I haven't seen his early fights, so can't really say. Only watched his fights against Dokes, Tyson, Lewis and Morrison.
Tyson later on moved away from looking for combinations consistently and became more geared towards looking for a big bomb to land
He looked like he was improving quite a bit when he won the vacant title against Stiverne and a couple fights after that but then he got it in his little head that it would be better to just swing for the fences and all the progress went away.
It got him noticed for sure Fergy but i don't believe it caused him to "disregard his skill". Ruddock was a jabber/boxer type early career and did leave it all behind. Take a look at the Weaver fight. Having said that his best wins and performances were actually mostly after he did gain that confidence and aggression.
I almost mentioned that. It's sorta a touch blurry tho but it did happen for whatever reason i.e. no Rooney/discipline etc. It's almost a case of he devolved as a fighter so was only left with that to fall back on if i somehow make sense.
Lemieux is a good one. I watched early fights of his and it seems to me that he was more skilled back in the day and not so reliant on his lightning bolt power to win fights.
He's more skilled then given credit for but let's not confuse him for a technical boxer. But Wilder would be the only other heavyweight that I think would fit the bill of falling in love with his power. He's probably a fighter that could have seriously benefited from the services of the late Emmanuel Stewart. Same with Ruddock who had an underdeveloped right hand.
I just have the Weaver bout, fresh in my mind, as I caught sight of it again recently. Solid, but not especially skilled, at this point, I'd say. Although, he had super fast hands, to be fair, and his jab was very sharp, when he started to get it going. I think he's a guy who showed great potential, but his 'power ego' stunted his development. So, perhaps in effect, he went from being still a tad green to 'Smash' crazy, almost overnight.
Never understood why guys would just rely on power like Ruddock That might work against lesser competition when you begin your career but as you progress it will always take more than power to win
I personally don't feel Tyson is a great example, even though his skills did diminish, particularly after Holy 2. As late as the Golota fight he did show off a good toolbox, though.
Ruddock had decent skill. As said, sharp jab, fast hands (not a skill per se, but you get me) decent arsenal of punches. I remember when Floyd Patterson was training him, they wanted to get back to him using his right hand and getting back to strong fundamentals. Didn't work out. Ruddock had the IQ of a doorknob.
