'Dog looks ready to pound

The jab kept slamming into the padded hands of Norman Stone, the sound echoing against the walls of the Trinity Boxing Club gym in Greenwich Village yesterday like a softball bat hitting an overstuffed leather chair. Each time that left fist hit home and the thud reverberated around the stuffy room, it was a reminder to John Ruiz of what he's supposed to do Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

It is there that the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion again will risk his title against a guy who is supposed to beat him. The Chelsea-reared Ruiz has been labeled an underdog so many times in world title fights he thinks it's just another breed. The story is no different this week, as he prepares to meet former middleweight and super middleweight champion James Toney in a bout that finds him a 2-1 underdog. That status, like that jab, is comforting, a reminder of what he knows he can do.

"Being favored are the times I have to look out," said Ruiz. "I expect it every time now. It doesn't really bother me."

However, the pained look on his face as a circle of inquisitors probed him about being the division's least popular and most overlooked champion put the lie to that statement. Ruiz has been champion for the better part of four years but has garnered more disdain than acclaim for his work.

Along the way, he has defeated five top 10 contenders and three former champions -- and been the underdog in six of eight title fights. Because the style that works best for him works worst for television, he has been vilified by HBO's Larry Merchant, booed lustily on several occasions, and demeaned as the champion who refuses to lose but still doesn't look good enough doing it to please the public.

Yet here he is again, defending against another top contender and wondering why it always seems his accomplishments are overshadowed by his style.

"I'm always fighting the top guys, but I'm one of the least favorite champions in boxing," said Ruiz (41-5-1, 28 KOs). "It doesn't make sense to me. These other guys like [World Boxing Council champion Vitali] Klitschko fight lesser guys and get all the credit.

"But I can't let what people say about me drag me down, because that could get me beat. All I can look forward to is to keep fighting and keep winning and see what happens."

According to the experts and oddsmakers, what's supposed to happen Saturday night at Madison Square Garden is that Toney outslicks and outhits Ruiz. Tough, strong, and a consummate professional, Toney has been projected as a guy who won't let Ruiz tie him up and damage him on the inside. Perhaps he will be that fighter, but the same has been said of Kirk Johnson and Fres Oquendo and Evander Holyfield and Andrew Golota and Roy Jones Jr., and only Jones managed to succeed.

That is not lost on Toney's trainer, Freddie Roach, a former fighter with deep roots in the New England boxing scene. Roach came from the same harsh breeding ground as Ruiz and understands the difficulties faced by a New Englander trying to make it in professional prizefighting.

He knows, too, the long odds Ruiz had to overcome to get to where he is, and although he believes his fighter will be one favorite who backs up the odds, Roach believes there will be more in front of Toney than the public knows or understands.

"He's very underrated," Roach said of Ruiz. "He's better than people think. Do they know how few fighters can say they were heavyweight champion? Do they have any idea how difficult that is to achieve? John has done that twice without a lot of natural ability. He's a winner. That should be respected. It's weird the way people look at him.

"All these other guys -- Holyfield, [Hasim] Rahman, Golota, Johnson -- they were supposed to beat him, but none of them did. Don't you think he had something to do with that? He doesn't impress anyone when he beats these guys but he's impressing himself. He's beaten some quality guys and he hasn't made the mistake of changing his style to please the public. I don't go by style. I go by whether you win your fights."

As the sound of his jab echoed off the walls yesterday, it seemed as if Ruiz remained obsessed with one day getting what he feels he deserves. But if he doesn't, he'll be satisfied if he can just get what he's most often come away with in title fights -- a win, and another six months to wear a champion's belt before the next-best favorite steps in believing he's the one who will prove the underdog has no bite.

