into a big punch early
01:12:27because i've never been hit in 10 hours by a heavyweight so my dad very well prepared me
01:12:33for this murky the wonderful job mackey's shillstone did a hell of a job we all came
01:12:38together as a team uh plus the code in the house so you're busy so you're saying your first concern
01:12:43was don't get hit by a big sucker punch yeah don't get caught by something while i'm asleep
01:12:48hey soften the prisoners i'll be able to get y'all to soften the prison baby i'm coming next
01:12:51y'all punch code yeah and then i'll be a baby and then it looks up coast like virtually all
01:12:57of your fights a guy comes to you you hit him and he stops coming i told you i was jump on
01:13:01week i came out there i knew he thought i was gonna run you didn't see him run you just saw
01:13:05some more boxing i didn't run a box that's what i do for a living and like i said until somebody
01:13:09beat roy jones i'm not changing that's what i am that's who i am i'm roy jones mj what's up baby
01:13:13i'm looking for you to get your 50 mobile revelers i'm coming back baby when did you how early i
01:13:18should say did you feel this fight is mine well i felt it earlier but you got to remember a headway
01:13:24that's a big country i took the fight out of him i think i had him really quick but i wasn't going
01:13:28to take any stupid chances because that's my career and that's been there when you say you
01:13:32think you had him quit that is when he stopped going forward and stopped standing in the middle
01:13:36of the ring with you you knew you had him i had him and the reason he stopped because he was
01:13:40getting popped some good shots they quit pushing me man what so so um yeah this is my 14th uh
01:13:46anniversary for professional boxing so you know this is a wonderful surprise for me pretty good
01:13:51way to celebrate all right throughout your your boxing career we've seldom seen you throw
01:13:56your jab with this kind of vehemence and confidence what was there about this fight that
01:14:04led you to do that well john is front foot heavy meaning he keeps all the weight on his front foot
01:14:09so when he does this allows me to get my jab off and keep him off set so what i did was i
01:14:14watched the tape again last night and i said you know what kirk johnson could have boxed him with
01:14:18a jab and killed him kirk didn't do that kirk let up and start and kept trying to go to the body i
01:14:22stayed away from his body so i boxed him with my jab and i was like you know as long as he's front foot
01:14:26heavy like that there's no way he's got to wear my jab so i just like to thank everybody at square
01:14:30ring eminem sports prayer eleven murad muhammad uh stanley levin lynda page what does this team
01:14:36what does this mean to you god does it all this means that i am pound for pound the baddest mother
01:14:44nobody say larry merchant anybody i am the baddest they can say what they want to say
01:14:48how many times have a man started as a junior middleweight and became the heavyweight champion
01:14:52of the world it don't have to only ali can shock the world like i did huh not middleweight let's
01:14:57look ahead for a bit there seems to be two logical opponents out there give us your thought
01:15:03one might be as a heavyweight one might be evander holyfield he once traveled to atlanta
01:15:11to check him out to see if he wanted to fight you he didn't seem to at that time now that you
01:15:15have a belt he might want to what is your feeling well i mean i like evander man it's a great fighter
01:15:20um however for me to be even at this time his career would not mean anything to me he's older
01:15:25than i am he's on his way out john beat him two times i beat john if i beat him what they're
01:15:28gonna say nothing so it's not really a big issue to me um i didn't want to do this to uh become a
01:15:33legitimate heavyweight i just want one fight so i have to see what's on the table for me and
01:15:38something's beautiful i mean if they give me offering me something that's totally undeniable
01:15:43then maybe i don't know well i gotta see what's happening i don't know yet chris bird i did this
01:15:47to make history chris bird who also like you was a middleweight started a little bigger than you
01:15:52he's got a title your thoughts about fighting him someday for to unify two titles chris bird's a
01:15:58friend of mine chris bird's a great fighter he's a great southpaw fighter um i take my head off
01:16:02to him um he's been in the heavyweight division a lot longer than myself um you know if it's good
01:16:07for the public and it's good money i mean why not but if it's not really big big money no i'm not
01:16:11going to do that because you know i like chris i got a lot of admiration chris is one who really
01:16:16really actually helped inspire me to go ahead and come up and do this so to interpret what you're
01:16:21saying you're saying if there is some extraordinary money on the table you would have to seriously
01:16:26consider defending your title as a heavyweight i just had to look at it i can't say i couldn't
01:16:30that's just that's only right you know i mean so congratulations on a great night roy hbo
01:16:35in the house jim all right thank you very much larry meanwhile we show you a shot of john ruiz
01:16:42who bolted from the wing and ring and went straight to his dressing room we're now gonna
01:16:46send larry back there to see if larry can get into the dressing room and get a conversation
01:16:51with john ruiz and i repeat roy jones is one of the four or five smartest people you'll ever meet
01:16:56in your whole life now what an opportunity he's got george because chris bird has that other title
01:17:00belt roy jones if he fought and beat chris bird could have two-thirds of the heavyweight championship
01:17:05i like to say congratulations to hbo the youngest man to ever become heavyweight champion of the
