Ruiz’s WBA Title Is the Real Deal

Evander Holyfield was the last to know.

The fighter always is.

On Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Holyfield learned what much of the rest of the boxing world has already known: At age 38, he is a shot fighter.

The message was delivered by John Ruiz, who won a unanimous decision in front of a crowd of 8,333 to capture the World Boxing Assn. heavyweight crown. Ruiz, a Puerto Rican, thus becomes the first Latino heavyweight champion.

Holyfield was pounded and bloodied and finally knocked down in the 11th round by Ruiz (37-4, 27 knockouts), who lost his first meeting with Holyfield last August by decision.

Few considered Ruiz worthy of wearing the heavyweight belt and the ranks of the doubters were not necessarily thinned by Saturday’s result.

What really did in Holyfield (37-5-1) was time, the years of absorbing damaging blows to the head and body, the cumulative effect of a life in the ring.

His was a brilliant career, one that included a record four heavyweight titles, two memorable victories over Mike Tyson and a series of boxing wars that were the most memorable of the ‘90s.

Yet even Saturday night after the decision was announced, dazed and confused, blood trickling from a cut near his left eye, Holyfield was unwilling to accept the inevitable.

“It looks like I am going to have to get back in line,” he said, waving off any mention of retirement. “I was a four-time champion. Now it looks like I am going to have to be a five-time champion.”

Judge Stanley Christodoulou scored the fight 116-110, Chuck Giampa 115-111 and Patricia Jarman-Manning 114-111.

The Times scored it 115-111 for Ruiz.

“I know I beat him the first time,” Ruiz said, “and this time I proved it. I came and got what belongs to me. I proved to everyone again that I am a champion.”

The outcome seemed in doubt for much of the fight. In the second round, a mouse appeared under Ruiz’s left eye. In the third, blood was streaming from Ruiz’s forehead as the result of a head butt.

And in the sixth, Ruiz crumpled to the canvas after receiving a low blow from Holyfield that drew a point deduction from referee Joe Cortez. Ruiz responded by trying to respond with a low blow of his own, a move that drew no penalty from Cortez.

“I had to get him back,” Ruiz admitted.

The defining moment of the fight came in the 11th, when a right hand sent Holyfield down. He got up at the count of five, but seemed out of it for the rest of the round.

“He caught me with a good shot,” Holyfield conceded. “It’s fact of life. I didn’t see it coming.”

Said Ruiz: “He was coming at me with jabs and I avoided them and got him with a right to the temple. I tried to keep punching and stay on him.”

After that knockdown, the only questions seemed to be whether Holyfield could finish the fight on his feet and how badly he would lose on the scorecards.

Ruiz now earns the right to be considered as a possible opponent for either Lennox Lewis, who holds the other two-thirds of the heavyweight crown, or Mike Tyson.

“Right now,” he said, “I’m going to take some time off and spend it with my kids.”

As for Holyfield, the hope is that, when his head clears, he will take a permanent vacation from the ring.

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In the semi-main event, International Boxing Federation bantamweight champion Tim Austin (22-0-1) defended his title with a sixth-round TKO over Jesus Perez (20-1-2).

In a 10-round junior-middleweight bout, former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez (44-3-1) was upset by Manuel Gomez (18-10) in a split decision.

In a 10-round women’s bout, Christy Martin improved to 42-2-2 by winning a unanimous decision over Jeanne Martinez (13-5-2).