...after not boring the hell out of us in each of their last fights, who would we make fun of?

Those three form a kind of holy trinity (that's clearly not a rabbi joke, Yuri) of boring boxing. At least, historically. But heavyweight Ruiz wasn't boring in his most recent appearance, and he's on a bit of a campaign to let people know he's "changed." Same for junior middleweights Foreman and Spinks -- not boring in their latest offerings.

Yet they all three get quips thrown their way for being boring, still. Ruiz is still the man who throws one punch, then hugs, per the cuddling he's doing in the picture at right. Foreman and Spinks are still the feather-fisted boxers who would rather run than hit.

Observe William Dettloff's latest from this week (and I'm not criticizing Bill, whose work I enjoy even as I occasionally disagree with him):

You have to admire the chutzpah of John Ruiz, who told Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole, “For some reason, I’m the guy who always gets bashed.” For “some” reason? Not for “some” reason. For this reason: Watching you is like watching a documentary on the feeding habits of giant squids. This is like the 300-pound girl who doesn’t understand why she can’t get a date. John, ever heard of a mirror?

Never mind that as of his last fight, watching Ruiz wasn't at all like watching a documentary on the feeding habits of giant squids. Never mind that I actually kind of want to see that documentary, because giant squids are neato.

I think we keep these people in our lives in this way because it's more fun. If Ruiz, Foreman and Spinks aren't sucking, where do we get to make or read jokes like that? Everybody loves reading a movie review that trashes the flick, like Roger Ebert's epic takedown of Transformers 2.

My thing, though, is I want to reward Ruiz, Foreman and Spinks for taking the criticism to heart and fighting in a way that's more pleasing to us, the fans. That's why I'm pointing out the positive trends here in each man's career, even if it's more fun to do it the other way.

So, Ruiz will still be the inspiration for Scott's "The Quiet Man Hug" column, but it's more a memorial award for career-long demeritorious service than how he is trying to go about his business these days. But other than that, or a recurrence of awfulness from any of those three men, my "anti-mockery of the trio" policy means we're missing someone to make fun of here for sucking now. Any nominees?

It's another inch deep, mile wide kind of February week for boxing, as the ratings giant (I'm not kidding) Winter Olympics surge forward. Maybe HBO and Showtime did know what they were doing not to go head-to-head with the likes of "The Flying Tomato," although I'd reason that the only overlap in audience for boxing and Winter Olympics would be that both ice dancing and middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik share a love of Linkin Park.

The last thing I criticize in boxing are quick stoppages. They have to be really bad. I would rather see someone lose a fight prematurely at the hands of a ref with a quick trigger than take a prolonged, dangerous beating at the hands of a ref who is too brave for anyone's good.

Rick Reeno's done some interesting reporting over at BoxingScene (usual caveats about clicking on BoxingScene links apply) on the monetary difficulties posed by the $1.25 million guaranteed minimums Golden Boy has promised junior welterweight Amir Khan. His latest piece takes the angle that HBO is to blame for that ridiculously high figure for a boxer who is completely unproven in America.

HBO has something to do with it, for sure. One has to wonder how much longer that deal HBO signed with Golden Boy for a set number of fights and dates will last. I can't imagine anyone likes the damn thing anymore, and nobody but HBO or Golden Boy ever thought it was a good idea from the start. But it makes it so Golden Boy can offer bigger minimums than other promoters based on the belief that HBO will pick up the tab. That, though, is where HBO's responsibility stops. HBO, you see, only offered $1.5 million for the entire May 15 Khan-Paulie Malignaggi show according to Reeno, and that put the fight in jeopardy.

Why would HBO offer more than $1.5 million unless it really had to? I'm not aware of the obligation HBO has to buy dates AND pay a specific high price. Golden Boy may have thought it could offer Khan such a big minimum based on its HBO deal, but it would have been unwise to assume HBO would pay any old price Golden Boy wanted -- unless HBO somehow committed itself to a blank, infinite check that I'm not aware of.

