As Replacements Go, Fans Treated Well with Ruiz-Toney
Ruiz, Toney and 'Stoney' Hype April 30th HBO Bout, but Quickly Turn to Wild Antics
by
Richard Thomas
3/29 - Today’s press conference at the Madison Square Garden Theater lobby was for the James Toney vs. John Ruiz world title fight for Ruiz’ WBA heavyweight title, and it was full of excitement and drama as the two combatants was going to go head-to-head before the scheduled April 30th fight.
The press conference was for John Ruiz vs. James Toney but one could have sworn that it was for James Toney vs. Norman ‘Stoney’ Stone (John Ruiz’ brash trainer). And the drama all began when the no holds barred speaker James Toney came up to the podium:
Toney: “I wanna thank John Ruiz for given me the opportunity to fight for the championship, when everybody else was scared to fight. I give John credit for stepping up to the plate, but come April 30th I’m going to do him good! I don’t care about his style; I’ve seen everything in the world. I’ve been in this game for 18years, I’ve been a world champion for 12, and he can’t even touch that!
"I guarantee you - come April 30th I’ll be the heavyweight champion of the world. I’m bringing the truth no matter what; I don’t care about style or whatever… I read your little comments in the papers - if I would play rough, he gonna play rough. Boy you have no idea, because I’m a man, I’m not those boys! I’m telling you – I will hurt you. April 30th, I’ll be there, I can’t wait; I wish we could get this on right now, because I’m sweating right now.”
Toney begins to sit down and continues to talk about what he’s going to do to Ruiz on April 30th but Stoney talks back to James, and James rushes over to physically shut Stoney up. But security begins to storm the stage and gets a hold on everybody. James Toney was able to still go after Stoney but Ruiz arises from his chair to prevent anything. James Toney’s men were able to hold James back, but one of James’ men got a hold of Stoney and shoved him across the stage.
Stoney: “Toney the phony!”
As Ron Scott Stevens tells Stoney to knock off his uproar, Stoney yells at Stevens and shouts, “Why don’t you talk to him (referring to James Toney), you got no balls to talk to him.
Stoney: “Toney the phony!”
James Toney: “And so is your mother! I warned you, don’t play with me.”
Stoney: “Go play with yourself!”
Don King shouts, “We’ve got it under control.” James Toney then leaves the event and heads towards the back exit. And Ron Scott Stevens shouts his name to come back so he could speak to him, but James continues to leave.
Ron Scott Stevens: “You guys, if you ever want boxing in New York then you have to be sportsmen, and you have to behave. And Dan (Goosen) I have the utmost respect for you but you represent James Toney and we’re not going to have boxing in New York unless we have good sportsmanship and that includes the press conferences, the weigh-ins, and the event itself. And I’m very serious about this, where not going to have an event if where going to have this. The rest of the world is watching all of this stuff, and boxing is a great sport and it does not have to be tarnished. New York is not going to tolerate any nonsense!”
James Toney returns to the stage and approaches the podium.
James Toney: “I’m sorry guys it was unprofessional of me, and I apologize.”
Don King calls Ruiz up to speak.
Ruiz: “The rest of the world thinks that you’re one of the best, I am the best. I fought everybody. I’m the heavyweight champion, and I would like to take my hat off for Toney to be stepping up and fighting the real man in the heavyweight division. He talks! He says that he’s going to bring it; I hope that he’s there on April 30th, and I hope he’s not sneaking out the back door! I’m going to make him regret that he ever signed the contract. This is a stepping-stone for me to become the undisputed heavyweight champion. You’ll see, just come!”
Toney shouts and yells at Ruiz from his seat.
James Toney: “Watch him, he’s going to be hugging me and whispering in my ear ‘Please don’t knock me out.’”
Ruiz: “Listen to this guy, that’s the reason why you shouldn’t do drugs.”
Toney: “Don’t hug me, fight me, I’m gonna get ya!”
The End!
The fight will be at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday April 30th, and can be seen live on HBO at 10PM eastern/7PM pacific.
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