Britain's David Haye turned his sights on the Klitschko brothers after retaining his WBA heavyweight title in style Saturday, stopping American John Ruiz in the ninth round in Manchester. The “Hayemaker”, making his first title defense against a two-times holder of the belt, came out blazing at the MEN Arena and had the 38-year-old mandatory challenger on the canvas twice in the opening round. Ruiz, dubbed the “Quietman”, went down on one knee twice more in the fifth and sixth rounds before his corner threw in the towel for Panamanian referee Guillermo Perez to stop the contest after two minutes and a second of the ninth. In the first home heavyweight world title defense by a Briton since Lennox Lewis a decade ago, 20,000 fans roared the quickfire Londoner on. Haye looked a genuine champion in a division crying out for such a crowd-pleaser. His next battle could be against one of the Ukrainian brothers, Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko. The former holds the WBC title and the latter the WBO, IBO and IBF belts. “I think I've got it all and I can prove myself against the best guys,” Haye, now 24-1-0, told Sky television at ringside. “If I hit them with the same shots I was hitting John Ruiz, both of those two would go over.” The defeat ended Ruiz's dream of joining the likes of Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield as a three-times world heavyweight champion. It was only the second stoppage of his 18-year career. Former cruiserweight champion Haye won the title from Russian giant Nikolai Valuev in November. “I knew it was going to be tough, I knew when I did land my bombs I would hurt him, but he's not the type of guy to get knocked spark out,” gasped Haye of a bloodied opponent, who made up in stubborn determination for what he lacked in speed and movement. “I knew it would go something like that, I didn't anticipate getting hit as much as I did in that fight but credit to John Ruiz. “I believe I am the most exciting heavyweight in the world and even against John Ruiz I can make it exciting,” added the 29-year-old after winning only his fourth bout as a heavyweight. Haye, wearing his allegiance on his shorts in the colors of the British flag, looked like he was going to make swift work of Ruiz from the opening bell when he decked the American with a stinging right after just 25 seconds. Ruiz went down again later in the round for a second count, although Haye was penalized after the referee deemed it had been from an illegal blow. “I think I could have got him out in the first round if I'd took my time,” said Haye, who sauntered into the arena calmly, milking the applause against a fiery backdrop. “But he's an experienced guy so I'll give him the credit. “I enjoyed the fight and enjoyed the crowd and at no stage in that fight did I feel like I was losing. “I got a couple of points taken off for hitting him on the back of the head which was quite fair enough, it was a bit of a cheap shot by me.”
