Donovan Ruddock vs Mike Tyson II

It was a good performance from Tyson too.
I'm just pointing out in most his fights that went a few rounds he'd go through periods of just wading in, one punch at a time, sometimes take a shot to land one. It was effective.
I think Tyson was in his prime for Ribalta.

Against Pinklon Thomas, Tyson uses head movement but it's predictable and really he just walks in bends left, bends right, or just charges with head down (butting) and actually gets hit quite a lot. He throws combinations, but often lands only one at a time. He clinches and butts, and coasts a bit, wearing his man down.
And still it's effective, and one of his best performances. A great 1st round, but he closes down already in the 2nd and it takes a few rounds for him to get consistent and bring out some flash of brilliance.

I think Tyson was great, but he was never as intense and constant with all the head-movement and combo-throwing as people make out he was (in his prime).

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u97Q916ayh8&feature=related[/ame]

 

I think Tyson overall is under a tremendous amount of scrutiny, especially by those who dont like him, which is a lot of people.
If you factor in his career from 85-91 or up until prison, which is really what I call Tyson's prime of his career, he lost once, against a technically pretty good fighter. It proved nothing of his vulnerability as so many people seem to say, because he had beaten better fighters than Douglas who had a very similar style. The only thing it proved was that he wasnt invincible and needed to stay in top shape. So having that type of career is great.
It is unclear how Tyson would have matched up to fighters like Lewis, Holyfield and Bowe at their best, but its clear to me his chances of winning would have been better had he faced them sometime in 88-89 when he was performing at his best under his original team, and against the top tier of the division.

 

I personally believe that Mike hit his groove starting in Nov '87 against Biggs through June '88 when he blitzed Spinks. Those four fights he was smooth, practiced and hungry despite the ever-increasing hoopla and turmoil surrounding him.

Think about it. He fought four high profile bouts in only a seven month span - all top ten guys with the titles on the line.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyklmNAK2wo[/ame]

 

Wasn't Tyson at his sharpest but he was game... both were. I honestly think Ruddock is a step up from any Tyson opponent at that point even if he fought dumb. It still might be Tyson's best win. Tyson's right hand was really working, and Ruddock was getting clocked by it constantly. Tyson knew this but he was sharp with it. The fights demonstrated Tyson could show great toughest, durability, and body-punching. Tyson's said to have gone head-hunting at this point but I didn't see him do body-work like that if memory is serving my correct.

 

Razor Ruddock was part pro and part con. Ruddock was a limited Hulk who owned great left hand power and a solid chin---until 1992.....

Ruddock was 228 for fight # 1 and 238 for fight # 2, but carried the extra weight well. Meanwhile, Mike Tyson was ripped at roughly 216 to 217 pounds for both fights.

I too, love both fights and I pop my tapes in every now and then for review but, it was clear by 1991 that Tyson was slipping himself. Tyson bob and weave was pretty much gone by the tender age of 24...... Against Ruddock in 1991, Tyson stood a wee bit too stiff and upright, and winged / zinged many shots in the process....

Still, in the end, Tyson's skills were still sharp enough to get past the hulking Ruddock, who relied way too much on the "Smash" to get the job done....

MR.BILL:bbb

 

If Tyson was a counterpuncher in there, he'd starch Ruddock with those huge defensive openings Razor left whenever he punched. That's all Lewis did to him--wait for Ruddock to throw that telegraphed jab and keep those hands low and stand there for the receipt. Lennos was waiting for it & caught him easily with the right hand and Ruddock never saw it and got hit clean.

Tyson wasn't a counterpunch guy and his attacking style didn't exploit those openings. A Holyfield or Bowe sure wouldn't have missed punches against a big target like Ruddock either.

 

One of the things I remember, maybe the difference maker, is that when Ruddock gets hit hard he covers up and waits to fire back. When Tyson got hit hard by Ruddock, he fired back straight away. He refused to let Ruddock mentally get on top of him. Ruddock was being smart, but Tyson was fired up.

In 'regular' rounds I had Tyson winning 8-4 strong, but all the point deductions were pretty crazy! Ruddock did actually close well and the 12th round was arguably his best. If he'd been busier perhaps he could've scored the upset, but if he'd been busier he might've been caught by something big in Tyson's earlier attacks.

Definitely a favourite, much better than the original I thought which was 5 rounds of Razor doing nothing before suddenly firing into life near the end of the 6th.

It was a very big-bang-wallop rock 'em sock 'em robots kind of fight.

 

tyson won the 2nd ruddock fight pretty handily but he looked disintrested i remember reading about 10 years ago that tyson called off the ist scheduled fight with ruddock in october 89 4 months before the douglas fight because he wanted to go trick and treating as it clashed with the fight which to me summed tyson up after splitting with rooney i think only rooney could motivate him he had no respect for any of the trainers after him .

 

I disagree. Ruddock had all the tools to beat Tyson, Lewis, Bowe, Holyfield, Mercer and practically all the other top contenders. The man never used the jab that got him his nickname and always tried to load up on the smash. Razor never showed the discipline to put his punches together in combinations and box with his legs. He would have had a much more celebrated career if he had focused on tightening up his combination punching.

 

so much for...to beat tyson you have to stand up to him and hit him back :rofl

i'm not saying you said this but i'm referring to those who have.

i also think that the above was a big difference between a young, active mike tyson vs. the one who fought lennox lewis. lewis was a greater puncher than ruddock but i think an 80s young mike tyson who fought 3-4 fights a year (conditioning) would have been able to take a big punch from lennox and come right back with his own. the tyson of 2002 fought 17 rounds in 5 years and had 2 years of lay offs - that destroys conditioning and ability to recover from a punch.

i wonder what this fight says about either ruddock's punching (not as good?) or tyson's ability to recover.

 

Ruddock had the tools and size to beat anybody at heavyweight, but, he lacked the skills........ Ruddock's skills were basic........ "Jab, Jab, Hook... Pause... Jab, right hand.. Jab, Jab, Jab and Smash off Jab........ Repeat.........

Ruddock was predictable as the rds mounted.........

MR.BILL