Okay, okay. I guess I should, since it's an important part of his personality, and one thing a shipper should always hold dear is the characters' personalities.
Warning to people who don't like spoilers: This post has 'em.
Ruby is Norman's son (but you all knew that). This causes problems, as Ruby dislikes Pokemon battling -- he thinks it is brutish, and he doesn't like getting his Pokemon dirty. Norman, of course, is a Gym Leader, and wants Ruby to become a powerful Pokemon battler like him. (He did relent and let Ruby enter Contests, but Ruby didn't know that until about a month later.) In volume 17, though, there's actually evidence that Ruby wanted to become a battler at one point in the past... what changed his mind is unknown. Anyway, Norman's insistence upon Ruby's becoming a battler is, in part, what caused Ruby to dislike battling so much. However, he's actually a very good trainer, probably because he was taught by a Gym Leader. He only battles when he has to and when nobody is watching, though -- for example, when he first met Sapphire, they were both attacked by a huge Seviper, and he refused to fight. At one point Ruby and Mr. Briney were attacked by a huge Crawdaunt, and Ruby wouldn't fight it until Mr. Briney was knocked out by it. That sort of thing.
Trying to be as nonjudgemental about the pairing as possible, I've also made an analysis of Sapphire's personality as it relates to battling. She's very gung-ho about battling, and tells Ruby when the first meet that she hates Pokemon that don't fight. Often, she mocks Contests, which she sees as an "odd" thing for a trainer to pursue. Background isn't given for her love for battling; she just likes Pokemon battles.
If you need to know any more, the first volume of the Hoenn series (#15) should be coming out in English in a few months, released by Chuang Yi. There's information in the manga forum about how to get it, even if you don't live in southeast Asia.