John Ruiz vs. James Toney

After losing his WBA title to Roy Jones Jr., John Ruiz was able to almost immediately regain the belt by winning an uneventful unanimous decision against Hasim Rahman for the interim version of the WBA belt, which was upgraded to the full version after Jones decided to returned permanently to the Light Heavyweight division. Ruiz then made two defences, stopping Fres Oquendo and getting a very controversial unanimous decision over Andrew Golota where most observers had Golota winning.[1]

James Toney had entered the Heavyweight division under two years earlier shortly after he won his first world title in nearly 8 and half years by beating IBF Cruiserweight champion Vassiliy Jirov. In his Heavyweight debut on Showtime he upset four time former champion Evander Holyfield by 9th-round TKO. Despite some interest in a rematch with Roy Jones Jr, he would have one more fight against Rydell Booker, before agreeing to face Ruiz.[2][3]

Toney was attempting to become only the third boxer to win world titles at both Heavyweight & Middleweight, after Roy Jones Jr & Bob Fitzsimmons.

Toney would control most of fight, knocking Ruiz down in the 7th round on route to a unanimous decision win, with scores of 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112.[4] HBO's Harold Lederman also had the bout scored as 116-111 to Toney.

Ruiz would retire immediately after this bout however, in the days after the bout Toney would fail his post-fight drug test by testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. This led to the New York Athletic Commission declaring the bout a "no-contest" and banning Toney from boxing for 90 days. The WBA would then reinstate Ruiz as its champion and that Toney be ineligible for another WBA Heavyweight title shot for two years, this prompted Ruiz end his retirement after 10 days.[5]

Confirmed bouts:[6]