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| Date | November 13, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ruiz defeats Golota by Unanimous Decision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Ruiz vs. Andrew Golota , billed as Struggle For Supremacy (Night of the Heavyweights), was a professional boxing match contested on November 13, 2004, for the WBA Heavyweight championship. [2]
On an 17 April bill at Madison Square Garden, John Ruiz & Chris Byrd successfully defence both of their versions of the heavyweight title. Ruiz by stopping Fres Oquendo and Byrd via a draw with Andrew Golota. It was expected that Byrd would have a rematch with Golota, however instead he was matched with close friend Jameel McCline, and Golota faced Ruiz. [3] [4]
Don King claimed at a pre fight press conference that the winners of the two heavyweight title bouts would advance in an elimination tournament to unify the division. [5]
On the first of the televised bouts, Evander Holyfield (ranked at 11th by the WBA) lost a lopsided Unanimous Decision against Larry Donald. This was followed by Hasim Rahman (WBA:1st, WBC/WBO:2nd, IBF:3rd & The Ring:4th) facing Kali Meehan (WBC:5th, IBF:10th & WBA:14th) who only two months earlier had lost a split decision to WBO titleholder Lamon Brewster, having broken Brewster's jaw in the process. Rahman dominated Meehan, landing many heavy shots, leading Meehan's corner to pull him out after 4 rounds. The HBO's Jim Lampley and Roy Jones Jr. agreed that it was the best Rahman had looked since his victory over Lennox Lewis more than three years earlier. Promoter Don King speaking to Larry Merchant in the ring after the bout said that he would prefer to match Rahman with Vitali Klitschko over either Ruiz or Byrd.
| Title(s) on the line | IBF Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Byrd defeats McCline by Split Decision [6] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
McCline dropped Byrd with a right hand in the second round. Byrd, however come on strong in the later rounds, scoring with quick inside combinations. At the end of 12 entertaining rounds, one judge scored the bout for McCline 114–112, while the other two scored it 115–112 and 114–113 for Byrd, giving him a split decision victory. [7] The Associated Press scored it 115–113 for Byrd. [8] [9] HBO's Harold Lederman had the bout scored as 114–112 for Byrd.
Ruiz was dropped by a counter right from Golota late in the second round, he beat the round but was dropped again with a right to the top of the head before the end of the round. Ruiz was also deducted a point for hitting Golota on the back of the head in the fourth round. Ruiz's trainer, Norman Stone spent much of bout loudly criticizing referee Randy Neumann. After pausing the bout in the eight round for Stone to fix some loose tape on Ruiz's glove, Stone was heard to audibly call Neumann a "Fucking jerk off". This prompted Neumann to expel Stone from the corner and send him back to the dressing room, something that HBO's Harold Lederman stated was unprecedented in his memory. [10] Ruiz would come on strong late and at the end of 12 rounds, would win a close but unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the bout 114–111 and third 113–112. [11]
The Associated Press had scored the bout for Golota 113-112 as had Lederman.
Despite his desire for a rematch with Byrd, it be announced in December that Golota would be matched against WBO belt holder Lamon Brewster, while Ruiz would face James Toney. [12] [13] Three days after his loss against Donald, Holyfield would be placed indefinite medical suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission, with chairman Ron Stevens saying "To my practiced mind, Holyfield shouldn't be fighting any more. It's the responsibility of the state athletic commission to save a boxer from himself." [14]
Confirmed bouts: [15]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 Chris Byrd | Jameel McCline | IBF World Heavyweight title | Split Decision. |
| Hasim Rahman |  Kali Meehan | WBC and IBF Heavyweight Title Eliminator | 4th-round RTD. |
| Larry Donald | Evander Holyfield | NABC Heavyweight title | Unanimous Decision. |
| Non-TV bouts | |||
| DaVarryl Williamson | Oliver McCall | Heavyweight (10 rounds) | Unanimous Decision. |
| Aaron Mitchell | Carlton Holland | Super Middleweight (10 rounds) | 5th-round KO. |
| Yuri Foreman | Shakir Ashanti | Super Welterweight (6 rounds) | 2nd-round TKO. |
 Oleksandr Harashchenko | Ronald Boddie | Light Heavyweight (6 rounds) | Unanimous Decision. |
| Marcus Johnson | Mateen Haleem | Light Heavyweight (4 rounds) | 3rd-round TKO. |
| Thomas McCuiston | Samuel Rohena | Bantamweight (4 rounds) | Unanimous Decision. |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| United States | HBO |
John Ruiz is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a world heavyweight title.
Andrzej Jan Gołota, best known as Andrew Golota, is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title, and as an amateur won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1988 Olympics. Despite his accomplishments and more than 40 professional wins, Golota is perhaps best known for twice being disqualified against Riddick Bowe for repeated low blows in fights that Golota was winning. On October 4, 1997, he became the first Pole to challenge for a heavyweight boxing crown when he fought WBC champion Lennox Lewis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. In November 2016, Golota was inducted into the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame.
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