Look, Khan, as talented as he is and as much potential as he has, isn't a million dollar-plus boxer in the United States yet. His skill level, his Olympic pedigree, his top-notch trainer Freddie Roach and an interesting bio (Khan is a England-bred Muslim of Pakistani heritage) give him some of the ingredients of a future star here. But at the same time, he hasn't done much more than appear on a U.S. undercard or two, and until he fights and beats a big puncher, people here are going to be skeptical of whether that 1st round knockout loss in 2008 was more indicative of who he really is than the stellar 2009 he had, which came mostly against opposition that couldn't test his chin.

Golden Boy's HBO deal gives it a competitive advantage against other promoters to allow it to offer higher minimums, yes, and Golden Boy used that to sign Khan. But $1.25 mil is simply too high. HBO was a contributor to that. But Golden Boy assumed too much. It strikes me as everybody's problem. Everybody better hope Khan turns out to be worth the money and trouble, or there's going to be more than just this mess on their hands.

You know what I was watching tonight? The Winter Olympics. And let me tell you, speed skating DESTROYS boxing! I'm going to start a ice skating blog and kill TQBR. This'll be my last post ever, and naturally it's a wrap-up of all the so-so boxing cards from this weekend, other than the Friday Night Fights show. Here we go with boxing results today; tomorrow, it's all Johnny Weir, all the time:

• On the mysterious network HBO Plus, which is harder to find on your television dial than "Wheel of Fish," featherweight Daniel Ponce De Leon knocked out Orlando Cruz in three Saturday. De Leon is kind of a force of nature, and Cruz has some ability, but force of nature won out. De Leon's win gives him a vacant alphabet belt, and sets him up for a potential fight with Elio Rojas, the WBC titlist in the division. On the undercard, junior welterweight Lucas Matthysse put to rest any notion of the idea that Vivian Harris could ever again make it to the "contender" level, knocking out Harris in four. Harris' self-belief is commendable, but dude should have recognized he was shot a couple fights ago and taken the biggest paycheck he could've then called it quits. Matthysse may or may not be more than your typical South American puncher with a trumped-up record, but the truth wasn't exposed by Harris.
• The aforementioned Rojas scored an easy unanimous decision over Guty Espadas Jr., which makes perfect sense. I can't say I have a real strong sense of how good Rojas is, but I do think that the winner of De Leon-Rojas would be positioning himself as a real player in a deep division that includes Chris John, Juan Manuel Lopez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and others.
• Also Saturday, junior flyweight Giovanni Segura and lightweight Urbano Antillon delivered quick knockouts over their overmatched opponents on Fox Sports Net, a card that, for all the FSN channels I have, I couldn't locate this evening. Antillon probably needs some more rebuilding before stepping up against contender-quality opposition, but this is a start. Segura, meanwhile, needs to get in there with someone legit. Segura called out Ivan Calderon after the fight, and it's the best fight in the division, but Calderon may have a mandatory title challenger to dispense with first.
• On Telemundo Friday, bantamweight William Gonzalez defeated Jesus Vazquez by wide decision. It doesn't mean much more than that. I just mention Gonzalez because I like him for being in good fights. Maybe this puts him in position for another meaningful bout. Other things went down on Telemundo, too. (I like Edner Cherry too, so it was good to see the lightweight win this weekend also, and maybe this plan of moving down to junior lightweight can be profitable.)

Top prospect Shawn Porter had a rough go of it from Russell Jordan for a variety of reasons on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights, but ultimately was the better junior middleweight, emerging with a unanimous decision that was closer to the two 97-92 scorecards than the 100-89 scorecard.

Jordan on paper didn't figure to be such a tough out. He'd been knocked out a number of times, including in his last fight by light-punching Luis Collazo, and he hadn't been in the ring in 17 months. But Jordan -- perhaps benefitting from a rare eight-week training camp for an FNF "opponent," a trend I can get behind -- proved a little more formidable than his record suggested. His 6'2" height gave the stocky 5'7" Porter fits, and with his ducking and repeated tying up, Jordan broke Porter's rhythm. What's more, he had a nice short right hook on the inside that a couple times, especially in the 2nd, had Porter backing up or even on wobbly legs -- a disincentive for Porter to get on the inside where he needed to be. An unwarranted point deduction for losing his mouthpiece hurt Jordan's chances of winning, but didn't prove decisive; geez, the thing only fell out twice, and once was from a big left hook by Porter, so it's not like the guy was trying to get a reprieve.