01:17:10world mike tyson the oldest you know who that is and then for this guy to elevate and become
01:17:14heavyweight champion of the world on the network this is wonderful pay-per-view all dope this is
01:17:19i'm i'm really watching history i've loved every moment of it shouldn't he fight bird i mean i
01:17:24think he should fight lennox lewis you think he could fight i think he could do it he's proving
01:17:28to me he's going 12 rounds the cat is out of the bag every little guy alan iverson that's a whole
01:17:34different deal no it's not a different lewis weighs 25 pounds more than than does john ruiz
01:17:38yeah but when you saw alan iverson go up and dunk against those guys he's added credibility to what
01:17:43small short guys can do alan doesn't get punched in the mouth when he dunks yeah they punch him
01:17:48in the mouth but uh roy jones jr is the legitimate heavyweight champ of the world i would like to see
01:17:54him fight one of those big guys they can't do any more to him than what john ruiz did tonight he's
01:17:59there now i think the opportunity is to fight chris burke who only weighs him by outweighs him
01:18:04by about 15 pounds and and whose style it seems to me would make for an interesting fight don't
01:18:09downgrade the guy go for the big guy let him fight lennox lewis he did tonight he's proving to me he
01:18:14can go 12 round fight lennox lewis i just can't imagine that he's going to take i mean this to me
01:18:19i always said if roy jones thought this was a risk he wouldn't have done it roy jones doesn't
01:18:23like risks fighting lewis it's a risk a risk of what a risk of your health because he's so much
01:18:29bigger than ruiz and a bigger hitter we said that the night about john ruiz i didn't but a lot of
01:18:35people have said the extra weight but it's congratulations a wonderful night i'm just happy
01:18:38to be a part of this roys jones jr has brought a lot of class to the heavyweights now i love it
01:18:43well roy jones jr is a uh a classy guy uh george foreman at the end of the day will we remember
01:18:49this most as a fight that jones won because ruiz didn't really have special talents or a fight that
01:18:56jones won because he was brave daring and creative i'm not going to discredit either one of those
01:19:00guys i think the ruiz is a wonderful heavyweight he's this guy he just couldn't hit what he
01:19:04couldn't see from this point on jim i'm going to even be afraid of you i've got the height
01:19:09advantage but that doesn't mean anything around you anymore george that's the first lie you've
01:19:14told to the public i'm afraid of you i think you can get me all right let's go to larry merchant
01:19:20thank you jim we're in john ruiz's dressing room john you describe what happened you know he's
01:19:28gonna get um i guess i'm gonna get off i mean it's just something that every time i went in you know
01:19:33it's like every time the referee was accusing me of holding so you know i don't know what else to
01:19:37do i mean because he was um basically when he hold me he just let it go and basically he was
01:19:42holding behind my head and punching me at the same time you know he just basically described
01:19:46when he came to this dressing room no hitting while holding i mean i don't know what rules he
01:19:50was following that and it's tough to fight two people in a ring you know so hey he um i guess
01:19:57it's one of those things that always happens to me i mean i always get the um bad end of it you
01:20:01know so now they um you know he must be staying he's thanked the referee for doing his job well
01:20:08so are you suggesting that if you could have fought him the way you wanted to on the ropes
01:20:13you wouldn't have stood in the middle of the ring with him oh definitely i was going in i was
01:20:18actually you know he didn't give me even time to punch up because when i was punching out you saw
01:20:21me i'm hitting beyond the back there's no way i hit him beyond the back and i mean this this
01:20:25referee i don't know i don't know where he came from but you know he should be investigated for
01:20:29one thing all right let's talk about roy jones jr then you've obviously never faced anyone as
01:20:35quick as him describe what it was like when you had to fight him whatever the conditions were
01:20:41it wasn't you know it wasn't no problem i mean i was trying to i was getting in there and as soon
01:20:44as he got in there the referee wanted to jump in you know i mean it's like you know there's no way
01:20:49you know a guy like me a heavyweight i mean he's not he's gonna let them fight outside instead of
01:20:54you doing let him work on the inside and you know get out you know it's not so you felt that you
01:20:58wanted to lean on him use your weight on him wear him down during the fight and that you couldn't do
01:21:03it you know every referee will let everybody punch their way out of the clinches and stuff i mean
01:21:07he's he's i don't know he was he was some strict from him i mean i guess he was following in jones
01:21:13instructions for one thing well all right but say this let me give you a chance john do you
01:21:18want to give roy jones any credit for what happened tonight i was getting i was catching
01:21:24him i mean just when i got in there how can i get my credit when he didn't let me when the
01:21:28referee did not let me fight you know i mean let me fight my fight you know i mean how can i get
01:21:31someone else credit if he would have let me find my fight and he still would have one day then i
01:21:35would have took my hat off but then you know i mean he didn't even let me do anything like that so
01:21:40thank you very much john bob costas all right larry thanks very much with emmanuel stewart
01:21:47john ruiz is almost universally regarded as an admirable young man he's shown a lot of
01:21:52determination in rebuilding his career after david too had devastated him but this claim that it
