Columnist Dean Juipe: With fight finally set, Ruiz ready for work

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 23, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Now that the fight is official, John Ruiz can get serious about Roy Jones Jr.

"I'm finally focused on the fight," Ruiz said of opening training camp in Boca Raton, Fla., and his March 1 date with Jones at the Thomas & Mack Center. "Before, I was just trying to stay in shape in case the fight happened."

It's happening, as shown not only by Ruiz and Jones in camp but by tickets being on sale and undercard assignments falling into place. A main event that took months to coordinate is now within five weeks of becoming reality.

"All through the negotiations, I told them to give Roy whatever he wanted," Ruiz said. "Whether it was $6 million or $10 million, I said 'Let him have it.' "

Ruiz, 38-4-1, and Jones, 47-1, will vie for Ruiz's World Boxing Association heavyweight title in a fight that pits an established big man against an opponent who expects to weigh no more than 192 pounds. Ruiz, the betting underdog, said he'll come in around 225.

"I have to lean on him and make him work," Ruiz said of his strategy. "No one knows what the outcome is going to be, but fighting as a heavyweight is a whole different world. I don't think he knows that just yet."

But Ruiz is very much aware of what he's up against.

"Roy's got great quickness and that could actually win the fight," he said. "But that's part of the curiosity ... part of the mystery about him. Here I am, the bigger guy and thinking this is a fight in which I can show my boxing skills, but we don't really know what's going to happen."

Sam's Town has a Feb. 7 card that will headline junior welterweights Omar Weis, 35-4-3, and Emanuel Augustus (nee, Burton), 27-19-5. Welterweights David Estrada, 14-0, and Armando Velardez, 14-1, are also scheduled, as are super bantamweights Juan Ruiz, 13-0, and Erik Rodriguez, 10-0-1. ... Raul Marquez, who meets Shane Mosley Feb. 8 at Mandalay Bay, is training daily at Pat Barry's gym. ... Local heavyweight Todd Diggs, 4-6-3, has taken the challenge of facing Patrice L'Heureux, 7-0, as part of the Feb. 15 undercard at the Flamingo in Laughlin. ... Kenny Adams is back with former IBF junior lightweight champ Diego Corrales and will work his corner Saturday night in Atlantic City, with Mike Davis providing the opposition. "At first he didn't look good, but now he's sharp," Adams said of Corrales, who will be fighting at 135 pounds after a stay in prison.

The Orleans has junior welterweights Jairo Ramirez, 11-1, and Aaron Steadman, 9-3-1, headlining Friday. ... Manuel Medina has been training at the Golden Gloves Gym in preparation for Juan Manuel Marquez and their Feb. 1 IBF featherweight title fight at Mandalay Bay. Marquez, incidentally, said he felt the shock of a Tuesday earthquake in Colima, although he was 315 miles away in Mexico City. Marquez and the remainder of the Feb. 1 participants are due in Las Vegas by next Tuesday. ... Ricardo Mayorga, 24-3-1, has predicted he will knock out Vernon Forrest, 35-0, when they fight Saturday in Temecula, Calif., with the WBA and WBC welterweight titles at stake. HBO will televise that fight as well as an interesting prelim between junior lightweights Joel Casamayor and Nate Campbell. But that's part of the curiosity ... part of the mystery about him."