I would say Razor Ruddock scores pretty high for that description. Bonecrusher Smith too. Clifford Ettiene. Frans Botha. Frank Bruno. Brian Nielsen. I don’t think Tua was above that level.
Not exactly. But nobody ever is exactly alike are they? I think Ettienne was close though. Close enough. This content is protected Besides you only said a big come forward slugger with massive punching power. Bonecrusher, Bruno, Ruddock definitely qualify.
Clifford didn't either. Not even close to the punching power, chin and workrate. Tua also went to the body hard and often, Tyson didn't like it in the bread basket.
A combination of all the fighters mentioned at least represent the sum total of Tua. Clearly Tua was a huge puncher ... until it counted. How come he couldn’t knockout Lennox Lewis when McCall and Rahman did? And what do you base his chin on? Who was the best puncher to check Tuas whiskers?
It didn’t mean as much to Tyson when he was beating Carl Williams, Lou Saverese, Mitch Green, Tony Tucker, Tyrell Biggs who all had the same height at reach that Tua could not overcome. If we are making comparisons here between two guys with similar height and reach to each other it seems to me the one who can solve a certain problems easier has the edge over a rival closer to his own size.
Etienne as Tua is a reach but I agree that the Ruddock, Bruno, and Smith fights answer more questions about prime Tyson than his critics are willing to admit.
Tua and Mike meet in the center of the ring and commence hooking. Mike lands first but Tua barely reacts. Tua puts Tyson down with a brilliant 47 punch body/head combination. Tyson is flat on the canvas and as the count reaches 8 he crawls out of the ring crying. That night at his consolation party, as Bobby Czyz is waxing his helmet, Tupac Shaker fans burst in and shoot Mike dead. Czyz screams, finishes up and is later state witness for the prosecution.
The same procedure as every month, chok. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/who-was-the-biggest-fighter-of-these-three.625244/
When Ruiz won: "if he wasn't so fat he'd be the same weight as Rocky, i e Rocky could beat Joshua." When Ruiz loses: "He outweighed AJ by 45 lbs and lost - just goes to show that size means nothing. I e Rocky could beat anyone."
Cognitive dissonance. It happens all the time with rocky supporters. They cant seem to make up their mind if weight matters or not. When its inconvenient, weight is no big deal and what matters is skill, heart, stamina, etc. When its convenient they use bizarre talking points like rocky cutting weight to get down to 185 and that he'd easily be 210+ with modern training methods. I thought weight was no big deal? Even if he were in shape, Ruiz wouldn't be anywhere near 185. One only has to look at his thick ankles (im guessing size 13 shoes bare minimum), broad back, big head and thick neck to see that he's a naturally robust man with an endomorphic build. Anything below 205 and his ribs would probably be sticking out. He's also 6'2 with a 74' reach so I'm failing to see why a comparison to the 5'10 68' reach rocky was ever made in the first place. Style wise they are completely different. Ruiz slowly stalks his opponent with a high guard. He utilizes fast hands, flurries, good counters, and times his opponent with patience. Rocky is an aggressive body puncher and a slugger whose more than happy to be lax with defense if it means landing one of his own. He will batter his opponent even when they're blocking to apply non stop pressure. Ruiz is much more patient and doesn't open up recklessly. The only similarities are that they have solid chins and were born on the same month!