The 22-year-old Porter, for his part, started way too hot, perhaps feeling the pressure of being in a televised main event before his hometown Cleveland fans. He was bouncing around needlessly, which made it easier for Jordan to anticipate when he would stop and throw, and he kept his hands too low, which made him easier to hit. But Porter had a big hand speed advantage, and as the fight wore on and he settled down, he finally began finding his target more reliably, winning most of the late rounds definitively compared to a number of difficult-to-score early rounds. He also fought well through a cut, always a good sign.

Maybe people will look at this as a setback for Porter, but I won't. This was a learning experience. This was an opportunity to find out what he needed to work on, and now he should know a bit. Every prospect needs to get tested. Just because it came earlier for Porter than expected doesn't make it a bad thing -- his opponent proved to have more mettle than expected as much as Porter proved that he's got some holes in his game.

On the undercard, late-starting 27-year-old welterweight prospect Lanard Lane looked very good against his own game opponent, Martin Tucker.  Lane scored a unanimous decision that should have been wide but was fairly close on the scorecards (77-75, 78-74, 80-71), which maybe had something to do with Tucker being from Toledo. The fight became increasingly taxing on Tucker, to the point that maybe someone should have stopped it in the 7th round, when Lane was really putting on a combination-punching exhibit. Tucker was tough and never fought like he was trying to survive or like he thought he was going to lose, and I'd like to see him (and Jordan, too) get himself another good payday because of his effort. Lane fought with a ton of poise in his second televised undercard appearance, the first being a knockout win on ShoBox. Lane may not have a whole bunch of natural power, but he's got speed and he's very accurate, and he's a go-getter without taking unnecessary risks, which was too much for Tucker.  This Lane fellow's worth keeping an eye on.

Because I haven't had too many ganders at Manny Pacquiao's hoops game, I was pleased to watch this video -- even though that Elie Seckbach guy and his film "crew" (in this video and others) spend a bit too much time for my tastes asking people what they think of Elie Seckbach. Pacquiao's got a hitch in his jumper with that little kick, and I'm not sure why he was overdribbling so much on the perimeter in that one scene, and I'm guessing he doesn't take it to the basket that often because he's worried about rolling an ankle, but it's clear he can hit those threes. I'd want him on my team, although I'd prefer him to pass it to me every now and then, and that's clearly no guarantee. Anyway, good fun.

That's that, then. There are other Quick Jabs that await, like some news about the trainer carousel, an update on the TQBR App, fights in the works for Ivan Calderon, Joseph Agbeko and others, plus a bit more besides.

What's the best heavyweight fight you've seen lately? Chris Arreola-Brian Minto, maybe, in December? Martin Rogan-Matt Skelton, perhaps, back in March? Fun fights, both. But of negligible consequence.

Consequence in the heavyweight division -- we've had a little of that, too. Wladimir Klitschko-Ruslan Chagaev last summer for the Ring magazine lineal championship had meaning. Klitschko-Sultan Ibragimov in 2008 had some meaning, if you care about alphabet title unification fights. But both fights were boring to the point of catastrophe.

So it's mildly good news that for the first time since Lamon Brewster-Sergei Liakhovich in 2006 -- by my memory's tally -- we'll get a heavyweight fight that shapes up on paper as having both meaning and thrills. Arreola is set to rumble April 24 with Tomasz Adamek, with the official announcement expected Friday. Arreola is the #6 heavyweight in the Ring rankings, and Adamek is the cruiserweight champ who's won two good fights as a heavy. Each of them have skill, and each of them are action stars who have been in wars that warranted Fight of the Year consideration.

I say mildly good news because... think of it this way: Is heavyweight the only division where you can get both good and meaningful fights once every four years? Admittedly, that's not quite the rate -- Lennox Lewis-Vitali Klitschko was in 2003, so let's round it up to once every 3.5 years -- but it's not encouraging. Run down the divisions mentally and I bet you can think of meaningful action fights in every division, except maybe strawweight, at least once a year or once every other year.

