Would you
like
to Advertise HotBoxingNews.com Send an Email
National Conference Call Transcript
Ruiz - Toney
(APR 14) World Boxing Association heavyweight champion John “The
Quietman” Ruiz (41-51, 28 KOs) will put his title on the line against
three-time world champion James “Lights Out” Toney (68-4-2, 43 KOs) at
Madison Square Garden on April 30 in a match promoted by Don King
Productions and Goossen Tutor Promotions in association with Madison
Square Garden. Tickets priced at $350, $250, $175, $100 and $50 are on
sale now at the Garden box office and all Ticketmaster locations or by
calling Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171, (201) 507-8900, (631) 888-9000,
or (914) 454-3388. Ticketmaster purchases are subject to convenience
charges.
Ruiz: It is going to be a great fight. He is coming to fight, but I
still feel that I am the best in the world and I am just coming out to
prove it.
Toney: I am excited and ready to go. I have been training for a long
time and actually preparing for this fight for the last two and a half
months. It is good to fight the best heavyweight out there which is John
Ruiz. The reason why I am saying that is because he is the only one with
the guts to step up to fight and it will be a great fight. It is
actually a war. I love wars. Fighting is my game. I was born to fight.
So I am ready to get it on. Whatever happens, I know I will be the
champion that night and I am not discrediting John Ruiz in any way, but
I cannot wait to get on with it. I am ready to make history.
Begin Press Questions.
Question: James, if you win this fight, you will become the third former
middleweight champion to win a portion of the heavyweight title. Can you
talk about what it would mean to you to join such an elite company?
Toney: I think it would be a great achievement. I am not fighting an
over-the-hill champion to do it. He is willing to fight me and he is the
best heavyweight out there right now and I am going to do it in style.
Question: John, if James wins the fight, you will become the only
heavyweight champion to ever lose twice to a former middleweight
champion because of what happened with the Roy Jones fight. Does that in
any way put pressure on you?
Ruiz: No. It does not, I put pressure on myself to just go out there and
do what I intend to do. One thing for sure is I feel that I am the best
heavyweight out there and I have to go out there and prove it.
Question: Regarding the state of boxing, a lot of people say that it is
in a lull or a down period, the heavyweight division in particular.
Could both of you address that?
Toney: My thing is just that things are going to come up because I am in
the division right now. It is in the state it is because all the good
fighters do not want to fight each other. The promoters put their
fighters in with a safe opponent. Everything will blow over eventually.
Ruiz: The whole situation is with the fighters themselves, whether they
are willing to take easier fights rather than taking on the best
fighters out there and trying to prove to themselves that they are the
best. I do not know who it is, whether it is the promoters or the TV or
who knows what it is. But it is all up to the fighter too. If the
fighter wants to fight, he will get the fights. But that is the main
thing.
Question: Is boxing on a downside? Can boxing come back and reach the
levels of the 80s, boxing’s last glory days?
Toney: Larry Holmes did not have anybody in his era. Anybody he had was
old and decrepit. Now, we have the young fighters today. It all starts
April 30. We have a great fight at Madison Square Garden. James “Lights
Out” Toney, the one and only, is coming and I am going to take over.
Bottom line. Everything else will fall in place. Now for you so-called
boxing experts, I bet 95 percent of you never put any gloves on in the
ring and you all have got no business to be talking about boxing.
Question: John, starting with the Hasim Rahman fight, you seem to have
shown an anger that up to then had been uncharacteristic of you. At
first, it seemed to be directed at Roy Jones and then it branched out to
the boxing establishment and your opponents. Can you talk about that
change in you and how effective it has been for you?
Ruiz: The No. 1 thing to me is that after the Jones fight, I actually
managed to get some time for myself so I could think. Physically, l was
always there, but my mentality was never as quite as high. Right now,
mentally and physically, I am in top shape and I am ready to take on
anybody. That is the anger behind me that is just trying to prove that I
am the best.