Short jabs

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has issued a $1.1 million offer to former lightweight and welterweight champion Shane Mosley to face World Boxing Organization 147-pound titleholder Antonio Margarito this summer. However, Arum claims Mosley's adviser, Judd Burstein, has told television executives that Mosley will under no circumstances face Margarito, who blasted out undefeated Kermit Cintron last Saturday night. Whether he has or not, avoiding Margarito would be the wise choice for Mosley because he might very well be able to make more money with less risk against undisputed welterweight champion (unless you ask Margarito) Zab Judah. Against Judah, Mosley would be in against a smaller man (former 140-pound champion) and likely receive considerably more money, although he would likely have to sign a multifight deal with Judah's promoter, Don King. That, too, might not be all bad for him since Burstein is King's private attorney and probably could protect contractually . . . Mosley might have two other lucrative possibilities. One would be to face the winner of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Arturo Gatti fight, because once again he'd be the bigger man. The other would be a third fight at 147 pounds against Oscar De La Hoya, a man he already has twice decisioned . . . Sad part of this for Margarito is that he may indeed be the best welterweight in the world. He destroyed Cintron in five rounds, cutting his eye and dropping him four times. "People saw I was ready for the big guys, Oscar De la Hoya, Shane Mosley, and Zab Judah," said Margarito (31-4, 22 KOs). Sadly for him, that's part of his problem. He looked too good . . . It was unwise for Cintron's management and promotional team to throw him in vs. Margarito after a hand operation and nine-month layoff without a tuneup fight. "I should have thrown more punches," said Cintron. "I don't know what to say." Nor did he know what to do once he cracked Margarito with his power and nothing happened . . . Undefeated heavyweight prospect Calvin Brock seemingly ended Jameel McCline's time as a title contender on the same card when he got off the floor to outbox him thoroughly in winning a unanimous decision. That left McCline on a two-fight losing streak after a split-decision loss to International Boxing Federation champion Chris Byrd in his previous outing. McCline has some talent, but his lack of experience seems to disable him in big fights just enough to get him beaten . . . No numbers yet on ESPN's first venture into pay-per-view boxing last weekend, but the fact that it was in only 70 percent of the available homes and missed a goodly portion of New York City won't help. And there was a problem with the signal in Boston . . . Featherweight challenger Victor Polo, who will try to take the IBF and WBA titles from Juan Manuel Marquez May 7 in Las Vegas, said he sees one critical weakness in Marquez. "He's a great boxer but he also gets hit," Polo said. "So that is what we need to take advantage of. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the champion without a crown. That's just the way this sport is." Polo has lost several controversial decisions, including one robbery against England's Scott Harrison that seemed a felony, not a misdemeanor . . . Davarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson (21-3) will try to reawaken his career vs. Derrick Jefferson underneath Ruiz-Toney. When last seen, Williamson was being stopped by former WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko after dropping Klitschko early . . . Speaking of Klitschko, all you learned about him in his easy win over former cruiserweight Eliseo Castillo is that he continues to flinch and back up when he feels pressured. That means an early siesta the next time he's in with a guy who is ready to throw back at him.

Around and around

New York State Athletic Commission head Ron Scott Stevens followed up his wise action in banning Holyfield for not being competitive in losing to Larry Donald with a similar lifting of the license of former champion Al "Ice" Cole. When Stevens learned Cole was being proposed as an opponent for a fight in Germany, he notified the German Boxing Federation of the suspension. Now it's up to German officials to decide what to do, but Cole should no longer be in the ring . . . Stevens said Holyfield has made no effort to get reinstated. He was ordered to undergo a battery of medical exams at the state of New York's expense but has yet to have them done . . . Boxing lost a longtime correspondent and friend in Jack Welsh, who was found dead in his apartment in Las Vegas Monday. Welsh, who was in his 80s, was an award-winning boxing writer in Philadelphia before moving to Las Vegas. He was at ringside last Saturday night for Margarito-Cintron. He will be missed . . . Judah next defends his titles May 14 in Las Vegas vs. Cosme Rivera, underneath Felix Trinidad vs. Winky Wright . . . Once Leon Spinks was the toast of the boxing world after upsetting Muhammad Ali in 1978 to become heavyweight champion. Today he is a custodian at a YMCA in Columbus, Ohio, and does volunteer work at an after-school program. Sad state for a guy who earned nearly $4 million in losing a rematch with Ali in '78 . . . King has signed WBO junior middleweight champion Daniel Santos to a promotional deal. Santos defeated Margarito in his last outing to improve his record to 29-2-1. King hopes to match him with Trinidad in an all-Puerto Rican junior middleweight fight at some point after the Wright match . . . Trinidad's father, who also trains him, insisted that the difficult style of Wright is not something he or his son worried about before accepting a match with him. "Winky is at the top of the world's boxing elite," Trinidad said. "He had challenged Tito in the past. Tito has enough tools to defeat any fighter at this point of his career. We've always been happy to fight the best in the world. Winky's weaknesses will not be a factor in training. Just Tito's potential and utilizing all his punching power and boxing ability that he's always had." . . . Trinidad is a well-known KO artist, but the wrapping of his hands has been the subject of some controversy on several occasions. Once in New York, he was forced to rewrap his hands when it was thought his father had put too much gauze on them. Wright's trainer, Dan Birmingham, said, "We're going to watch the hand-wrapping with a magnifying glass, making sure along with the Las Vegas commission. I'm not going to worry about his hands here in Vegas because the commission here will make sure that his hands are wrapped properly. But we'll be watching." . . . Madison Square Garden has a solid card June 11 headlining 2000 Olympic gold medalist Muhammad Abdullaev vs. fast-rising Miguel Cotto. The two are longtime rivals. Abdullaev defeated Cotto in Sydney five years ago en route to his gold medal. Cotto holds the WBO 140-pound title and is undefeated (23-0) as a professional.

Local bleatings

Juan Gomez-Trinidad, cousin of Felix, recently signed a promotional contract with New England Ringside promotions and may headline a show in Lynn in May or June. Trinidad is 23-4 with 16 knockouts. He joins two-time Venezuelan Olympian Patriz Lopez (2-0) in the NER stable . . . Heavyweight Kevin McBride intends to open a Vermont training camp to prepare for his June 11 match with Mike Tyson in Washington.

Material from personal interviews, wire services, and other beat writers was used in this report.