What were some of Razor Ruddock's flaws as a boxer, and could he have been great?

In short. No, he was far too slow on his feet

 

How tall was this Canadian Power puncher?. was he of average height for someone his length or tallness?

 

No. If he had boxed more and used his jab he could of done better.But he went power mad like many others .Could of beaten quite a few fighters but also ran the risk of being Knocked out himself .exciting but risky

 

I remember Ruddock was supposed to have met undisputed champion Mike Tyson in November 1989 in Canada but Tyson apparently got an illness and pulled out. There were suspicions though that Tyson was pulled out because of the lack of public interest in a title defence against the then relatively unknown and lightly regarded Ruddock. It seemed that those suspicions had some truth to it with there was no rescheduled date and then it was announced that Tyson would be fighting next in Japan against Buster Douglas instead in feb 1990 and we all know what happened next .....

Interestingly, IIRC, the original previews for the Tyson/Ruddock that never was, beside giving Ruddock no chance at all as was the norm in those prime Tyson days, seem to describe Ruddock as a good boxer with a decent jab but there was no mention at all about him being much of a puncher, certainly not like the power mad free swinging left hooker that he was later to become.

 

Before he fell in love with The Smash, Ruddock could actually box pretty well and use his jab. But he seemed to lack ring intelligence and something was just "off" mentally. He could lose focus and get enticed into the other guy's game plan. Moreso than any physical asset or skill, he seemed to be lacking it above the shoulders.

 

Woah, I didn't think AJs arms were that short, Liston out ranged him

 

His low work rate also didn't help him out, especially against Tyson.

 

I followed his career pretty close because I was a fan of his. Yes I saw a lot of potential he had size 6 ft 3 and about 230 lb in shape. Good quickness good coordination very strong. Overall razor was a good athlete.
He did box pretty well pre Bonecrusher Smith but as others have noted he fell in love with his power the power of the left especially. He didn't want to do the hard work to set up that power that's where the hard work is setting it up, keeping your balance using both hands, mixing it up.
Throwing combinations went out the window. It was one big telegraphed left hook to go along with poor balance which is why you found himself on the canvas so often. Ruddock had a pretty solid chin actually. Usually he was on the canvas laughing about how he just went down.
His biggest mistake was after getting with Floyd Patterson he didn't fight often enough before he went to the very elite. The things he needed to improve would have taken time and practice under The lights perhaps against b and c level guys. Greg Page made him look bad even in defeat. The Razor made a lot of mistakes but the worst one the worst one was inactivity when you really had someone who could have helped him Floyd Patterson. When he fought Morrison I don't think he had been very active leading into that fight. So Razor Ruddock did not give hiself the best chance to win the heavyweight title. Far less talented fighters have won the title or a piece of the title at least.

He never learned how to relax in the ring. That is kind of the root of all of it

 

The first time I saw Razor was against Mike Weaver and he was trained by George Chuvalo. I thought he was a really decent 'boxer' with a future. Somewhere along the line Chuvalo was dropped or he left, i don't know, but the next time i saw Razor he was no longer boxing and he was left-uppercut crazy. It's like others said, he fell in love with the power instead of sticking with the fundamentals, which would have taken him further.

 

An interesting fact about Ruddock that some may not be aware off and something that may surprise quite a lot of fans is that for all his high profile fights and all the big names he fought against, he never actually had a world title fight in his entire career. Never fought for the heavyweight title at all. I was totally amazed when I found that out.

 

No trainer would have made a difference,imo he ignored his corners instructions.Floyd Patterson coached him for a while but gave up because he wouldn't use his jab ,he just wanted to "smash" everyone with that left.Razor was also somewhat stiff in the legs,which meant he was never that good a mover.