Question: But it does seem to still bother you that rather than people
saying you beat him, you feel that they are making excuses for him. Is
that accurate?
Ruiz: Well, it does seem like no matter what I cannot catch a break. But
it does not matter. My main thing is to go out there and win. That is
what boxing is. You go out there and you fight and you win. It is not
about looking pretty.
Question: James, can you explain your evolution as a top notch trash
talker?
Toney: I do not start anything unless someone starts with me. I let
bygones be bygones. If they want to go to the next level, we can do that
too because you know I am great at everything I do. I am a street person
for real.
Question: John, you used to be the “Quietman” but now it seems you are
trying to be more aggressive in your pre-fight conversations. Can you
explain why that is now?
Ruiz: When I first started this journey to becoming the world champion,
I thought just by fighting alone would actually make me a commodity. I
always told my manager. “You go do the talking or whatever, I am just
going to do the fighting.” But it seems like at this point in my career,
I finally realized that you have to trash talk to actually get some
attention.
Question: James, has it always been your dream to become heavyweight
champion?
Toney: I have always said that from day one. I am ready to do it. I do
not turn down anything – not even my calendar. The bottom line is I want
to fight the best fighters out there. Now, I am fighting the best
fighter out there, John Ruiz, and it will be something special on April
30. John Ruiz, thank you for giving me the opportunity to take the
title. Bottom line.
Question: James, what problems does John present to you that Evander
Holyfield did not?
Toney: Nothing. I prepare myself accordingly as the fight goes on. I
make the necessary adjustments inside the ring. I am knocking him out,
flat out. Nothing comes easy in life. The only thing that comes easy is
death and taxes. I am going to win the title and it will not be easy,
but I am going to do it. I can tell you that.
Question: John, what is your strategy?
Ruiz: My main thing is to go out there and fight and that I have always
done. There is no strategy involved. You just train hard, you look
forward to the fight, come fight time, you go in and step in that ring
and you go out there and fight. That is the one thing that works for me,
I adapt very well in each round. I do not see anything going wrong.
Question: James, John’s style is “jab and grab.” Do you have a plan to
stay out of his clutches?
Toney: I am the ultimate fighter. I am the manager’s and the trainer’s
dream of a fighter because I can adapt to any situation. My skills are
so superior to everybody in the boxing world; it would be ridiculous to
even talk about it. All I can say is be there or to tune in April 30 and
watch the crowning of the new champ.
Question: John, do you still feel that you have to prove yourself each
and every fight?
Ruiz: I feel I must go out there and fight the best and beat the best
because that is my main goal. I feel I am the best because there is
nobody out there who wants to fight me. All these other champions take
those easy fights, look good on TV and then call themselves the
champion. My main thing right now is to go out there and just keep
fighting and training hard and looking forward to each fight.
Question: James, do you feel that you are going to outbox Ruiz, go to
war with him or do a little bit of both?
Toney: I do not run. I am a fighter. I was born to fight. I am old
school. You know what old school fighters do – they fight. I will be
right there and fight. I have never run from anyone in my life. I do not
run from anybody but God. That is the only man I fear.
Question: John, you have fought some real wars; are you ready for yet
another?
Ruiz: Well, it seems like Toney has the impression like I have never
been to war. It will not be anything new to me. He can bring whatever he
wants because, come fight time, he had better start throwing punches
instead of talking in the ring because he is going to get knocked out.
Question: John, do you feel you are fighting as well as you ever have
and are as confident as you have ever been?
Ruiz: Definitely. I feel like in each fight since the Jones fight, I
improved myself each time. I am trying to pick up more, throw punches
and stuff like that. But sometimes in the heavyweight division, it is
nothing new to basically try to bull the other person. Sometimes you
must grab them, show them that you are stronger. Make them start
thinking that this guy is pretty strong right now. There is a mental
warfare in boxing generally and especially in the heavyweight division
where you have to force your will on someone else.
