Saturday, January 11, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ruiz banking on pay-per-view jackpot

Champ has no guaranteed money vs. Jones

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz agreed to unusual terms for his March 1 fight at the Thomas & Mack Center against light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. Ruiz will take no guaranteed money and accept all of his income as a percentage of the revenues.

Jones will get a guarantee of $10 million, plus 60 percent of the revenues. Ruiz's side will get 40 percent of the revenues, meaning if the fight turns out to be a pay-per-view flop, Ruiz will be a big loser no matter what happens in the ring.

But Ruiz and his colorful and outspoken manager, Stoney Stone, are confident they will hit the pay-per-view jackpot. Stone spoke of hitting 1 million on pay per view like it is an absolute certainty and even spoke of challenging the 2 million figure, which never has occurred.

Mark Taffet, the vice president at HBO Pay-Per-View, said the fight will be highly successful if it does only a quarter of that 2 million figure. He said it is wrong to figure that the fight was a bust if it "only" does 400,000.

"We have made a living over the past 11 years in this business marketing stories and identifying the pulse of a fight and then going out and telling the story," Taffet said. "The truth is, with Ruiz-Jones, it's easy to identify and market it. Roy Jones Jr. is the best fighter in the world today.

"But John Ruiz is 6 inches taller and 50 pounds heavier. Roy may be the best, but in this case, is being the best good enough? That's what will drive this fight."

Jones has been a bomb throughout his career on pay per view. His hottest fight came in 1994 against James Toney, which sold 320,000. Ruiz remains a largely unknown figure despite being the WBA champion, the combination of which makes getting to 1 million pay-per-view buys unlikely.

Taffet said the fight should be judged against others, such as Hasim Rahman-Lennox Lewis II (450,000 buys), Felix Trinidad-Fernando Vargas (520,000) and Trinidad-Bernard Hopkins (440,000).

But Ruiz isn't worried about the sales, even though his compensation is tied directly to it.

"This is about an opportunity for me," he said. "I'm a guy who has been begging for respect. If I go out there and take care of Roy Jones, the guy everyone brags about and says is the greatest fighter in the world, then that's going to help me establish myself. There will be a lot of bigger fights out there for me.

"Of course, I have everything to lose because if I get beat by this little guy, oh my God. But that's a chance I'm willing to take because of all the good it could do for me."

• A WORTHY OPPONENT? -- WBA-WBC super welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya's choice of opponents for his May 3 pay-per-view fight is curious. He will face Mexican veteran Yory Boy Campas, who is so badly faded and shopworn the Nevada Athletic Commission could rightly decline him as an opponent.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said he thinks the card is a slam-dunk because of De La Hoya's drawing power and the presence on the card of featherweight Erik Morales, who will defend his WBC belt against Bobby Boy Velardez.

Arum might be right about that, but there is a legitimate issue of whether the public is getting short-changed because of how much Campas has lost. He quit against Daniel Santos in a Showtime bout in March and hasn't had a quality win in years.

• TIDBITS -- Arum met with WBC lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Friday to map out Mayweather's plans. He probably will fight April 19 against either IBF champion Paul Spadafora, WBA champion Leonard Dorin or former champion Stevie Johnston. Madison Square Garden in New York is interested in a Mayweather-Spadafora matchup. ... If the Lewis-Vitali Klitschko fight isn't finalized within two weeks, it will not happen in April and might not happen at all. It's clear Lewis isn't sure if he wants to fight now. ... Top Rank allowed former 130-pound champion Diego Corrales out of his contract, and he has signed with Gary Shaw Productions. He will appear on Showtime in another mismatch of epic proportions against Freddie Cruz. ... De La Hoya is promoting a show Jan. 18 on HBO Latino featuring Oscar Larios and Marcos Lincona. ... Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach will train Mike Tyson for Tyson's Feb. 22 fight in Memphis, Tenn., against Clifford Etienne.