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December 14, 2005
Quiet Man
Nicolay Valuev fights John Ruiz this Saturday night in Berlin, but no U.S. station is interested in showing it. It's hard not to kinda love Ruiz, just because everybody hates him so much; his unpopularity makes him an underdog every time he fights.
The complaints against him are as follows: that he's a cheater; that he's unspeakably boring; that he is something of a crybaby. How a cheater could manage to bore his audience into an angry stupor every time will be one for future historians to unravel; that a professional athlete might be something of a whiner shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, and Ruiz's candor about it might even strike one as refreshing, if one were so inclined. Still, despite our punk rock affection for the despised Ruiz, we're pulling for Valuev. Why? He's seven feet tall. Seven bald-ass feet tall, people. It ought to count for something.
Posted by jd at December 14, 2005 04:47 PM