COLORFUL NORMAN 'STONEY'
STONE RETIRES...
Colorful boxing
manager Norman "Stoney" Stone today announced his retirement from his
Massachusetts home. Stone had been two-time world heavyweight champion
John
"The Quietman" Ruiz' manager and cutman for the past 20 years
dating back to Ruiz' amateur days.
"I'm done," Stone said. "I'm tired of boxing and last week's bad decision was
the last straw (Ruiz lost a controversial 12-round majority decision to
Nicolai Valuev in Berlin for the WBA title).
THE 'ROCK' IN THE RUIZ
CORNER... by Jim Amato
Norman "Stoney" Stone has decided for a number of
rumored reasons to retire from the corner of former WBA heavyweight
kingpin John Ruiz. Stone has been vilified on many occasions
throughout his association with Ruiz. Controversial? You bet...
Let's face it, John Ruiz is a decent fighter and a decent man. What he
lacks is charisma. Enter Norman Stone. Like him or dislike him. Agree with him or disagree with him... This guy was a mover
and a shaker. In my book, without him, John Ruiz would not
be where he is today.
STONE GETS COUNTED OUT BY RUIZ... by Ron Borges
There will be an announcement that Stone has
retired to spend more time with his family. The former champion will thank him
for all he did and say all the right things. So will Stone and several men
inside Ruiz's camp who had grown to be at odds with the colorful character
known as ''Stoney," and had tired of the many angry confrontations that seemed
to erupt between them more often in recent years.
by Ron Borges
''This is ridiculous," said Ruiz, whose right cheek was bruised but he had
more revealing scratches and scrapes on his right shoulder and across his
chest, markings from the glove lacings of Valuev, who constantly held Ruiz.
''He was holding and hitting all night," said Ruiz. ''He kept pushing my head
down. It's a sad moment for boxing for this kind of thing to keep happening in
Germany but I'm not going to let this ruin the whole experience over here.
Other than those judges and the referee, the people were great to me. Now if
Don King is really my promoter he'll do something for me."
That was a reference to the news Stone received after the fight: King
negotiated a deal that gave him 50 percent of the revenue from the fight as
well as four options on Valuev if he won.
When the undefeated giant Russian Nicolai “The Beast from the East”
Valuev entered the ring in Berlin on Saturday—all 7 feet and 323 ½ pounds of
him—to make his first appearance in a world championship match against World
Boxing Association champion John “The Quietman” Ruiz, it was much the same
as when Valuev fought another American in Germany, Larry “The Legend”
Donald, in Oldenberg on Oct. 1.
The final press conference prior to John “The Quietman” Ruiz’s defense of his
World Boxing Association heavyweight championship against Nicolay “Giant
Russian” Valuev, which will take place on Saturday at Max Schmeling Halle here
in Berlin, was staged today before a full audience at the Maritim proArte
Hotel...
The fight will be shown on free German television on ARD channel 1
but will not be seen in America and is co-presented by Berlin-based Sauerland
Event, promoter of Valuev, and Don King Productions, promoter of Ruiz.
Watching a John Ruiz fight is akin
to watching paint dry. The only thing worse than watching a John
Ruiz fight would be watching a Hopkins/Ruiz
doubleheader. Now, that is sleep inducing.
John Ruiz is the anti E. F.
Hutton; when John speaks
no one listens and no one cares. Worse yet, no one takes him
serious, especially with his latest ramblings on VitaliKlitschko and the heavyweight
division....
This is a shame because, John
Ruiz does have something important to relate...
12-15-2005
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