Thursday, June 15, 2000 Older Editions

Heavyweight's a knockout

By Rebecca Piro

Up-and-coming heavyweight boxer John Ruiz was ready to rumble with Evander Holyfield for the WBA title last Saturday, before an injury to the champ postponed the fight until Aug. 12.

Now Ruiz is taking a little break from the big time to make a difference for one of his smallest followers. He'll be at West Elementary School today, Thursday, to speak to special-needs first- and second-grade classes. Ruiz is particularly looking forward to meeting one student with whom he shares a special connection -- his name.

Put 'em up -- Andover's John Ruiz, 9, will meet the heavyweight Ruiz today.

Ruiz will figuratively tap gloves with little John Ruiz, 9, an Andover boy who hones his boxing skills on Nintendo and Gameboy video games. The boy is looking forward to owning his first pair of boxing gloves -- and to meeting the boxer.

"Why don't you teach me how to box, Mom, so I can be famous too?" he has asked.

In addition to their names, little John has noted at least one other similarity between himself and the boxer.

"He has a baldy head like me!" he exclaimed, referring to the heavyweight's similar close-cut hairstyle.

The meeting of the two Ruizes is thanks to the work of West Elementary teacher Eugenia Buba. When she heard that one of her aides saw Ruiz on television, surrounded by fans wearing T-shirts stating "I love John Ruiz," she knew the same T-shirt would be perfect for little Ruiz and his classmates.

"We love to build these kids up anyway we can," she said.

Buba made a few phone calls and got in touch with Ruiz's promoter, who took more interest in Buba's request for T-shirts than she would have expected.

"He said, 'Maybe we could arrange to have John come to the school,'" she recalled. "I thought, 'Fantastic!' I thought that would never happen."

But Ruiz enjoys visiting schools in the Boston area, according to his manager Norman Stone, and quite a few visits have preceded this one.

"Johnny's that type of guy; he likes to go out of his way for kids," said Stone.

"I like to talk to the kids and get involved in the community. I do what I can for kids," agreed Ruiz, who lives in Chelsea.

"We tell the kids to stay away from drugs and alcohol. If you work hard enough, and stay in school, you'll achieve your goals," he said.

Ruiz should know. Boxing was his dream from day one, he said, and it was the love of the sport that kept him away from trouble and focused on the proper path.

"My entire life has been based around boxing," Ruiz said. "It kept me out of bad situations around me, and put me on the road to stay positive. School and sports combined made me who I am today."

Today, Ruiz enjoys his success with his two children and wife at their home in Chelsea. His kids are not involved in boxing, and he tries to live "a normal life" outside of the sport as much as possible.

"I live my normal life, and I try to stay positive. I'm hoping some of that will rub off on the kids (at school on Thursday) as much as possible," he said.

Ruiz, who does not deny the violent nature of boxing, sees himself as a positive role model in a "negative" sport. "It is a violent sport, especially when you see someone get hit on TV. Boxers also get bad reputations," he said, referring to many sports players in the spotlight who "do things they shouldn't be doing." But in Ruiz's eyes, he stands apart for this very reason. "If I can stay positive in the boxing world, I can do it everywhere," he says. He says he hopes that is a lesson for the younger generation.

The kids at West Elementary will go home with autographed pictures and T-shirts Thursday, and hopefully much, much more of a life lesson.

"He's a positive role model," said Stone. "When he was younger, instead of talking about what he wanted to do, he proved what he wanted to do. It's been a long hard road, but we're on the threshold of greatness."