Ruiz & Co. avoid Boxer Rebellion
Boxing Notes/by George Kimball
Sunday, April 15, 2001
China's decision to release the 24 captive crewmen of an American spy plane on Wednesday headed off a potential Boxer Rebellion on the part of World Boxing Association heavyweight champion John Ruiz.
Ruiz, along with manager Norman Stone, promoter Don King and opponent Evander Holyfield, are headed to China for a five-day promotional tour next week to formally announce Ruiz' first defense, but the trip almost didn't happen. King may style himself as the ``Only in America'' man, but Stone is a Vietnam veteran, and he and Ruiz had vowed to boycott the promotional tour, as well as the fight itself, had the Chinese not released the American prisoners. The rubber match against Holyfield will take place late this summer, most likely on Aug. 5.
Ruiz, by the way, was honored at last night's WBA dinner in Philadelphia. He and Stone, who attended last night's Bernard Hopkins-Keith Holmes middleweight unification title fight in New York, flew into Philly Thursday, and the champion conducted a joint public workout with countryman Felix Trinidad Thursday afternoon. . . .
The ``other'' heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis, finally arrived in Johannesburg Wednesday to begin putting on the final touches for next Saturday night's title defense against American Hasim Rahman. The Fleet Street press seems to be fretting that Lewis may not be taking Rahman seriously enough, and they are joined in this regard by the Baltimore heavyweight's manager Stan Hoffman.
``I wouldn't be letting any of my fighters to go through all of that this close to a fight,'' Hoffman said, alluding to a long list of public appearances to which Lewis has committed himself. (And this after breaking training to film a bit role for the upcoming remake of ``Oceans Eleven.'')
Jones promotes Jones
Roy Jones Jr. invades New England in the role of promoter Thursday night, when his Square Ring stages a card with a Junior Jones-Manuel Sepeda main event at the New Haven Coliseum. Hartford light heavyweight John Scully mounts his comeback on the same bill, fighting a rematch against old rival Ernest ``Machine Gun'' Mateen.
Junior Jones, who owns two victories over Marco Antonio Barrera, wasn't surprised to see the Mexican star unmask Naseem Hamed last Saturday night.
``Barrera did what I thought he would do,'' said Jones. ``I knew he had a very good jab, a better jab than people give him credit for, and he used it to his advantage. I think he schooled the Prince.''
Barrera knocked out Frankie Toledo in two rounds when they fought at Foxwoods six years ago, and while the boxing world hasn't exactly been crying out for a rematch, it may get one anyway. For all the acclaim he received for beating Hamed, last Saturday's match was a non-title fight. A night earlier, Toledo upset Mbulele Botile to win the IBF featherweight title, which may be the crown Barrera goes after now. . . .
Top Rank will promote Roy Jones' July 28 defense against Julio Gonzalez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with TVKO handling the pay-per-view telecast. In an effort to protect the undisputed status of his titles, Jones has petitioned the IBF for an exemption allowing him to fight Gonzalez - a California-born former Mexican Olympian, instead of Australian Glenn Kelly, the organization's mandatory challenger. |