Dan P. and Scott Kraus recently convinced me in a discussion in the comments section that the heavyweight division is probably on an upward arc more than a downward one. Yes, the Klitschko brothers both still rule the division with a ruthlessly numbing albeit efficient use of exceptional height and the know-how for employing it, and there's no evidence that they'll stop mowing down everyone in the weight class anytime soon. But there's a second tier of pretty good heavyweights who aren't so giant-sized and often are quite fun to watch, like Arreola, Adamek, David Haye, Alexander Povetkin and some others. Many of them are young and have their best years ahead of them.

So as happy as I am to have a good fight like Arreola-Adamek lined up, and as much as I'm tempted to think, "Maybe this is the fight that starts the turnaround of the division," I'm not going to. For one, maybe it doesn't end up being as good as it looks on paper -- Adamek's relatively untested at heavyweight, and he may want to play keep-away from Arreola's power, for instance. But for another thing, every time I've gotten optimistic about the heavies, they've let me down.

For now, I'm simply going to be happy that the big boys are hosting a corker of a bout between quality boxers. Sometimes, a good and meaningful fight is nothing more than a good and meaningful fight, however rarely it may come in the division that once was almost synonymous with the sport.

It's been a slow start to 2010 as far as meaningful fights go, but it's hot on the knockout front.

For your viewing pleasure, I provide you the following:

Kevin Mitchell-Ignacio Mendoza (lightweight) -- Observe how Mitchell over the weekend lifted Mendoza off the ground with that right hand/left hand combo.

Nonito Donaire-Manuel Vargas (junior bantamweight) -- A mismatch, but I love the hippity-hoppity move, followed by the left uppercut, also from this past weekend, on the Top Rank pay-per-view. Not so hot quality footage.

Freddy Hernandez-DeMarcus Corley (welterweight) -- Corley's collapse was epic. From two weekends ago on Showtime's ShoBox.

Ed Paredes-Joey Hernandez II (welterweight) -- Everyone's favorite so far, I think. From ESPN2's Friday Night Fights, Feb. 5.

Guillermo Rigondeaux-Adolfo Landeros (junior featherweight) -- Another mismatch, which makes it less awesome, but I love body shot KOs. Same night as Paredes-Hernandez II.

Roman Karmazin-Dionisio Miranda (middleweight) -- The late-fight comeback made it stand out, but it was pretty solid out of context, too. From FNF on Jan. 8.

There we have it. Our prediction game's trial run has ended just as it began: with Team Spidershark doing a little of what Paul Williams trainer George Peterson would (creepily) call the "spank butt business."

I promised the winner of the trial run a (very) small prize. Besides the big name in the headline, I've decided to make that prize one of the highest honors one can obtain at TQBR: The picture below, which also happens to have a tie-in to TSS' team name.

So everyone congratulate Team Spidershark.

Also, everyone ought to throw some congrats out to the man who won 2nd place -- Alexmac, who came within 100 points of tying for the #1 spot. By my tally, only TSS and AM went six for six in their predictions.

A "congrats of the week" ought to go to The Queensberry Fools, as team captain Eugene Dammrod got the maximum possible points -- 1300 -- for accurately calling the precise manner in which bantamweight Eric Morel and featherweight Bernabe Concepcion would defeat Gerry Penalosa and Mario Santiago, respectively, PLUS he got the upset call for picking Concepcion.

I went with Graham Houston's numbers on who the underdogs were, and this was a good week to pick up upset bonus points, since both fights were very evenly matched. Nineteen people picked Concepcion for the successful bonus points hookup; only four people got the exact results right for either of the fights, though.

So here's the deal going forward: The prediction league idea was enough of a success that we'll do it again -- although from the standpoint of ongoing viability, it was worrisome to me that some people made predictions sometimes and not others -- only we'll do it for 12 fights instead of six. That'll give everyone more time to play catch-up if they get behind, or to screw up if they're one of the geniuses who got every call right this time 'round.

We'll also modify the points structure just a little, to give, say, 50 points to anyone who accurately calls whether it'll be a KO or a decision. And I expect the winner of the 12-rounder will get an actual, real, substantial prize. (Chris, I ain't forgot you on that Ali poster from the contest you won -- I just am slow in delivering.)

When things start up again -- probably for the Feb. 27 Marvin Sonsona-Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. junior featherweight bout -- I'll remind you of all this stuff. Any other suggestions on how we can make this all more fun?

For now, here are your final standings; alert me to any errors, please, and I'll adjudicate: