Heavyweight ball in Roy's court
By Scott Shaffer, FightNews.com
Sept 15, 2002
John Ruiz has agreed to put his WBA heavyweight title on the line against Roy Jones. "The question is now whether Roy wants the fight," said Tony Cardinale, attorney for Ruiz. The Ruiz camp is hoping for a December 7 date at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. A decision is expected momentarily from Jones, who defended his IBF/WBC/WBA light heavyweight titles against Clinton Woods last weekend. According to Cardinale, the payment terms in the proposed contract are based on the Lennox Lewis/Mike Tyson deal, with the boxers agreeing to recieve a certain percentage of the revenue and then paying their respective promotional obligations out of their own share.
Although each boxer's share was not immediately available, the percentage arrangement is particularly important for Ruiz, who has a lawsuit pending against his promoter, Don King. "That's being held in abeyance until I see how this comes out," said Cardinale. Another potential roadblock was averted when King reportedly did not insist on options to promote Jones in the future. "That's not going to stop the fight... we understand that is not a condition," said Cardinale on Saturday from Las Vegas. Norman Stone, Ruiz's manager, said that if Jones does not accept the fight, Hasim Rahman is Plan B for Ruiz's next defense. |
