America at Large: Theirs was often described as a "father-son relationship", but to anyone who spent much time around the camp of John Ruiz it was apparent, if this was indeed a "family", it was a dysfunctional one straight out of a Eugene O'Neill play.
While Ruiz has, for reasons entirely devoid of irony, long been known as "The Quiet Man", his career-long manager (and, later, trainer) Norman Stone was his polar opposite, a brash (some would say loud-mouthed) and pugnaciously volatile sort with an uncanny facility for making himself rather than his fighter the centre of attention.
Ruiz had been well-served by Stone. In Ruiz's early years, when purses were meagre and opportunities scant, Stone twice remortgaged his home to keep Ruiz's career afloat, but his efforts were rewarded in 2001 when The Quiet Man defeated Evander Holyfield in the second of their three fights to win the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship.
Ruiz has earned upwards of $12 million since, and "Stoney" was able to retire from his day job, a position with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. Three years ago Stone was honoured as Manager of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
But despite the warm and fuzzy relationship offered up for public consumption, it had been apparent to those closest to the situation that Team Ruiz was a house divided. Stoney had increasingly progressed from lovable eccentric to an out-of-control madman. Add to that an ongoing power struggle between Stone and Ruiz attorney Anthony Cardinale, and something had to give.
Although Cardinale, a renowned criminal lawyer who broke into boxing in the early 1980s as an adviser to Rosmuc's Seán Mannion, considered Stone's bizarre behaviour detrimental to the interests of his client, Ruiz did his best to remain loyal. At the weigh-in preceding Ruiz's 2003 fight against Roy Jones, Stone precipitated a fist-fight with Jones's trainer Alton Merkerson. It was not only undignified, but, since Stoney was giving away a 50lbs in weight and Merk had a foot-long reach advantage, it was a notably stupid one.
Matters seemed to come to a head last year, when Stone got himself ejected from Madison Square Garden in the eighth round of Ruiz's title defence against Andrew Golota, for verbally abusing referee Randy Neumann. Ruiz, who had already been knocked down twice, could have paid dearly: Stoney was also the cut-man, and had the fighter been wounded over the last four rounds there would have been no one in the corner to repair the damage. At Cardinale's behest, Stone was reprimanded and effectively placed on a short leash.
Whether Stoney wasn't paying attention or was beyond rehabilitation (as the late Cus D'Amato liked to say, "people born round don't die square") is a matter of conjecture, but in either case, his comportment continued unabated.
At the New York press conference preceding Ruiz's defence against James Toney last April, Stone provoked an embarrassing fist-fight with the challenger. (Ruiz lost that fight, but was reinstated as champion when the winner tested positive for steroids.) The days leading up to Ruiz's December 17th defence against the Russian giant Nicolay Valuev in Germany brought more of the same. Stone engaged in a shouting match with Cardinale in Ruiz's Berlin hotel, and had yet another confrontation with the erstwhile champion's brother, Eddie, two days before the fight.
After Ruiz lost his championship on a majority decision that was loudly booed by the audience at Max Schmeling Halle, Stone walked across the ring and snatched the newly awarded belt off Valuev's shoulder and held it aloft. The crowd cheered the gesture of defiance, but one of the Russian's cornermen, Hagen Sevecki, took exception and smacked Stoney with a right hand. Most witnesses described it as the best punch thrown all night, and while American television didn't show a minute of Valuev-Ruiz, the scrap between Stone and Sevecki made every newscast in the country.
The decision to send Stone packing was taken on the return flight from Germany, and upon his return to the States, the manager was allowed to make a face-saving retirement announcement. A few days before Christmas, Stone issued a press release in which he was allowed to suggest he had jumped, rather than been pushed: "I'm done," read Stoney's valedictory. "I'm tired of boxing, and last week's bad decision was the last straw. I'm going to relax with my family and spend a lot of time with my two little grandchildren. I'll always support Johnny. Even in retirement I'll be covering his back. I'm sorry if my actions sometimes upset people, but I always had Johnny's best interests at heart. It was a great ride."
The announcement was accompanied by the obligatory statement from Ruiz: "I'm sorry to see him go," the boxer allegedly said. "We've been together for 20 years, and it was an up-and-down roller-coaster ride. It's going to be tough moving on without him."
Cardinale, who intends to petition the WBA for a mandated rematch, will undoubtedly argue Stone's presence in the Ruiz corner would have been detrimental to that end, but this is not necessarily the case. With or without Stone, promoter Don King could probably force a return bout if he wanted one, but King, who arrived in Berlin as Ruiz's promoter and left it with a piece of the new champion, may decide 50 per cent of Valuev might be a better long-term investment than 100 per cent of John Ruiz.
Having been served with his walking papers, Stone privately blamed Cardinale. "I always thought I would outlast him," sighed Stoney.
