BRAVOS FOR THE NEW BOSS SUPERIOR JONES OUTPOINTS RUIZ TO WIN WBA HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Assistant Sports Editor 

LAS VEGAS - As the final seconds ticked away, those in a packed Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday night stood and applauded with gusto. It was as if they were expressing their profound appreciation for a virtuoso performance by Pavarotti, not Roy Jones Jr.

But, indeed, in terms of boxing, this was as artistic as anything an opera singer or painter could give to the world. It was a masterpiece.

It came down to a great fighter against a mediocre one with a flawed game plan, as Jones dominated an utterly overmatched John Ruiz almost from start to finish to win a unanimous decision in front of 15,300 and become only the second light-heavyweight champion to win a heavyweight title, the WBA version.

The judges scored it 116-112, 117-111, 118-110. The Daily News had it 118-110.

Immediately afterward, Jones said something no one would argue with: ``I'm the man. I run this (show).''

Ruiz, now the former champ, was expected to use what turned out to be a 26-pound weight advantage (225 pounds to 199, at fight time) by bullying Jones, leaning on him, shoving him around, anything to wear down the smaller man and then take him out.

Instead, for the main part, Ruiz inexplicably stood back and waited for Jones to come to him, which negated any advantage he had. He played Jones' game, standing in the middle of the ring to see who was the better boxer, and there was no question who would emerge the winner under those terms.

In fact, it looked ridiculously easy for Jones (48-1, with 38 knockouts), who handled Ruiz as he'd handled so many light heavyweights. He simply peppered Ruiz with left jabs so quick he couldn't see them coming and added plenty of rights and combinations to win the fight.

Ruiz was never hurt, a testament to his size and toughness, but he took many hard punches and offered precious few of his own.

Even when Ruiz did pin Jones against the ropes and fire away - which wasn't often - Jones generally was able to hold him until referee Jay Nady broke them or able to slip away with his vastly superior foot speed.

The few times Ruiz landed a meaningful punch - he landed only 89 in the fight, to Jones' 134 - he did no damage, answering one of the big questions entering the fight: How would Jones react when the bigger, stronger Ruiz (38-5-1, 27 KOs) landed a punch?

Ruiz could knock down and hurt big, tough Evander Holyfield, but he couldn't do the same to a man who never had fought at more than 175 pounds before Saturday night.

That was the fight from start to finish. Jones was too good, too fast for a game but ultimately helpless big man.

Ruiz, who was so confident he literally ran into the ring before the fight, apparently was so disgusted afterward, he left the ring without comment and didn't show up for the postfight news conference.

It was just as well: This was Jones' night and no one else's.

As the crowd gave him the standing ovation, Jones smiled broadly, closed his eyes, looked skyward and thrust his arms into the air. It was the greatest moment so far in a great career, a defining fight that so long had eluded the man deemed by many to be the best in the world pound for pound.

In winning, Jones joins Michael Spinks as the only light heavyweights to win a heavyweight title, which was one reason he took the fight. He also became only the second former middleweight champ to win a heavyweight belt, following Bob Fitzsimmons.

``I did this to make history for the fans,'' Jones said. ``They wanted me to make history, and that's what I wanted to do.''

Jones also might have made it more difficult for his critics to question his courage. He has long been accused of dodging serious challenges even though he's fought most of the best light heavyweights in the world.

That, it seems, is as sweet to him as anything.

``If I didn't go after quality fights,'' Jones said, ``I wouldn't be heavyweight champion of the world right now, would I?''

In preliminary bouts, Ronald ``Winky'' Wright (44-3, 25 KOs) defeated No. 1 contender J.C. Candelo (25-5-3, 17 KOs) by a one-sided unanimous decision to retain his IBF junior middleweight championship.

Wright has been trying to lure WBC and WBA beltholder Oscar De La Hoya into a title-unification bout.

Fres Oquendo (30-1, 15 KOs) stopped Maurice Harris (19-13-2, 10 KOs) with a single left hook to the temple at 2:12 of round 10 of a scheduled 12-round heavyweight bout.

Oquendo also knocked Harris down in the third round.

Vonda Ward, a 6-foot-6 former professional basketball player, outpointed Martha Salazar in a four-round women's bout even though Salazar (5-1) seemed to land the more effective punches.

Ward (16-0, 14 KOs) played at the University of Tennessee, professionally in Europe and in the now-defunct ABL.

And Jean-Marc Mormeck (29-2, 21 KOs) retained his WBA cruiserweight belt by stopping No. 1 contender Alexander Gurov (32-4-1, 27 KOs) 32 seconds into the eighth round.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) John Ruiz, right, lands a punch against Roy Jones Jr., but Ruiz did no damage to the new heavyweight champion Saturday.

(2) John Ruiz, right, mostly waited for Roy Jones Jr. to come to him, allowing the quicker Jones to pepper Ruiz with left jabs.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News