Quote Originally Posted by bilbo
I reckon Georges Carpentier could hold his own against most of todays lot, well ok maybe not Wladimir :P

The point is today's heavies are really really bad. Could John Ruiz have been a two time world champ in any other era?
Carpentier would perhaps be a world class light heavy today, but champion, I doubt it. He lost many of his biggest fights, to Dempsey, Battling Siki, Tommy Gibbons, Gene Tunney and Tommy Loughran. Maybe he was past his prime for these fights but they all occurred when he was in his late 20s and early 30s. None of his recorded weights exceeded 175 lbs.:

http://boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=10604

He did fight as a heavyweight on a few occasions though, and beat Gunboat Smith:

1914-07-16 Gunboat Smith 49-7-5
London, England W DQ 6 20
~ European (EBU) Heavyweight Title ~
White Heavyweight Championship Of The World

Jack Johnson was heavyweight champ at the time.

He also fought and lost to the great negro heavyweight Joe Jeannette:

1914-03-21 Joe Jeannette 77-16-10
Paris, France L PTS 15 15

Quite simply, John Ruiz is a disgrace to world class heavyweight boxing because of his propensity for clinching. I reckon that a guy like Sonny Liston would have stopped Ruiz in 1 round, similar to what David Tua did. Even the much smaller Marciano would have probably knocked him out, though he might have had to wear him down 1st.