Razor Ruddock's career.

[mr. magoo]

Donovan " Razor " Ruddock, was a canadian/Jamaican heavyweight who's career stretched from 1982-2001, with periodic breaks of innactivity in between.

Originally known as a prospect with reasonable boxing ability, Ruddock soon discovered that he actually had power in both hands, but particularly his left, and decided to abandon his boxer style to proceed the latter half of his career as a puncher.

Between 1986 and 1990, he accumulated wins over James Broad, Mike Weaver, Boncrusher Smith and Michael Dokes. All of these men were well past their primes however, but nevertheless, Ruddock managed to earn a #2 ranking by mid 1991.

Upon breaching the heavyweight picture of the early 90's, Razor received a title elimination match against former champ Mike Tyson. The winner would challenge reigning champ Evander Holyfield, who was currently in a super pay day fight with George Foreman. Ruddock lost in his first attempt at beating Tyson, when veteran referee Richard Steele stepped in, resulting in absolute pandamonium. In the second match Ruddock and Tyson fought it out to the scorecards, and the decision went to the former champ.

Over the next 16 months, Ruddock would pick up wins over former champion Greg Page and 24-0 prospect Phil Jackson. He was heavily favored to beat top contender/prospect Lennox Lewis but much to most people's surprise, was bested in a mere 2 rounds.

Razor's career fell to rock bottom at this point. over the next 2 1/2 years he would fight but once against a Journeyman, and eventually got a good fight against contender Tommy Morrison in 1995. Although he fought galantly, Ruddock was stopped by the Duke in round 6. In the years that followed, Donovan picked up 10 straight wins against second rate opposition and retired in 2001.

I ask this question of other authors. Was Donovan Ruddock really a fighter who could have had an impact in most of your more competitive eras, or was he just a product of good timing? The reason I ask, is that his best wins came against fighters who were very well past the prime stages in their careers, and when given his ticket shots, failed against Tyson and Lewis. What's more, he was floored by an aging Smith, and beaten by Jaco and Morrison.


THoughts?

[Russell]

He lost to Jaco because of an asthma attack. No shame in that.

He floored Morrion in their fight. Wasn't a one sided thrashing ala Morrison/Tillis.

And it's not like he eeked out wins against the likes of Dokes. He absolutely slaughtered the man.

[anut]

i think ruddock was the most feared heavyweight of the late 80s early 90s........lots of fighters didnt fight him for a reason.....tucker avoided him...c williams avoided him......foreman avoided him.....witherspoon avoided him....bowe opted do fight coetzer instead of fighting ruddock for the wba eliminition....and went for the ibf eliminator with coetzer instead...... even tua ducked him in 99.....i think he took too much time off after lewis knocked him out......instead of fighting a few stiffs to gain confidence.....he fout morrison to quick and he looked outta shape and puffy.......but ruddock waas exciting....and never ducked anybody.....he didnt have too fight lewis for the wbc eliminator...he was already ranked #1.....so ruddock never took the easy way......

[Boilermaker]

Originally Posted by anut

i think ruddock was the most feared heavyweight of the late 80s early 90s........lots of fighters didnt fight him for a reason.....tucker avoided him...c williams avoided him......foreman avoided him.....witherspoon avoided him....bowe opted do fight coetzer instead of fighting ruddock for the wba eliminition....and went for the ibf eliminator with coetzer instead...... even tua ducked him in 99.....i think he took too much time off after lewis knocked him out......instead of fighting a few stiffs to gain confidence.....he fout morrison to quick and he looked outta shape and puffy.......but ruddock waas exciting....and never ducked anybody.....he didnt have too fight lewis for the wbc eliminator...he was already ranked #1.....so ruddock never took the easy way......

With all these good fighters ducking him, it means that he didnt really beat that many. He put up a good fight against tyson, but was really comprehensively beaten, and it wasnt the best Tyson ever (though still was quite good). The reality is that tyson was somewhere aroung the top 10-15 fighters in the Late 80s/early 90s era. by my count, on a logical basis this makes him about a top 150 fighter of all time. I have never done a list that big, but i think he would fairly rate somewhere between 150 and 200 on my list.