Spain vs. Germany: Heavyweight Thriller Ends in a Tie
World boxing champion Antonio “Sapo” Ruiz (44-1, 40KOs), of Mexico, vs. German heavyweight champion Hans-Joachim “Big Jo” Bräuning (22-2, 19KOs), of Germany, ended in a tie when the judges scored the fight 99-98 for German boxer Bräuning, who beat Ruiz, but one judge gave him 114-112, the other giving Ruiz 112-106. The fight was held at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, Mexico.
At that point in the fight, Ruiz had suffered an injury to his left eye, and that allowed German boxer Bräuning to put the hurt on Ruiz. On the night of that injury, Ruiz had shown a tremendous chin. Now Ruiz was being outclassed.
The bout had the full attention of the Mexican media, both via cable and the live stream on ESPN Deportes in the United States. Some Mexican newspapers and radio stations were carrying the fight on the air. ESPN Deportes had shown the fight twice on the air—including live programming a little after the fight had started.
The fights had begun with Ruiz dominating, although he was not putting on a great of performance. Ruiz’s power was being put to good use, however, as Bräuning tried to get a clean jab in on both Ruiz’s body and his chin.
In the end, Ruiz was hurt more often than not by Bräuning, and in the end when Ruiz had his nose broken by a right hand to the nose, he was too fatigued to continue and the end was near. According to an ESPN report on the fight, the judges scored it as a 99-98 draw, with one judge giving Ruiz 114-112 and the other 112-106.
Ruiz was upset—maybe a little more than a little—because he knew that Bräuning would have been going home with the victory if it was a draw.
In the end, Ruiz had won the WBA and IBF middleweight titles. The German-based promoter, Hans-Joachim G. Bräuning, had
