Lets talk Donovan Ruddock

In hindsight, yes.


At the time, no one in the media was talking about Doke's being a depleted entity. They were talking about Ruddock's destruction of him, heralding in a new heavyweight threat.

More to the topic of Ruddock... If memory serves, watching him evolve he seemed to drop his fundamentals and rely too much on The Smash. Also, he seemed to lose interest in his career just showing up when he needed cash. I guess two fights with Tyson will do that to you.

 

Damn shame he never met Iran Barkley during their overlapping late 90's HW campaigns.

 

No according to you Tyson was still in his prime after 5 years in prison.
Ruddock was in his prime and in perfect shape, he got the **** beat out of him for 19 rounds against Mike Tyson, he obviously wasnt going to be the same afterwards.

Tysons record with Kevin Rooney was 37-0, 2 fights later after leaving rooney, he was collecting his gumshield and his ass off the floor.
A whole 2 years passed from Spinks to Douglas, Tyson had 8 months inactivity from Spinks to Bruno and from Bruno to Douglas, he boxed one round against Williams, on top of that he went through divorce, depression and reported suicide attempt. 2 years in boxing is a long time. I never said Tyson wasnt in his prime against Douglas, but he definitely wasnt at his PEAK. If you cant notice the decline in skills, then you shouldnt be commenting on this thread at all.

Thats because after the Douglas loss, he began to take his career a bit more seriously again and got himself back in terrific shape, he wante dhis titles back. If anything, the Douglas loss reinvigorated him

He destroyed Bruno in 96 because a) Bruno was not the same fighter he was in 89 b) Bruno did not offer any resistance c) Tyson mentally owns Bruno. Beating a poorer version of guy youve already beat does not mean anything.

Razor Ruddock isnt Larry Holmes and Larry Holmes isnt Razor Ruddock, if i have to point out to you that fighters age differently then mauybe you shouldnt be posting on here.
If Holmes was completely shot, then what are his performances against Mercer and Holyfield, despite being even much older?

Ali was put on his ass by Henry Cooper of all people so he isnt quite the superman you make him out to be, despite having comparable opposition before their exiles, id say Tyson performed much better against his.

 

True.

Whether Razor Ruddock had boxing skills in the gym or not I cant say but when the lights were on and the pressure was there he resorted to throwing that telegraphed left Hook/Upper. The better fighters could see it coming and it also left Ruddock off balance and open to counter punches.

Ruddock had the physical tools to be great. I don't believe he was ever comfortable in the boxing ring. He was the opposite to Roberto Duran in the sense that he wasn't relaxed and able to think in the ring.

He was a smart guy outside the ring but inside he always was trying to end the fight the easy way with one big haymaker. Its tempting like a home run hitter always swinging for the fences.

It takes patience and poise to set up your attack with the jab and a good two handed attack. His trainers just couldn't reach him. God knows Floyd Patterson tried though I think putting Ruddock in with Lennox Lewis after only two fights was a mistake. He needed to build his confidence up from the Tyson fights and really apply what Floyd was teaching him.

 

Ruddock was a one armed fighter. He barely used his righthand at all. Good timing with his left power shots and a big strong guy. Carried him far in the division but never close to being ATG.

 

lets not

 

Ken Norton had no ****ing chin, Tyson would have disposed of him just as fast as Foreman

The fact that you cant accept (or refuse to accept) that Foreman was slower than holmes shows you know **** all about boxing and should not be commenting on here

no point debating with a moron like you anymore

 

his left hook/uppercut was something else. Tyson had guts to fight him.

 

Would you like me to start a poll to see who was faster Holmes or Foreman?

If Holmes wins, you should log off and **** off

 

Excellent contender. Good power. the 90s was seemed full of guys like this, excellent punchers, scoring great KOs aswell as great champs like Holyfield, Bowe and Lewis.

 

He had a lot of tools but he locked himself out of the shed on numerous occasions. Then he tried to use his hammer for screwing and sawing and...planing and all kinds of something. And people would be like "Stop trying to hammer that screw!" and he'd be all "I loves my hammer, *****! :fire" and then people would be like "How can you speak with emoticons?" and he would ignore them.

 

...nobody?