• Boxing

Ruiz ready to pounce on Haye

ESPN staff
March 23, 2010
John Ruiz is likely to be a tough customer for David Haye © Getty Images
Enlarge

John Ruiz is determined to take advantage if David Haye is not fully focused for their fight on April 3.

Ruiz will look to wrestle the WBA crown from the grasp of Haye in Manchester and feels the Brit may not be focused on their bout. Haye has been making positive noises about taking on one or both of the Klitschko brothers this year and Ruiz feels it would be unwise to look too far ahead.

"All I've heard him talk about was fighting the Klitschkos," Ruiz said. "There has only been one person I wanted to fight and that is David Haye."

Ruiz reportedly angered Haye by failing to attend a pre-fight press conference, but the American is unrepentant. "I didn't want to break training in Las Vegas," Ruiz said. "I think the fans would rather I was ready for the fight than just turn up for interviews."

The 38-year-old Ruiz was not impressed by Wladimir Klitschko's 12th-round knockout of Eddie Chambers at the weekend, but feels he and his brother Vladimir are tough to nail down.

"The thing with the Klitschkos is they only fight people they can beat," he said. "They don't go out there and fight people who could actually give them a fight. I've been trying to meet up with them for a quite a while. But that's the way it is in boxing. That's why so many people are staying away from the heavyweight division. Nobody really wants to fight anybody. It's sad. At one point, the heavyweight division was boxing."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices