By Smirk or by Quirk, Great at Any Weight

Near the end, some booed him, others taunted him.

Near the end, many wanted bloody John Ruiz to catch him and hit him -- just once -- if only to rub out that silly smile and stop that insufferable style.

But in the end Saturday night, Roy Jones Jr. did something greater than winning a WBA heavyweight championship, more difficult than making boxing history, more fulfilling than beating the snot out of a big guy.

In the end, he shut everyone up.

Today the most enigmatic boxer in the world is truly the best boxer in the world, pound for pound, even when he’s outweighed by nearly 40 pounds, even while toting the burden of one of boxing’s biggest gambles.

Roy Jones Jr. was right. His critics were wrong.

The ant has defeated the celery bit. The man has lifted the car. David has defeated, well, you know. A 106-year-old scrap of boxing history has been rewritten.

And -- surprise, surprise -- it didn’t even take Jones a full dozen rounds for him to start rubbing it in.

With 15 seconds remaining Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center, he threw up his hands like the classic heavyweight champion he shortly became in a unanimous decision over Ruiz.

“I did this one time for the fans,” said Jones.

Those 15,300 fans erupted in astonished cheers during the first half of the fight, as Jones stood small toe-to-big toe with Ruiz, bloodying his nose and laughing in his face, quicker and stronger and smarter.

“I felt I had control early,” said Jones.

But then those fans began booing when Jones, in his trademark style, took a three-round vacation, dancing and taunting while Ruiz continued to charge.

“You have to remember, he’s a heavyweight, with a heavy punch,” Jones said.

Jones awakened, finally, to win the final two rounds and stifle the same-old-Roy cries that were echoing from the rafters.

And they were finally his fans indeed.

Jones may have fashioned a career against small-time fighters, but Ruiz was a bona fide big guy.

He may have spent years running, but on this night, he stood still long enough to hit and be hit.

He is still the irksome, quirky Roy Jones Jr.

But the former sideshow has officially become the show.

Last word and all.

He said this: “Everybody said I had never been hit by a heavyweight. But I don’t give a dang about no punch.”

And he said this: “Everybody keeps asking me about my style. But until Roy Jones loses, I’m not changing my style.”

It was a night you even had to allow him to speak in the third person.

After all, he still had all his teeth, still had a perfect smile, appeared to not even be scraped.

For which Ruiz, his face bloody and battered, is angry.

He said the fight wasn’t a true heavyweight fight, because he wasn’t allowed to slug Jones coming out of a clinch.

“I felt like I wasn’t allowed to be a heavyweight,” he said. “The referee gave him the advantage.”

But what makes Ruiz think he could have hit him even in a clinch? He couldn’t touch him anywhere on this night, as much as he tried. And with 433 punches to Jones’ 424, he tried.

Could it be that this funny new champion is as smart as he is fast?

“[Jones] showed a great knack at boxing,” said Lennox Lewis, the WBC -- and real -- heavyweight champion. “You could tell that Roy could do whatever he wanted. Ruiz did not know what to do.”

No, no, no, Jones is not going to challenge Lewis, not giving away as much as 55 pounds. But he may fight heavyweight Chris Byrd. Or perhaps drop back down and fight middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins.

Whatever he does next, it is now worth watching. Making history will do that for a boxer.

The last time a former middleweight champ won a heavyweight championship, the year was 1897, the middleweight was Bob Fitzsimmons and the heavyweight was Gentleman Jim Corbett.

And the ringside celebrities were Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.

On this night, the lawmen were Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.

And eating dust was everyone who thought Jones couldn’t pull it off.

Before the fight, Norman Stone, Ruiz’ manager, said, “People don’t want to pay to watch him because he’s a piece of ... and he’s never stood up and sought out a challenge before.”

Stone, of course, was then summarily beaten by Jones’ trainer, Alton Merkerson, during the weigh-in.

It should have been a sign.

Then Ruiz became angry when Jones blew off several media requests and did little to promote the fight. He even missed three scheduled interviews with TV Guide that cost him a chance to be on the cover.

Ruiz was fighting only for a percentage of receipts while Jones was guaranteed $10 million, so Jones was costing the big guy money.

“A champion should act like a champion,” Ruiz said.

Done.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com