RUIZ'S RUSSIAN RELIEF

Quiet Man just happy he's not facing the Beast from the East

Ruiz: grapples with Valuev

I know David Haye might be a betteropponent than Nikolai Valuev, but trust me, this is a better fight for me.

John Ruiz
Quotes of the week

John Ruiz is relishing the chance to fight David Haye - because he's not seven-foot tall, hairy and Russian!

The Quiet Man will challenge for the WBA heavyweight world title at the MEN Arena in Manchester on April 3, live on Sky Box Office HD.

It will be the 11th time he has fought for the belt - he has held it twice - with two of those last three bouts being against man mountain Nikolai Valuev.

Ruiz lost out on both occasions on narrow points decisions and in their first meeting in Berlin December 2005, his then-trainer Norman Stone even grabbed the belt, claiming his man should have won.

"I'm looking forward to fighting for the world title again," Ruiz told skysports.com from his Las Vegas base.

"It also gives me an opportunity to fight someone else other than (Nikolai) Valuev, because it seems like I couldn't get a break with this guy. This time with Haye I think it's better fight for me.

"I know he might be a better opponent than Valuev, but trust me, this is a better fight for me."

Test

Ruiz comes to Manchester with a reputation for being a negative brawler whose best hope of an upset is taking his opponent away from his gameplan.

But while he admits he has to try and "get Haye out of his groove", those bitter experiences against Valuev as well as world title decisions he has lost to Ruslan Chagaev, Roy Jones Jr and Evander Holyfied have left him in no doubt as to what is required on April 3.

"My main focus is just trying to bring the fight to him and hopefully that will work," he said. "It's what I've done my whole career; I make them fight my fight and when that happens, I tend to have an easier time of it.

"This is a test for both of us; it's a test for me to let the world know that I'm still around, still here and that I've still got the will to become world champion.

"And this is a test for him because he is going to realise this is a heavyweight fight here against a guy who comes to fight.

"He's going to have a tough fight on his hands - and he has to overcome that. People say he hasn't faced a real heavyweight, so it is a bigger test for him."