The Quiet Man finally had something to say. John Ruiz only wished Roy Jones Jr. was around to hear it.

"There's only one person I truly hate, and that's Roy Jones," Ruiz said. "And I've never really met the guy other than to fight him."

Critics will say Ruiz didn't even do much of that when he lost his piece of the heavyweight title in a March fight he spent 12 rounds sleepwalking through. Ruiz himself admits that he was so troubled with personal problems that he basically gave up in the ring.

Nine months later, Ruiz will get an opportunity to redeem himself Dec. 13 in Atlantic City, N.J., against Hasim Rahman in a fight that might get him his title back.

But that doesn't stop him about being bitter about the way Jones treated him before and after Jones beat him for the WBA title.

"There's a reason he's called Roy Jones Jr., and that's because he's not a real man yet," Ruiz said Thursday. "He's a great boxer, but as a person he's like dirt for doing to me the things he did."

Ruiz was particularly upset about the refusal of Jones to help promote the fight -- which was costly to Ruiz because he was working on a percentage basis while Jones had a $10 million guarantee no matter how many pay-per-views were sold.

He's also unhappy because Jones likely will never give him a rematch that Ruiz believes he deserves.

"I know he won't fight me again. That's reality," Ruiz said. "The thing I'm really upset with is I did everything I could to get that fight off. I promoted it and gave it all I could give. For him not to even give me that respect back, I don't respect him whatsoever."

Ruiz was considered by many a mediocre and unlikely heavyweight champion even before he met Jones. But after losing a lopsided decision in which he never really seemed to give it his all, Ruiz was vilified even by his fans.

Ruiz ran from the ring after the loss without speaking, living up to the "Quiet Man" nickname he has carried through his career. Now, he says he had a lot on his mind in the days leading up to the fight.

Ruiz and his wife were going through a stormy time, and they bickered in the days leading up to the fight. At what should have been the biggest moment of his life, he was depressed by marital problems to the point that he says he was distracted in the ring.

After the fight, the couple divorced.

"I should have realized I was not in the right frame of mind to go 12 rounds," he said. "I knew three days before the fight I wasn't going to be right. I had to swallow up all the feelings and emotions going through me and go out there and fight. It wore me out."

Ruiz' manager, Norman Stone, said Ruiz had been troubled by his personal problems for his two previous fights with Kirk Johnson and Evander Holyfield, as well.

"Physically he was there. But in his mind he was in Disney World," Stone said. "Lovesickness is the worst sickness in the world."

Ruiz got a break when managerial problems forced David Tua out of the Rahman fight and he replaced Tua. He and Rahman will meet for the interim WBA heavyweight title, with the winner becoming champion if Jones doesn't defend the title in the next four months.

Ruiz didn't make as much out of the Jones fight as he thought he would, and most of his earnings went to his former wife in the divorce. He won't make much to fight Rahman, either, but it is an opportunity to get back in the heavyweight mix.

He hopes to win back his fans at the same time.

"I hope the fans understand. I'm my own worst critic," Ruiz said. "I realize I was wrong for what I did, but some things can't be helped."