Haye to make first defence against American Ruiz

LONDON, (Reuters) – WBA heavyweight champion David  Haye will face twice former champion John Ruiz when he defends  the title for the first time in Manchester in April.

Briton Haye, 29, who defeated towering Russian Nikolai  Valuev in Nuremberg in November, will fight the 38-year-old  American on April 3.

Ruiz, known as “The Quietman”, lived up to his nickname when  he failed to show up to the news conference announcing the fight  in Manchester yesterday.

“We sent him first-class tickets and booked him into a very  nice hotel but he’s not here, maybe he’s in an intensive  training camp,” Haye said.

“I think Ruiz is very under-rated. In 50-odd fights he has  only been stopped once, he’s always grinding people down. He is  used to being the small guy in the fight, he’s fought some big  guys, and he seems to find a way to smudge their work.

“This fight will be completely different to the Valuev  fight. He’s the same size as me, a lot faster than my prior  opponent and I’m looking at boxing a completely different  fight.”

Ruiz held the title from March 2001-March 2003 and February  2004-December 2005 and is sure to test Haye’s capabilities.

Haye’s trainer Adam Booth said they would be taking his  threat very seriously. “John Ruiz has been at world level for a very long time and  he is the master of making talented fighters look less than  ordinary,” he said.

“He’s done it throughout his career. David and I both know  that this fight is a massive banana skin in David’s plans of  staying world champion and unifying the titles. Looking beyond  John Ruiz would be the biggest mistake we could ever make and we  are certainly not going to do that.”

Haye said he was looking forward to fighting on home soil

“Now it’s time to showcase my skills again in front of the  great British public and I’m delighted to have the fight at  Manchester’s MEN Arena,” he told Sky Sports.

“I’ve been there on many nights to watch Ricky Hatton, Joe  Calzaghe, even Mike Tyson, and the atmosphere was always  tremendous.”