JOHN RUIZ TAKES ON DAVID HAYE APRIL 3RD

Two-time WBA Heavyweight champion and Massachusetts native John Ruizis getting another title shot.

Ruiz will be taking on current WBA Heavyweight champion David Hayeon April 3rd in Manchester, England. It was Haye who defeated Nikolay Valuev for the WBA strap back in November after Ruiz (the No. 1 contender) agreed to step aside and fight the winner.

"The Quiet Man" stopped by the South Boston Boxing Gym for a quick workout but as I soon found out, he's not all that quiet once you get him going. And unlike some people, he has not lost faith in the Patriots, as we dished on everything from his upcoming fight to his first car.

NESN.com: How have you changed after fighting over in Germany the past few years?

Ruiz: Yeah definitely people haven’t noticed. People think I have retired already because they haven’t seen me fight; I’ve been fighting over in Germany the past three or four years. It was a good experience, the fans were great -- I just never got a break with the decisions. I’m looking forward to moving on and fighting David Haye in England.

NESN.com: Tell me a little bit about David Haye.

Ruiz: David Haye is definitely a quick guy, he’s not going to be easy to corner him. He likes to move around a lot. The main thing is try to cut the ring off, and stay on top of him. He’s a perfect style for me because his most difficult fights are the people who basically stay on top of him and make him fight. That’s my kind of style, and I think I have a good chance.

TO READ THE REST GO TO NESN.COM/BOXING...

New England sports fans are categorized several different ways. We are, of course, a Red Sox Nation and a hockey town, but we also happen to bleed green. Plus, as Robert Kraft put it, "We are all Patriots."

But people are forgetting that this area also has a great tradition of boxing.

New England has paved the way for some of boxing's greatest and most memorable athletes. Rocky Marcianois a legendary heavyweight, and the only champion to retire undefeated.Marvin Hagler is not only one of the best middleweights of all time, but his third round TKO over Tommy Hearns is a fight that will be talked about forever. We also have to give major props to Lowell's Micky Ward for giving us a splendid career as well as three devastatingly amazing fights against Arturo Gatti.

More recently, the Northeast has spit out quite a few promising pro prospects, including Matt Godfrey, Edwin Rodriguez, Peter Manfredo Jr., Jason Estrada, Danny O'Conner and Demetrius Andrade.

What do all these fighters have in common? They have all gone through the New England Golden Gloves tournament. The Gloves has been a tradition in New England since 1964 and sells out the Lowell Memorial Auditorium year in and year out.

Continue at nesn.com

Berto, Mosley, and Mayweather, Oh my!!

What happens next?

Pacquiao & Mayweather let boxing down.

A little over a month ago, I firmly believed the state of boxing was changing for the better. Thanks to the pressure of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), the demand from fans and the overall talent in boxing, great fights were being forced to happen, pay-per-views were diminishing and boxing fans were turning their frowns upside down.

The two best pound-for-pound fighters were planning to square off in March, and some fantastic fights were just over the horizon. I don't know about you, but my glass was full of optimism for the future of the sport.

Then, they did it to us again. Shame on us for falling for it.

Please read the rest of my article.

It's the year 2010 and there is no time to waste! Who do we need to see in the ring duking it over the next year?

I know we are focused on two people that refuse to get along, but I think there are a few fights that could happen in 2010 to take our mind off of the pound for pound knuckleheads.

Check out my list of 20 fights that I would like to see in 2010.....

Pacquiao - Mayweather off?

Last night Golden Boy Promotions sent out a press release stating that the Manny Pacquiao - Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight was in jeopardy due to the fact that Pacquiao was not willing to comply with certain areas of the Olympic style drug testing. According to the statement, Pacquiao doesn't want to have his blood taken too close to the fight (30 days) due to superstitions. The release made it seem as if this is a big sticking point and the fight could be ruined because of it.

In the release Mayweather added ""I understand Pacquiao not liking having his blood taken, because frankly I don't know anyone who really does," said Mayweather. "But in a fight of this magnitude, I think it is our responsibility to subject ourselves to sportsmanship at the highest level. I have already agreed to the testing and it is a shame that he is not willing to do the same. It leaves me with great doubt as to the level of fairness I would be facing in the ring that night. I hope that this is either some miscommunication or that Manny will change his mind and step up and allow these tests, which were good enough for all these other great athletes, to be performed by USADA."

Not one to be pushed around, Bob Arum has fired back, going as far as saying the fight is off and that "the plug is pulled."

"Mayweather proves that he’s a coward and he’s looking for a way out of the fight," Arum said. "The Nevada commission has been doing drug testing for the last 40 years. To appease Mayweather, we agreed they could do urine analysis any time they wanted. But Manny doesn’t want them to draw his blood when he’s in training because it weakens him."

Arum turned the blame completely around, saying the testing was only a way for Mayweather to find a way out of the fight.

"All they’re doing is harassing Pacquiao," Arum said. "I’m not going to allow it to happen. We’re willing to do urine analysis at random, even though we don’t have to do it under Nevada rules.

"I know deep down Mayweather doesn’t want the fight. He can take a walk."

To read my views and opinions please go to the main article........

Boxing's Naughty List of 2009

After going through some magazines and websites it seems like this is time of the year writers and fans give out their personal awards, make best of lists, and overall just recap anther year that just passed us by. I don't have any awards to give out and I feel like ten of something tends to be a bit too much, but five on the other hand is just right. So in celebration of Christmas I am going to make up a "Naughty and Nice" list of the sweet science in the year 2009. Usually when someone asks you what you want first, "Good news or the bads", I always start with the bad. Now as a boxing fan I usually don't like to get negative about the sport of boxing, but let's be honest... it is boxing. I promise though, I won't call dead or talk about how corrupt it is, there are plenty of other writers to bash the sport like that, I'm just going to cover the things that dissapointed me most this year.

The Naughty five of '09:

Honorable Mention:

Wasted Talent: As Robert DeNiro's character Lorenzo in A Bronx Tale said "the saddest thing in life is wasted talent". This year one of, if not the most exciting fighter to come up through the ranks over the past few year, James Kirkland was arrested on gun charges. In July Kirkland pleaded guilty to gun charges and was sentenced to federal prison for two years. I won't make a judgement on Kirkland because I know that we live in very different worlds, but that doesn't mean it isn't sad to see him sitting out his prime in a jail cell. Lorenzo was right, it truly is sad to see his talent wasted.

To see #'s 5 - 1 please check out the full article on nesn.com.........