WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz has not fought since losing his title to Roy Jones Jr. on March 1. He'll get a chance to recapture the title Dec. 13 in Atlantic City against former WBC title holder Hasim Rahman.

Ruiz is expected to be in New York on Friday for a news conference to announce the fight with Rahman, the Boston Globe reported Thursday.

Ruiz and Rahman will fight for the "interim" WBA heavyweight title as part of a three-fight championship card promoted by Don King on HBO pay-per-view, according to the report.

Jones will fight light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver next month in an attempt to recapture the belts he gave up to challenge Ruiz. If Jones wins, he will have 120 days to negotiate a heavyweight title defense against the winner of the Ruiz-Rahman bout, or the title will be taken from Jones, the Globe reported.

If Jones loses his title, the Ruiz-Rahman winner would be allowed an optional title defense before facing David Tua.

Tua was originally to fight Rahman in a rematch of their draw, but became unavailable after firing his trainer and manager, Kevin Barry, amid accusations of financial improprieties, the Globe reported.

Barry and Tua, in a dispute over the contract in question, will try to resolve the business dealings while Ruiz and Rahman battle in the ring, the paper said. Ruiz, who went through a painful divorce while preparing for Jones, has yet to return to the gym.

"It's a tough fight for us," Norman Stone, Ruiz's manager, told the Globe. "Rahman is strong, he can punch, and he has a lot of experience. But we feel Johnny can wear him down with his jab. All John has to do is be right for this fight. He wasn't right for Jones and it showed. This is the most important fight of his life."

If Ruiz can defeat Rahman, he would be poised to return to the top of the heavyweight division, but a loss would likely mean an end to his contention for a heavyweight title, the paper said.

Ruiz will make only $300,000 to fight Rahman, after making more than $6 million total for three fights with Evander Holyfield, a title defense against Kirk Johnson and his loss to Jones, the paper reported.

"John wasn't happy about that but I told him, 'Look, you lost the fight. What do you want to do?' " Stone told the Globe. "I told him he didn't have to take it if he didn't want to but I had my fingers crossed."

Despite the sharp decline in pay, Ruiz accepted the Rahman fight because it is his best option to return to return to HBO and fight for the title he lost, the Globe reported.

If Jones decides to defend his heavyweight title, instead of returning to the 175-pound division, Ruiz, the first Latino heavyweight champion in history, will (with a win over Rahman) get a second chance at Jones, the paper said.

Rahman held the WBC title for five months after knocking out Lennox Lewis, before Lewis did the same to him in a one-sided rematch, according to the paper.

The championship card will also feature undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins defending his titles against former champion William Joppy and WBA and WBC welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga facing International Boxing Federation titleholder Cory Spinks in a unification fight, according to the report.