razor ruddock from 89 to 91 vs james douglas ???

Not if he forgets to fight behind his left jab, something he often did.

 

Buster leans in at some point and gets smashed.

 

Japanese version of the American Douglas vs the Canadian version of the Jamaican Ruddock.... hmmmm .. I think I'll go with Toronto Ruddock to beat Japanese Douglas. Buster found a way to take advantage of the size disparity against an unmotivated Tyson.. Wouldn't be the case against a large and very strong Razor who was fully focussed and had his sites set on getting the title.

 

Douglas on his best night would win. He could outbox Razor from a distance while Razor plodded looking for the big punch.

 

I can't believe why so many classic posters pick Ruddock against Tokyo Douglas.

Razor's main weapon was his left. Douglas at that time (89-90) wasn't hit clean by left hands against McCall, Berbick, Tyson and Holyfield (both have great left hooks). That shows he could neutralize that left. He was hittable with counter rights (McCall, Holyfield). And Ruddock's right hand wasn't that great.

Buster had better speed, footwork, far superior skills, and comparable chin. Ruddock a harder hitter, yes. I'd pick Tokyo Douglas by knock out.

 

Ruddock's left was more of an uppercut than just a mere hook. And its contrary to popular belief that it was his "only" weapon. Douglas could win it. But I don't know that I'm ready to make that judgement based on one night's performance and against a totally dissimilar opponent both physically and stylistically. Japanese Douglas was good. But over the stretch of 25 years he's outgrown Godzilla to mythical proportions.

 

I see your point, but Douglas ( if he fights like vs Tyson) won't give Ruddock many opportunities to land his smash. I've read that Ruddock was more a 'boxer' in the mid 80's, but in 89-91 he become more predictable (but more dangerous offencively at the same time).

 

what you've read is true. He opted more to box in his prospect days and abandoned that style to go for knockouts, which also proved to be pretty effective. Douglas fought an excellent fight that night in Tokyo. But too much is made of it. It was a one night shot only and some of that performance had just as much to do with the form that his opponent was in.

 

Ruddock was way overrated, and as predictable as death and taxes, he walks right in and loads up with the so called smash, he wasn't athletic, very fast, nor very bright, He couldn't make adjustments when he was losing, he had size so what, smaller men like Tyson, and Morrison were a lot smaller but harder tougher fighters, Lennox was around Ruddock's size and blasted him out in a round..

Tokyo Douglas would have waxed him, and at the very least won a lopsided Decision over him..

What was Ruddock's best win?? When he KO'd a chubby out of shape, coked up Dokes, who was about 7 years past his best?

 

The Douglas who beat Tyson would beat Ruddock I think. Douglas had more options at his disposal; although Ruddock had ability he did tend to be something of a 1 trick pony who fell in love with his power; this indicates a certain lack of ring intelligence to me. Razor also tended to lose the big ones...

 

:bbb

I don't necessarily disagree with you, I also think Douglas probably wins a decision though Ruddock could KO him at any point in the fight if he caught him clean.

The thing I don't tend to take stock in is you bringing up Ruddock vs Morrison. Ruddock was shot at this point.

If we are considering Ruddock vs Morrison as a measuring stick then we might as well throw Douglas being koed in 1 round by Lou Savarese in the mix.............

The OP said 89/91 Ruddock this Razor kos Morrison early. If he can stand and bang with Tyson for 12 rounds like he did in fight number 2 then Morrison isn't stopping him.

It wasn't just beating Dokes and Smith for Ruddock it was how he beat them. People thought he may have killed Dokes. And Smith who also owned an iron chin took quite a long nap as well. When Ruddock got you he got ya good. That coupled with the two wars with Tyson was what Ruddock was built on.

This is why all the top fighters of the day assumed he'd take over when Tyson went away. We obviously had no idea how good Lewis was going to end up being and Bowe as well for awhile. And of course we all eventually stopped selling that "blown up Cruiserweight" short as well in the recent future that was the 90's..

I'm going to say Buster does enough to win on points but only "Tokyo" Douglas. All other Busters get knocked out and in all honestly even "Tokyo" Douglas best be alert all night!!