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Worst heavyweight champion?


BoztheMadman
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Who was it? I say John Ruiz. The guy became a champ by narrowly edging out an old Evander Holyfield, after first losing to him and then defended the title by drawing against the same guy before RJJ shamed him by becoming only second light heavy to win a world heavyweight title by schooling him. Oh yes, before that Ruiz also won by DQ against Kirk Johnson in his second defense. He then somehow got the nod over Rahman and then against Oquendo was outboxed before he came back late to stop a tired Oquendo. He then got a gift against Golota who kicked his ass and put him down twice but was blatantly robbed. And finally, he got his ass kicked by a former middleweight again when Toney beat him but then was stripped because of some banned substance. He then lost in attempts to reclaim the title against Yeti Valuev and Chagaev. Ruiz was a boring, dirty, unsympathetic and annoying fighter who always blamed his losses on some fake injuries. I mean, I think he was the least popular champion of his time and one of the least popular and exciting fighters ever. Just a big, strong thug...and he wasn't even among the biggest and strongest fighters back then.
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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

Ruiz's claim to the title was completely bogus after he picked up a belt that had been stripped from Lewis, who everyone knew was the real champion.

 

As far as fighters with a claim on the real lineal title, Briggs might have been the worst in modern times.

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

Ruiz's claim to the title was completely bogus after he picked up a belt that had been stripped from Lewis, who everyone knew was the real champion.

 

As far as fighters with a claim on the real lineal title, Briggs might have been the worst in modern times.

 

Well, he was up there, "The Cannon", lol. Crap shape and stamina and he only won that title because Liakhovich got tired in the last round. Somehow Briggs wasn't, probably because he hadn't done shit for 11 rounds and was being outboxed. :haha: And when he lost the title to Ibragimov, that was one of THE worst performances by a defending champion ever!

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

Foreman might have been Briggs' best fight, even though most people thought he clearly lost.

 

Ruiz was actually not too bad to watch as a rising cruiserweight, from what I remember it was later on, after getting decimated by Tua, that he turned into an ugly grappler with, as Bert Sugar said, 'the best jab-clinch combination in boxing'.

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

--- Ruiz made himself tough to beat, but blame DKing for that era and Lewis for giving up all his belts.

 

Leon the weakest champ ever. No heavyweight champ in history ever loses to Leon who pretty well had the perfect busy style to further expose the sham that Ali had become in his last years. That version of Ali was more worstest than Leon even! Hard to admit to being a boxing fan back then.

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

What about Charles Martin? Had a one decent opponent thorough his career and he defeated him because of the knee injury. He still has time to prove himself, but at the moment it's awfully unimpressive.

 

Judging from the whole career I think Bermane Stiverne wasn't good either. Almost beaten up by two gatekeepers (Rossy and Austin), unimpressive against Wilder. Only wins against Arreola look decent on his resume, but it's debatable how good Arreola actually was. I think hardly anyone will remember Stiverne in a few years.

 

Don't forget David Haye. Boring-ass fight against Valuev and his only defences were those two awful bouts against Ruiz and Harrison.

 

And I still can't accept that THIS was a heavyweight championship fight.

Oleg Maskaev - Okello Peter - YouTube

 

I still rate Ruiz from Holyfield fights higher than the whole heavyweight boxing from 2005 to 2015 except of Klitschkos ;-)

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

What about Charles Martin? Had a one decent opponent thorough his career and he defeated him because of the knee injury. He still has time to prove himself, but at the moment it's awfully unimpressive.

 

Judging from the whole career I think Bermane Stiverne wasn't good either. Almost beaten up by two gatekeepers (Rossy and Austin), unimpressive against Wilder. Only wins against Arreola look decent on his resume, but it's debatable how good Arreola actually was. I think hardly anyone will remember Stiverne in a few years.

 

Don't forget David Haye. Boring-ass fight against Valuev and his only defences were those two awful bouts against Ruiz and Harrison.

 

And I still can't accept that THIS was a heavyweight championship fight.

Oleg Maskaev - Okello Peter - YouTube

 

I still rate Ruiz from Holyfield fights higher than the whole heavyweight boxing from 2005 to 2015 except of Klitschkos ;-)

 

Oh yes! In this era, Martin is def the weakest champion in any weight class. And the worst world title defense ever. Stiverne at least showed some skill and won the legit way, but Martin won by a fluke. Really a non-champion.

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

Let's not forget Michael Bentt. 2 ko losses in a 13 fight career. Pretty poor stuff.

 

You have a point. He practically had this one first round upset against Morrison and Hide beat him just too easy. He probably never had skills to be a true champ. But we shouldn't forget that he was forced to retire, because he had a brain swelling after this loss against Hide.

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Re: Worst heavyweight champion?

 

Bentt was kayoed on his debut, had that brief moment when he caught Morrison coming in. Very high class amateur though.

 

Can't help thinking how many contenders from the 70s who never won the title, would have easily outclassed most of the names in this thread.

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