Ruiz-Holyfield III Bout Inflicting Plenty of Pain

First the good news: The fight most people wished would just go away actually might.

The World Boxing Assn. heavyweight title fight between champion John Ruiz and challenger Evander Holyfield, scheduled for next weekend in Beijing, has been called off because of a neck injury to Ruiz.

Now the bad news: There are plans to reschedule the match.

After Holyfield struggled to defeat Ruiz in their first meeting by unanimous decision last August, there seemed to be unanimous agreement, outside the Holyfield camp, that the four-time heavyweight champion should hang up his gloves.

After Ruiz won the rematch in March, also by unanimous decision, there seemed to be unanimous agreement that nobody needed to watch a third fight between a washed-up, 38-year-old Holyfield and a game, but skill-challenged Ruiz.

Even promoter Don King, who probably could sell elevator shoes to Shaquille O’Neal, had trouble selling Ruiz-Holyfield III.

So he went halfway around the world and sold it to the Chinese, who probably figure dealing with King is good practice before dealing with the International Olympic Committee.

But Tuesday night, Ruiz started feeling pain in his neck and, by Wednesday morning, he had three doctors in his room.

The conclusion: Two herniated vertebrae and an indefinite suspension of physical activity.

“It was just one of those things that happened [when] we were working out,” said Ruiz’s trainer, Norman Stone.

“He was almost paralyzed and he was suffering from excruciating pain,” King said of Ruiz.

“There are things you can’t help in life and this is one of them,” Ruiz said. “I definitely want to apologize to the people of China. No one is more disappointed than myself.”

King, comparing this delay to one caused by a cut sustained by George Foreman as he was preparing to face Muhammad Ali in Zaire in 1974, promises a new date soon.

This figures to be the only time anyone compares Ruiz-Holyfield to Ali-Foreman.

Getting Close

In the midst of preparations for Holyfield-Ruiz, King flew home to Florida and got Lennox Lewis to agree to a deal for Hasim Rahman-Lewis II.

Lewis would be paid about $11 million for his second meeting with Rahman, who pulled off a stunning upset in April by knocking out Lewis to capture two-thirds of the heavyweight title.

Rahman, who is in Beijing and was to serve as an analyst on the Holyfield-Ruiz telecast, still hasn’t agreed to the rematch, which would be Nov. 10 or 17.

With Holyfield-Ruiz delayed, guess what King and Rahman will spend their spare time talking about.

Big Three on Two Big Weekends

Negotiations are continuing between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas for a Dec. 8 fight.

Deal or no deal, nothing is assured until Vargas fights Jose “Shibata” Flores on Sept. 22. Assuming Vargas wins and emerges unscathed, he would have 11 weeks, plenty of time, to prepare for De La Hoya.

Shane Mosley, the other member of Southern California’s triumvirate of world-class fighters, hopes to fight the next week, on Dec. 15, against either Vernon Forrest or Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis.

Mosley favors Forrest because he wants to avenge his loss to Forrest in the 1992 Olympic trials.

They Also Will Fight

Two other champions will defend their titles on tonight’s card at Staples Center, headlined by the match between Roy Jones Jr. (44-1, 36 knockouts), the undisputed light-heavyweight champion, and Julio Gonzalez of Huntington Beach (27-0, 17).

World Boxing Council featherweight champion Erik Morales (40-0, 31) of Tijuana faces Injin Chi of South Korea (24-1, 14). Morales, who is planning a rematch against Guty Espadas followed by a second fight against Marco Antonio Barrera, will first be facing in Chi the WBC’s No. 1 contender and a winner of 24 consecutive fights dating to 1992.

Lewis (21-0-1, 19), hoping for the December match against Mosley, will be defending his WBA welterweight championship tonight against Ricardo Mayorga (22-3-1, 20) of Costa Rica.

Also on the card will be a six-round fight between 2000 Olympian Miguel Cotto (5-0, 3) of Puerto Rico and Arturo Rodriguez (11-6, 6) of Mexico; a four-round bout between 2000 Olympic bronze-medal winner Cristian Bejarano (3-0, 3) of Mexico and Lee Willis (1-1); and a four-round women’s match between Mia St. John (22-0, 12) of Calabasas and Imelda Arias (8-12, 8) of Mexico.

At Friday’s elaborate weigh-in, staged at the ABC Entertainment Center in Century City, Jones came in at 173 pounds and Gonzales at 174 1/4 for their 175-pound bout; Morales weighed 126 and Chin 125 1/2 for their 126-pound match; and Lewis was at 147 and Mayorga 146 3/4 for their 147-pound fight.