LAS VEGAS -- John Ruiz isn't nicknamed "The Quiet Man" for nothing. He says little, whether in the ring or out.

Ruiz is loud when it comes to one thing, though -- he believes he beat Evander Holyfield the first time they met.

"I honestly felt that when they announced the winner by unanimous decision, it was me," Ruiz said. "I felt hurt when they announced him as the winner."

Ruiz gets a second chance to get his hand raised in the ring with Holyfield when he meets the WBA heavyweight champion Saturday night in a scheduled 12-round rematch.

This time, he's taking no chances with the judges.

"Holyfield will come out, I'll come out, and we'll put on a great fight," Ruiz said. "But I know with my quickness I will take him out."

Ruiz, a journeyman heavyweight who was given little chance in the first fight Aug. 12, is a 2-1 underdog in the rematch, which is scheduled to begin about 11:30 p.m. ET at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. The fight will be televised on pay-per-view by Showtime Event Television.

Ruiz (36-4, 27 knockouts) understands his role as an underdog, but he believes people don't understand something about him -- that he can fight.

"I learned I deserved to be in the same category as these guys," Ruiz said. "Everybody considered me a "B" fighter at the time and that I shouldn't be in the ring with Holyfield."

Now that he's been in the ring with one of the greatest, though aging, heavyweights of his era, Ruiz sees himself taking it to the next level this time around.

"That first fight proved to myself and the world I could become champion," he said. "I want to become champion, that's my goal in life."

Standing in the way of that goal is Holyfield, who has the credentials of a four-time champion but who has looked suspect in recent years. Holyfield is 1-1-1 in his past three fights, but could easily be 0-3, and he hasn't stopped anyone since Michael Moorer in November 1997.

Not only is Holyfield's fighting ability increasingly suspect, so is the WBA title that he won only because it was taken from Lennox Lewis, who most of the boxing world considers the true heavyweight champion.

At the age of 38, Holyfield's time is running out, and he can't be too happy about spending most of the last year either training for or fighting a boxer like Ruiz.

"I was kind of embarrassed by that first performance," said Holyfield (37-4-1, 25 knockouts). "I'm better than that."

Ruiz, 29, would become the first Hispanic to hold a piece of the heavyweight title should he win. He knows, though, that any win might be tainted because of Holyfield's age.

"If I do beat him, it will definitely come up that he's over the hill and should have quit," Ruiz said. "I can't think of that because I know he'll come out at his best. To do anything else would be overlooking a champion."

Also on the card is a title fight between IBF bantamweight champion Tim Austin against No. 1 contender Jesus Perez. Austin (21-0-1), of Cincinnati, will be defending his 118-pound title for the sixth time. Perez, a Colombian, is 20-0-2.