John Ruiz vs. James Toney

John Ruiz vs. James Toney

Date	April 30, 2005
Venue	Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York
Title(s) on the line	WBA & IBA Heavyweight Championships
Tale of the tape
Boxer John Ruiz James Toney Nickname "The Quietman" "Lights Out" Hometown Chelsea, Massachusetts Grand Rapids, Michigan Pre-fight record 41–5–1 68–4–2 Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) Weight 241 lb (109 kg) 233 lb (106 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA Heavyweight Champion WBA No. 1 Ranked Heavyweight IBA Heavyweight Champion
Result
No Contest

John Ruiz vs. James Toney was a professional boxing match contested on April 30, 2005 for the WBA heavyweight championship.

Background[]

After losing his WBA title to Roy Jones Jr., John Ruiz was able to almost immediately regain the belt by winning an uneventful unanimous decision against Hasim Rahman for the interim version of the WBA belt, which was upgraded to the full version after Jones decided to returned permanently to the Light Heavyweight division. Ruiz then made two defences, stopping Fres Oquendo and getting a very controversial unanimous decision over Andrew Golota where most observers had Golota winning.^[1]

James Toney had entered the Heavyweight division under two years earlier shortly after he won his first world title in nearly 8 and half years by beating IBF Cruiserweight champion Vassiliy Jirov. In his Heavyweight debut on Showtime he upset four time former champion Evander Holyfield by 9th-round TKO. Despite some interest in a rematch with Roy Jones Jr, he would have one more fight against Rydell Booker, before agreeing to face Ruiz.^[2][3] Going in to the fight both the WBA & WBC ranked Toney as their number 1 contender, with the IBF ranking him 3rd.^[4]

Toney was attempting to become only the third boxer to win world titles at both Heavyweight & Middleweight, after Roy Jones Jr & Bob Fitzsimmons.

The fight[]

Toney would control most of fight, knocking Ruiz down in the 7th round on route to a unanimous decision win, with scores of 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112.^[5] HBO's Harold Lederman also had the bout scored as 116-111 to Toney.

Aftermath[]

Ruiz would retire immediately after this bout however, in the days after the bout Toney would fail his post-fight drug test by testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. This led to the New York Athletic Commission declaring the bout a "no-contest" and banning Toney from boxing for 90 days. The WBA would then reinstate Ruiz as its champion and that Toney be ineligible for another WBA Heavyweight title shot for two years, this prompted Ruiz end his retirement after 10 days.^[6]

Undercard[]

Confirmed bouts:^[7]

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Vicente Mosquera	Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai	WBA World super feather title	Unanimous Decision.
Ray Austin	Larry Donald	vacant WBC–USNBC heavyweight title	Majority Decision Draw.
DaVarryl Williamson	Derrick Jefferson	WBC Continental Americas/WBO NABO Heavyweight titles	2nd round TKO.
Non-TV bouts
Luis Alberto Pérez	Luis Bolano	IBF World super flyweight title	6th round TKO.
Evans Ashira	Quentin Smith	Middleweight (10 rounds)	Unanimous Decision.
Israel Garcia	Andriy Oliynyk	Heavyweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous Decision.
Elio Rojas	Anthony Martinez	Featherweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous Decision.
Oleksandr Harashchenko	Elvir Muriqi	Light Heavyweight (6 rounds)	Split Decision.

Broadcasting[]

Country	Broadcaster
Canada	TSN
France	Canal+
Philippines	Solar Sports
United Kingdom	Sky Sports
United States	HBO

References[]