by George P. Hassett

          Since the last time you checked in with your faithful boxing scribe, local pugilist John Ruiz made a bold challenge to any and every heavyweight that will listen. Last week he and his trainer/manager/cut man/ Norman “Stoney” Stone published a letter calling for a heavyweight tournament between the top four heavyweights in order to determine just who is the biggest, baddest man on the planet.

          Ruiz is right; the need for such a tournament is vital. And not because boxing scribes such as myself need something to write about. The last two fight cards featuring heavyweight title-holders have drawn dismal pay per view audiences.

          Don King’s November 13 card featuring two-thirds of the world heavyweight title in two different fights (International Boxing Federation champion Chris Byrd and World Boxing Association champion Ruiz) drew only 120,000 viewers. The December 11 World Boxing Council championship fight between champ Vitali Klitschko and Tyson-conqueror Danny Williams generated slightly more buys at 125,000.

          Compare those numbers to the 360,000 pay per view sales for the Roy Jones Jr.-Antonio Tarver rematch for the undisputed Light Heavyweight championship and it is clear that fight fans will take a fight between a division’s best over a meaningless parade of belts.

          The state of boxing is usually judged mainly by the state of the heavyweight division. Thus, in a year that saw the return of Felix Trinidad, in an all action brawl against Ricardo Mayorga, the third installment of Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera, one of the all-time great fight trilogies and a mega fight between Bernard Hopkins and Oscar De La Hoya – boxing was still judged by many pundits to have had a down year because of a weak heavyweight division.

          The best solution is the one coming out of Somerville from Stoney and Ruiz – a heavyweight tournament between the three major belt holders and a fourth fighter. For many, the perfect choice for the fourth boxer is former middleweight and cruiserweight champion James “Lights Out” Toney.         

Of course, most reasonable solutions to the maladies of boxing are rejected immediately because they are not good business for boxing pimps such as Don King and Bob Arum. Unfortunately, the idea of a heavyweight tournament will probably fall victim to those same vultures because King will not risk his stake of the heavyweight title (he promotes Byrd and Ruiz) against fighters who will not agree to do business with him in the future if they win (Klitschko and Toney won’t).

Such obstacles to possible classic ring battles can be quite frustrating: frustrating enough to make you want to cut Don King’s hair with a pair of rusty scissors.

The only way such a tournament would likely take place is on paper rather than in the ring. So let’s now take part in one of the great pastimes of the fight game: speculating on who would win the fights that should happen but never will. We’ll start by analyzing Ruiz’ chances against the other three combatants in the fantasy tournament.

Ruiz vs. Byrd: Five years ago, the quick-handed Byrd would have been a likely favorite against these opponents. But he’s now on the wrong side of thirty with his skills eroding fast. He is no longer the mover and shaker who so easily eluded David Tua and Evander Holyfield en route to unanimous decision victories. He now stands directly in front of his opponent and gets by on hand speed, courage and conditioning. In his last fight against Jameel McCline, a heavyweight who is barely among the twenty best in the division, Byrd was dropped to the canvas and had to rally late to eke out a majority decision win. In the fantasy fight, he would be frustrated by Ruiz’ brawling style and his own inability to escape the range of Ruiz’ overhand rights. Of course, Byrd has class and skill and would make Ruiz miss and look bad every now and again, but he doesn’t have the power to land the more meaningful shots. Ruiz wins a close but clear decision.

Ruiz vs. Klitschko: In this fight Ruiz would be giving away six inches and thirty pounds to the Ukranian. He may find success early going inside and trying to re-open the awful cuts Lennox Lewis tore open over Klitscko’s left eye. And Ruiz is too much of a professional to come into the ring in anything but excellent shape so he steals late rounds when Klitscko tires, drops his left hand and loses focus. But for much of the night, the man who punched Lewis into retirement scores effectively from the outside with his left jab and straight right and on the inside with a sneaky uppercut. Klitschko wins a disputed split decision in a surprisingly exciting brawl. A rematch is demanded by fight fans.

Ruiz vs. Toney: The only participant without a title, Toney is the most skilled and the favorite here to beat all three including Ruiz. Toney’s expert footwork and counterpunching is too much for Ruiz and he starts to feel like he’s in the ring with Roy Jones again as a former middleweight champion cruises to an easy victory over him behind strong combinations followed by quick retreats out of his punching range.  Toney by a lopsided unanimous decision.

And there it is. The closest thing to a heavyweight championship tournament you will ever see. It is too bad. The fighters want it. The fans crave it. Boxing needs it. But it will never happen because, in the boxing world, if it doesn’t make Don King dollars it doesn’t make sense.