Roy wants to play the heavy against Holyfield

Dean Juipe

Monday, March 3, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.

Roy Jones Jr. is 34 years old and could justifiably retire after his finest night as a professional fighter and a $10 million payday. Having become the first man in more than 100 years to have been a middleweight champion and later a heavyweight champion, he would be within his rights to step aside at this dizzying peak.

But he's going to fight again and it'll be as a heavyweight.

And Evander Holyfield is the first man his associates are going to call.

"Truthfully, I don't feel I'm a heavyweight (and) it's gonna take a lot of money for me to fight anyone again," Jones said late Saturday night after defeating John Ruiz by unanimous decision for the World Boxing Association heavyweight title at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But the incentives to fight will be there and it will be as a heavyweight after Jones came into the ring at a chiseled 199 pounds. Once the undisputed light heavyweight champion, it's impractical to think he could ever return to the 175-pound weight class.

Holyfield, 40, has been targeted for Jones' next fight, said a member of Jones' executive team on the condition of confidentiality. A backup choice: Mike Tyson.

"That makes it a terrible night for me," said International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Chris Byrd, when informed of the direction Jones was heading. Byrd had been hopeful of landing a fight with Jones, but the Jones representative dismissed that possibility.

Jones, 48-1, and Holyfield, a four-time former champion who is 38-6-2 and who lost to Byrd by decision Dec. 14 in Atlantic City, are apt to meet in the fall. Promoter Don King holds a contractual option on everyone who fought on the T&M card and he could piece a Jones vs. Holyfield fight together with some ease.

Tyson is unlikely to face Jones due to a lingering Tyson vs. King (and King vs. Tyson) lawsuit.

Jones put himself in this enviable position by dominating a game but overmatched Ruiz, who fell to 38-5-1 and returned to the heavyweight pack. The judges had Jones winning by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112; the Sun had Ruiz winning only the first round and Jones ahead at the end by a 119-109 count.

"I just couldn't get my punches off," Ruiz said later, his nose badly damaged from a fourth-round shot and in need of medical attention. He left the ring quickly after the judges' scores were announced and did not readily make himself available to the media.

Ruiz said in his dressing room that he thought referee Jay Nady was partial to Jones yet the facts do not support that claim.

"John didn't do any punching," said a flummoxed Norman Stone, who manages Ruiz. At one point in the fight, Stone hollered "What are you waiting for?" to his beleaguered fighter.

"I worked hard to make it look easy," Jones said, adding that he put on 20 pounds of muscle during his training camp. "People said that I was 'crazy' and 'out of my mind' and 'he'll kill ya' but I was never hurt. Actually, I was faster than I've been for a while."

Jones was brilliantly quick, as Byrd noted from his ringside seat.

"I'm happy for Roy," he said. "He frustrated Ruiz by the second round and that erased any of the doubts he may have had. When a boxer gets like that, it's over."

Bucking the common perception that he would be reluctant to stand and fight, Jones was a willing combatant. Yes, he was elusive, but, no, he never ran.

"Not only did I step in front of John Ruiz, I beat John Ruiz," Jones said. "He could have hit me 100 more times -- I wasn't going to go anywhere."

There were no knockdowns, yet Ruiz was sapped by the blood streaming from his nose and simply unable to answer Jones' counters to his left jab. Jones also landed several good uppercuts when he was in close, and, in essence, made it appear as if he and not Ruiz were the reigning WBA champion.

"I could have stopped him if I'd have stayed on the ropes," Jones said, implying that he didn't feel the need to push the issue after grabbing command of the fight in rounds two through seven.

"He's Superman," King bellowed to anyone within shouting distance. "Not only did he show up and win, he got all the money."

A better than expected crowd of 15,300 was intrigued by the bout and decidedly well-behaved. Only in the ninth round when Jones eased off the pedal was there anything resembling a smattering of discontent from the audience, which included World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and a number of the NFL world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The advantages Ruiz held in height (3 inches), weight (26 pounds at fight time) and reach (7 inches) were inconsequential as Jones peppered Ruiz with timely shots.

"You could tell he had a great time," Byrd said of Jones. "He showed all his skills on a guy who was frustrated."

Yet Byrd, for all of his cordiality as a peripheral center of the postfight attention, was temporarily downcast when informed that Jones was heading for Holyfield.

"I'm not going to call Roy out or anything like that," he said. "I was sort of hoping John would win, because that's a fight that would be easy to make.

"I know Roy probably won't fight me, but we'll see what happens."