What a complete sh** show.
This was the feel good story of the decade. The scrappy kid from the neighborhood vs. the polished pro, hard puncher vs. intelligent boxer, everyman warrior vs. the elitist athlete, US vs. Europe, etc., etc. The establishment was clearly rooting for AJ to win, as he’s just the type of marketable champ who sells fights and makes the sport look good. And yet, Ruiz literally had a tidal wave of goodwill from the general public on his side.
It’s a great narrative. And even if Ruiz loses, he still comes off looking like Rocky as long as he fights hard and bloodies AJ. And if he actually wins, then he’s practically written himself his own screenplay and is set for life.
But instead of taking the fight seriously and being grateful for the opportunity of being the first “heavyweight Mexican champ in history,” Ruiz decides to spend three months doing hookers and blow and doesn’t set foot in the gym. He took all that goodwill and flushed it down the toilet by essentially living up to all the worst racial stereotypes, badly embarrassing himself and his people in the process.
So the feel good Rocky narrative vanishes faster than a burrito fart at Taco Bell, and now the whole story becomes about how Ruiz was just lucky the first time. Every boxing pundit out there spent last night gleefully penning their “See, I told you this guy is just a lazy bum” editorial for the morning edition.
What a crushing debacle. Ruiz may be in denial, but he just wrote what will be seen as the defining chapter of his career.