01:21:57would have been different had the refereeing been different maybe the margin would have been somewhat
01:22:02smaller but he was out class tonight it was our class and you know i go back to the old saying that
01:22:07i believe in the nature of a man doesn't change and the nature of roy jones is he looks at himself
01:22:12as a superstar he's always been that way and i was hoping for this one night that ruiz would
01:22:17have been a more assertive person and he went back to being what his nature is a passive person who's
01:22:22going up and down in one spot very seldom moving forward and fight roy jones's fight he got right
01:22:27into the pattern and the rhythm that roy jones likes to fight at and roy jones just had a picnic
01:22:31with him and he should give roy credit for that it was not a great fight but it was a good technical
01:22:35fight on roy jones's part very interesting exchange there at the end between george foreman
01:22:40and jim lampley it's true that chris bird is a practical opponent if jones could win he'd have
01:22:45two-thirds of the heavyweight championship as jim said and bird is a fighter that seems to be
01:22:51a reasonable matchup for roy jones jr but he perhaps finds himself in an era as you said
01:22:57earlier of the super heavyweight where even someone who is as brilliant as he is pound for pound
01:23:01is not well suited to fight a lennox lewis or one of the klitschko brothers but we can say this
01:23:07this is one damn good fighter whether or not he becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion of
01:23:12the world there's little doubt that pound for pound he is the man in the game today
01:23:16he definitely is and i think that he admitted two days ago that also a fight between he and
01:23:22chris bird he thought would be a very boring fight but roy jones showed he has a lot of talent
01:23:26tonight and if he had really opened up all the way i really felt he would have possibly knocked out
01:23:30reese tonight well you've got an interest you've got an interest in lennox lewis is that fight
01:23:35doable i don't think it's going to happen because i think that roy is going to be reluctant to move
01:23:40up to fight a super heavyweight because he's a heavyweight champion there really need to be two
01:23:44different heavyweight division now but lennox lewis is a super heavyweight champion of the world so
01:23:48you think they should create a super heavyweight division absolutely i think it's definitely
01:23:52something you have to be having in the amateurs i mean the guys now just so much bigger and
01:23:56talented used to be when you got over six four they used to be uncoordinated as i call it that's
01:24:01not the case now you look at the guys like latimer clisco and lennox lewis these are big guys who
01:24:05are extremely well coordinated have the same speed and strength and everything of the smaller guys
01:24:11and not to pile on john ruiz in the wake of his defeat but the other difference between ruiz and
01:24:17certainly lennox lewis and likely the clitchco brothers isn't just that they are bigger still
01:24:21they are better fighters they are more skilled boxers so that would be something else that
01:24:25roy jones would be facing in addition to the additional size disadvantage oh definitely you
01:24:30know ruiz i was somewhat disappointed i'll be honest i think that roy would have won the fight
01:24:34because as i said earlier speed is what neutralizes the weight disadvantage but i thought that he would
01:24:39have at least made a better show and even when he did deliver his punches about 80 of them was
01:24:43almost near the chest level shoulder level he very seldom even threw the punches high enough
01:24:48and effective enough i think he just got all tied up with the speed that roy had had and he wasn't
01:24:53prepared for that and he fell into a pattern of fighting the same pattern of rhythm that roy wanted
01:24:58him to fight at how good is roy jones historically i'll make that the last question where does he
01:25:04rank right now if he stepped aside and said i'm done where does he rank he would have to be up to
01:25:08maybe all-time great even though he may not did a devastating job he won the fight but when you
01:25:12look at his overall accomplishment all the way back from 88 in the olympics i actually have never
01:25:16saw roy jones lose the fight i mean i saw him technically lose some on you know politics and
01:25:23things but i've never saw him lose a fight and he fought from middleweight all the way up to
01:25:26heavyweight and he would have to be considered one of the all-time greats when you look at his
01:25:30accomplishments maybe not the style and the performance but his accomplishments are phenomenal
01:25:35emmanuel as always a pleasure good to see you emmanuel stewart folks ruiz versus jones has been
01:25:40brought to you by caesar's palace the home of champions hbo pay-per-view the best in pay-per-view
01:25:46entertainment brought to you by the folks at hbo and special thanks to america online we'd also
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01:26:04the electronics leader sanyo is proud to bring you our aerial pictures of las vegas
01:26:09from the sanyo light ship and so for all of us here in las vegas for jim lampley george foreman
01:26:15larry merchant fran charles and emmanuel stewart this is bob costas saying so long our executive
01:26:21producer has been rick bernstein tonight's telecast was produced by dave harman our
01:26:26executive producer has been rick bernstein tonight's telecast was produced by dave harman
01:26:32and directed by mark payton associate producers john crystal and brian lockhart feature producers
01:26:38jason hair george jacovic and bruce cornblatt production manager mark hayden technical
01:26:44supervisor bob hunter and the technical director doug getz good night everybody
01:27:14so
01:27:44so
01:28:14you