DAVID HAYE TKO 9 JOHN RUIZ

How pleasant when a fighter says he will do something and then goes out and does it. There is a lot of hot air blowing through the fight business. Boxers promise and don’t deliver. Bernard Hopkins vowed to go out and destroy what was left of Roy Jones Jr. but instead coasted and kidded his way to a boring win on points. (More on this later.)

David Haye, though, was like a breath of fresh air as he dominated and finally destroyed a very tough, dead-game John Ruiz in Saturday’s heavyweight title fight in Manchester.

Haye said before the fight that he would do something special. He assured the British public that this fight would not go 12 rounds. He said he would confirm that he is the world’s most exciting heavyweight. Haye even cautioned his fans that this would not be an early night, that it wold take time to break down the durable Ruiz. Haye delivered on all counts.

All that marred Haye’s win were some right-hand whacks to the back of the head, although a couple of times Ruiz was ducking into the punches. There was no excuse, though, for the two consecutive behind-the-head right hands that caused the second of two knockdowns in the dramatic opening round, athough Ruiz was already on the verge of going down.

This was rough stuff from Haye, but maybe it was payback for British heavyweights getting blatantly fouled in the States (Don Cockell hit while down and victim of other misdemeanours from Rocky Marciano; Frank Bruno getting clobbered by Mike Tyson while the British heavyweight was on one knee.)

Things can get brutal when the big guys are in the ring. The, late great British writer Reg Gutteridge had a pet term: “They park the rules at the gate” when writing about big fights in the U.S. Rules get broken when fighters are keyed-up and looking to hurt the other man. Ruiz had been outclassed and hammered, and Haye didn’t need to commit fouls. Referee Guillermo Perez Pineda of Panama merely issued the instruction to the judges to dock Haye a point, but if Ruiz had gone into a dying swan routine, and if there had been a different referee, this could have been a fiasco. It is maybe something for Haye to bear in mind.

There was much to like about Haye’s performance, though. He was controlled and calculating, using his stuff left jab to break down Ruiz’s resistance and picking his moments to unleash the heavy right hands and hooks.

Haye has learned his lesson from his only defeat, when he punched himself into a state of fatigue trying to blast out the stubborn warhorse Carl Thompson. He was doing damage against Ruiz but making sure he had plenty of stamina in reserve.

I’m not sure if Haye really is the fastest heavyweight since Muhammad Ali, as the British TV commentary suggested — the young Mike Tyson was capable of launching rapid attacks — but Haye is probably the most athletic. He moved with a pantherish grace, and even when he made a tactical mistake — throwing a big uppercut from too far out and missing, say — he was quick enough to get back on balance in the next instant.

Haye’s chin has long been considered suspect, but I never had that heart-in-mouth feeling as I watched the fight. When Haye got hit, which wasn’t too often, he took the punches well. It was a gruelling fight, and the slight bruising around Haye’s eyes showed that the champion hadn’t had things entirely his own way, but Haye was the boxer with the big guns and the method of delivery. Ruiz, down twice in the first, once in the fifth and once in the sixth, stoically endured the sort of punishment that not many heavyweights would have been able to withstand.

With Ruiz bleeding heavily from the nose and bruised and battered under the left eye, the end seemed near in the seventh. Yet Ruiz bravely plodded forward, and he was putting up a respectable showing in the eighth. Then Haye’s ninth-round onslaught had Ruiz's compassionate trainer Miguel Diaz getting up on the ring apron to wave the towel in surrender. Ruiz had given his best and there was no point in him being subjected to further punishment, and the trainer realised this.

Haye now wants to meet either or both of the Klitschko brothers. His speed and power would give him a wonderful chance against the big men from Ukraine although Haye would most likely be the underdog against either Wladimir or Vitali. These are the sort of fights that boxing needs. The heavyweight division has become exciting again, and we have to thank Haye for this.

As for Bernard Hopkins against Roy Jones Jr., what we saw was what many feared we would get — two ageing boxers in a glorified sparring match. Hopkins was true to form — doing enough to win rounds with minimum risk. Having promised to go out and destroy his old rival, he instead spent 12 rounds making moves and fighting in spurts as he coasted to a unanimous decision. No one but Hopkins would know how much he was hurt in his three collapses — two from punches behind the head, another from a low blow — but it looked undignified, as if the cunning old campaigner was trying to cop a win by DQ. Now Bernard wasn’t trying to win like that, was he? Perish the thought.

Hopkins’s talk of seeking a knockout was, it would now seem, just his way of selling a fight that was happening long after it meant anything — but I bought into it. Fooled again.