Ruiz arrives in Germany for WBA eliminator

13/11/2006

Ruiz arrives in Germany for WBA eliminator

Press Release: John "The Quietman" Ruiz (41-6-1, 28 KOs) broke training camp Thursday in Las Vegas and is in Germany for Saturday night's (November 18, 2006) WBA elimination fight against Ruslan "White Tyson" Chagaev (21-0-1, 17 KOs) in Dusseldorf, Germany. The Ruiz-Chagaev winner will be the mandatory challenger for WBA heavyweight champion Nicolay Valuev.  "Training camp was great," Ruiz said before departing for Germany. "I'm very happy with the way training has gone. We're ready for the fight. There's still a week to go and I'll be training a little over there. Training camp felt different from past camps. It was totally different. I worked on some new things and I really enjoyed it; not just the training but learning, moving on to bigger and better things, in my career and life." Ruiz lost his WBA title belt last December in Germany to Valuev by split decision. "Like I've said in the past," John explained, "I really enjoyed everything about Germany -- the people and country -- other than the final outcome. Valuev's been holding my belt. I've trained a lot harder for this fight so I won't have to rely on the judges for a decision."  Chagaev's most notable victories as a pro have come in his last two fights, both in Germany, against Michael Sprott (28-9) by eighth-round TKO last July and a majority decision this past March to previously unbeaten and current European heavyweight title-holder Vladimir Virchis (20-0).
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