Ruiz defeats Johnson by disqualification -- retains WBA titleto defend his heavyweight title in Las Vegas, July 27th.

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Written by Ozzie Gonzalez, Latinosportslegends.com

July 28, 2002 -- Puerto Rican heavyweight champion, John "The Quietman" Ruiz proved to many that he is a legitimate heavyweight champion by successfully defending his WBA heavyweight title against #1 contender Kirk Johnson.

Ruiz was ahead on all the judges card (85-84, 86-83 and 85-84), when he won by disqualification due to repeated low blows by Johnson in the tenth round.

Ruiz was floored four times by low blows which started as early as the first round.

In round 1, Ruiz came out aggressively, swinging and pushing Johnson around trying to impose his will on him. Towards the middle of the round, Johnson nails Ruiz with a left uppercut which was clearly low and drops Ruiz to the ground. Referee Joe Cortez takes away a point from Johnson.

The second low blow came with a few seconds left in the fourth round. Another left uppercut hits Ruiz low while both fighter were brawling on the inside. Referee Joe Cortez does not deduct a point, but issues a serious warning to Johnson.

In Johnson's corner, his trainer was heard saying stop going to the body, you can beat this guy by just boxing him.

Johnson, who was behind in our scorecard coming into the seventh round, hits Ruiz low again, causing him to drop to the floor for the third time. This time Ruiz seems to be in severe pain, twisting back and forth on the canvas in agony. Referee Joe Cortez deducts another point from Johnson and issue his final warning making it clear that another infraction will result in disqualification. Ruiz took 4 minutes, 6 seconds before he could resume fighting.

In round 9, Johnson lands several jabs early in the round. Ruiz then backs Johnson onto the ropes and lands a straight right, and Johnson tumbles forward and lands on Ruiz and both of them fall to the ground. Ruiz lands a couple of punches, a big right hand especially, on Johnson. Ruiz attacks and Johnson is hurt. Johnson squatted a couple of times at the end of the round and appears to go after Ruiz' knees to stop his onslaught of punches. Johnson falls to the canvas at the end of the round, but it's not counted as a knockdown.

In round 10, Cortez halts the fight at 2:17 and disqualifies Johnson for another low blow. The ring announcer said Johnson was disqualified for "repeated penalties and warnings for low blows."

"I don't know what he was thinking," Ruiz said after the fight. "I came out fighting clean, and he hit me low and I had to catch my breath. It took me out of my game plan."

Johnson said: "I was starting to feel good, but then I don't know what happened. It was terrible, man. It was my fault."

Ruiz, from Chelsea, Mass., improved to 38-4-1, with 27 knockouts. Johnson, from North Preston, Nova Scotia, dropped to 32-1-1.

Earlier in the evening, WBA super middleweight champion Byron Mitchell (25-1-1, 18 KOs) came off the deck to stop two-time WBA champion Julio Cesar Green (25-5-1, 17 KOs) at 1:55 of the fourth round.