Question: John, concerning the Klitschko brothers, which road do both
Vitali and Wladimir play in your plan with regard to a heavyweight
championship tournament?
Ruiz: The road right now is leading to the unification. That is the No.
1 thing that I want. It is something that I have been craving and
longing for. For me, I feel like they are sitting pretty there at HBO,
playing guys where who knows where they get them from. But at the same
time, these are guys that nobody really knows out there and they are
beating them, and looking OK with them. It is something that they get
paid good money to fight these so-called fighters instead of putting
their money up for the unification and fighting the top guys. I am
fighting top fighters and I am having tough fights and still I am coming
out winning, but they do not want to give me the credit for it. But at
the same time, these other guys are fighting guys and are having trouble
with them. They are basically losing the fight and somehow getting the
win and so on, and the public looks at them as one of the best. There is
no way they are one of the best.
Question: John, why do you think the perception of you by some of the
media is so low?
Ruiz: It is something I can never answer. Sometimes you have to work for
the respect, but I have been working very hard and fighting top notch
fighters. I am fighting guys that they predicted to be the next
heavyweight champion, I beat them, and then they just change their whole
outlook on what they were thinking of this other guy. I just get the
backlash of people who would rather put me down than give me credit.
Question: Why did Toney make beating Holyfield look so easy?
Ruiz: You have to realize that Holyfield took too many fights there.
When we fought, it was a tough fight. I felt like I won it, but they
gave him the decision. He was on top of the world and the heavyweight
champion. He should have retired then. The fights after that, he was
getting worse and worse. When he fought Chris Byrd, Byrd made him look
like he was not even there. Holyfield aged after the trilogy he had with
me and never recovered from that.
Question: John, now that David Tua is back, would you like to fight him
again and get revenge?
Ruiz: He was the No. 1 person on my list after he beat me. I had been
chasing him for so long to get a rematch and it never came, so he became
less and less on my list. Right now, he is not even on my list. If he
wants to have a heavyweight title fight, he is going to have to earn it.
I worked my way through this heavyweight division and it is something I
am proud of. After being knocked down and to work all the way up to
where I am now, it takes a lot of courage and I am just looking forward
to this next fight right now.
Question: Do you honestly think Toney is a legit heavyweight and has a
future in that division?
Ruiz: Everyone is talking that he is one of the best heavyweights. Who
has he fought as a heavyweight to be considered one of the best out
there? It is something that puzzles me. When I became No. 1 in the WBC
and WBA, everybody was criticizing me, saying that I was not really a
No. 1 fighter in the heavyweight division. He should fight somebody in
the top 10 to earn that spot. Here is James Toney. He becomes No. 1, but
who has he fought? There is nobody criticizing him, but they are more
than willing to criticize me.
Question: Are there any other fights on your radar other than this one
right now? Or is this really just because it is a mandatory?
Ruiz: I think right now I respect my belt. I respect my mandatories and
that is why I am taking this fight. The real deal for me is the
unification. I want to go out there and unify these titles and bring
some excitement back to the heavyweight division, which is what it needs
right now. They do not need more fights. They need this unification.
Otherwise, you might as well cancel the heavyweight division because
nobody is really going to watch it.
Question: John, do you have any closing comments?
Ruiz: I hope he realizes that when he comes into that ring, he is
fighting me, not Stoney (manager-trainer Norman Stone). Stoney is the
man behind me who basically is going to be pushing me on in each round,
but at the same time, Toney better know that he is going to have his
hands full dealing with me. Nevermind thinking about Stony.
Question: John, do you think this fight will go the distance?
Ruiz: My main thing is to always be ready for tall ground. I will be
ready for 15 rounds. It is nothing new to me. My main thing is to go out
there and fight. That is what I intend to do from the first round on. He
can say he is going to knock me out or whatever. He is a durable guy and
I am a durable guy. You are going to see a tough fight where one is
going to end up being on the mat.
