As the first and only Hispanic heavyweight world champion paves his way through the boxing history books, John Ruiz, has joined forces with Golden Boy Promotions to help guide his path. The Puerto Rican descendant has accomplished a lot throughout his career, including appearances in 11 world title bouts in the last decade, but Ruiz has plenty more in store and believes 2010 will be his year. “I’m excited to become a member of the Golden Boy Promotions family and know that I have a great future ahead of me,” said Ruiz. “I’m going to continue to make history and break records one fight at a time, starting with David Haye this spring. I know Golden Boy will help get me back to the top of the
heavyweight division and to secure my place in the boxing history books.”
“John Ruiz is a very skilled and talented heavyweight and we are very excited to add him to our elite stable of fighters,” said Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “He has proven time and time again that he has what it takes to battle with the top guys in the division and will continue to do so in 2010 and beyond.”
The Chelsea, Massachusetts native who now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, John “The Quietman” Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KOs), has been the heavyweight division’s iron man in the last decade and is currently ranked number one by the World Boxing Association (WBA). Out of his last 15 fights, 11 of them have been world title fights with eight of those being against then-world champions Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr., James Toney, Hasim Rahman and Nikolai Valuev and three others against world title challengers Andrew Golota, Kirk Johnson and Fres Oquendo. During this impressive stretch of fights, he made history by capturing the WBA heavyweight world title belt by defeating Evander Holyfield on March 3, 2001, becoming the first Hispanic fighter to win a heavyweight world title. As a world champion, Ruiz never backed down from a challenge, having faced mandatory contenders and top-rated fighters every time he defended his title. His penchant for squaring off against tough competition is also evidenced by his non-title fights of the decade with him having faced the likes of former world champion Ruslan Chagaev and four-time world title challenger Jameel McCline. No one in the heavyweight division can compare to the record of success against top competition that the 17-year professional has racked up and he will continue his fearless trek into the history books with his 12th world title fight when he faces David “Hayemaker” Haye in the spring of 2010.