He is the cliche, the face of disregarding skill for power. "Razor" Ironic name indeed by the end it was more an insult almost- was there any with smash syndrome as severe as Donovan?
True above but in a way can you blame him? Getting the big, kos over Faded names got him a name and big money fights with Tyson. Thinking back, much like Cooney.
Baer Shavers Hearns Norris Trinidad Not sure if there's was more than Ruddock, but they sure fell in love with there power.
I think Naseem Hamed is a better example of a boxer who forsook his skillset for power. Ruddock, naturally, springs to mind, because his 'Smash' became a PR gimmick. He also, though a fairly solid practitioner, wasn't especially skilled to begin with, in my opinion.
I actually wouldn't compare him to Cooney. He boxed Young and truth be told old timers Norton and Lyle just folded. If anything he came out too conservatively against Holmes. His best bet was to get in early tho i don't think it would have made a difference. so it's not like he banged out a few guys then threw everything to the wind and slugged all the time.
Wilfredo Gomez cast aside quite a bit of his boxing skills as time went by but he still won fights. Edwin Rosario sometimes got a little trigger happy but it worked out pretty well for him except in the Ramirez rematch but he really did have him in some big trouble and it looked like he might even get him out of there. Spinks could get lazy at 175 as he outmatched most pretty badly and he'd just frig around until he got banged out of hibernation then dropped the hammer. He new he had the power to get almost anyone out of there. It's a strange case as he didn't so much bang away as simply lay back. When the big fights were up he was on point tho.
It's impressive when guys like Arguello, Lewis (Steward), Louis, Moore, Mustafa and say Liston for example maintain their form and patience even tho they have such big power at their disposal. They simply went about their business then BOOM.
But he did have that thing where it seemed his power ko s of the fading names got him noticed John. Ruddock, least for me, never hit the headlines till blowing out Dokes and Smith. Cooney got Young, Lyle and course Norton out. As for Cooney, your right, how ever he played it against Larry, it would have been a miracle him beating Holmes.
Wilder never had any skills, though, so he has nothing competing for his affection. Ruddock is said to have been a skilled fighter with a very sharp jab, hence "Razor".
