John Ruiz's lack of ego makes him the perfect cartoon heavyweight -- The Guardian

By Kevin Mitchell, Guardian.co.uk

John Ruiz is too nice a guy to be true. No doubt, after so long in the fight game, he has a cynical and hard side to him, but you wouldn't know it listening to him do his Mr Nice Guy routine in Manchester this week. He has earned his nickname, The Quiet Man.

Ruiz ditched Don King recently and took up with Oscar De La Hoya. He has changed trainers, his private life is tranquil and, at 38, he knows his limitations in the ring. He has even taken the sting out of David Haye's pre-fight trash talk.

A whole raft of fighters have tried to wind Ruiz up, but he flat-bats every insult. He is so self-deprecating he is almost a cartoon heavyweight from the old days, a lucky pug who just turns up and does his best. If every fighter was like Ruiz it might be a dull old game – but it would be a more pleasant environment.

His new trainer, Miguel Diaz, is a nice guy too – but smart. He has trained 13 world champions and is Freddie Roach's chief assistant. The cagey old Argentinian also trains Marcos Maidana, though, who looked terrific knocking out Victor Cayo in Las Vegas last weekend to retain his interim WBA light-welterweight title.

Maidana should be Amir Khan's next challenger for the world title if the Bolton kid beats Paulie Malignaggi in New York on 15 May. Don't bet on Khan fighting Maidana, though. Diaz, a loyal Roach assistant, only smiled when asked who'd win that one.

Boycott this one

If you care about boxing, you will not care about who wins between Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas tomorrow night.

How sad does it get? These are two of the finest fighters of the post-war era, but they are trying to kid voyeurs that a rematch they should have had at their peak is worth paying for 17 years after they first met. It's a bad joke.

Both of them were arrogant champions, which is often the way with great fighters. But they did not give fans the rematch they wanted when they wanted it. They chose instead to fight lesser fighters for easy money. Good business, bad karma.

Just wish them well, especially Jones who could be badly knocked out again.

Anders Eklund, 1957-2010

The careers of the big boys, more than in any other division, can thrive or perish in a single punch. But some guys don't take the hint.

Anders Eklund, who died in Sweden yesterday aged 52, was well acquainted with the vagaries of his calling. He first fought in the UK in 1983, knocking out the Birmingham-based Dubliner Paddy Finn in a round. It was Paddy's first loss and he would retire the following year after being stopped by Horace Notice.

Eklund returned to England and was knocked out himself in a round, by the rising scouser Noel Quarless. Quarless (who had been knocked out in a round by Finn in 1982) soldiered on with mixed success.

But the 6ft 8in Eklund kept plugging away. Joe Bugner beat him on points and Frank Bruno knocked him out in four rounds, but he wouldn't go away. He beat Glenn McCrory and Jesse Ferguson before Francesco Damiani knocked him out in six and Tim Witherspoon put him away in round one.

Lillen, "The Little One", at least went out with a win, beating Garing Lane on points over six rounds in a place called Aars in Denmark in 1990.

Source: guardian.co.uk