Booth: Ruiz toughest yet

Haye trainer preparing heavyweight champion for a war

Last updated: 18th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

The John Ruiz threat is real, it's not imaginary, because of his style, because he's good at making fighters look bad.

Adam Booth
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David Haye's trainer insists the first defence of his WBA heavyweight title against John Ruiz will be the hardest of his career.

Haye took the title from Russian giant Nicolai Valuev with a hit-and-move policy but Adam Booth knows that similar tactics will not work against a spoiler like Ruiz.

And the trainer believes Haye will have his work cut out to look good against the former champion, who has been in with the best in the division for more than a decade.

"I've said all along that the hardest fight of David's career is John Ruiz, I've no doubts about that," Booth told Sky Sports. "Maybe Vitali Klitschko would be harder, but Ruiz, because of his style, makes it the hardest of David's career.

"The John Ruiz threat is real, it's not imaginary, because of his style, because he's good at making fighters look bad, and he's good at getting people into range and trading with them.

"Everybody knows that David likes to box long, so that's why this is a hard fight for David.

"We knew that David could run away from Valuev and win the fight, but you can't run from John Ruiz becuase he'll just chase you down.

"And if you run, the less power you've got in your shots. With Ruiz you have to bang hard and bang for 12 rounds so we know it's not a question of running from Ruiz, it's question of getting his respect and hurting him early, and domination the fight from the centre of the ring."

However, Booth is confident Haye has the tools to win a very different fight from the one that saw him win the title last November.

"David is a natural fighter, he loves getting in there close and trading blows," he added. "The closer he gets to the fight happening the more focused and narrowed down his mind gets.

"I see it as a hard night, but a win for David."

Comments (3)

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Lee Mcd says...

I think david will teach this guy a lesson, then beat the klitchko brothers to unify the belts... come on david

Posted 09:48 19th March 2010

Gareth Smedley says...

Like Glencoffee Johnson, Ruiz is the gatekeeper to the heavyweight division. Beating Valuev is very different to fighting a more natural heavyweight. He has been in with the best, and this is a real test for the Hayemaker. Cant wait to see the fight in Manchester. Good luck, and put on a show for us. See you in Manchester Hayemaker

Posted 22:21 18th March 2010

Lee Walker says...

I really dont know why Booth is so worried by Ruiz. In my mind, Ruiz really has no chance, yeah he's been in with the best for a decade, and LOST! Haye will do him, and do him well early on. I think even the stupidest pundit sees a first round KO as a very real possibility. People say Haye has lost his bang, but if people expected him to carry out that plan against Valuev he never would of won because of val's size. Ruiz is the same size as Haye and majorly out of shape, he has neither the skill, speed or power to kill off Haye's dream of meeting the Klitschko's later this year.

Posted 21:48 18th March 2010
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