Razor Ruddock vs David Tua

Ruddock by ud, tua lost to Byrd and barrett

 

Their resumes are pretty close. Both have 4 wins over world champions (beltholders)

Ruddock beat Weaver, Smith, Dokes, Page (all of them were past prime)

Tua beat Maskaev, Rahman (in both cases he was outboxed till the late rounds), Ruiz and Moorer (who was clearly past prime).

Ruddock also beat Gross, Broad, Jackson
Tua beat Oquendo, Izon, Sullivan, Nickolson and some others

Both hit pretty hard.

The difference was chin, Ruddock chin was Ok, but nothing special.

He was knocked down and hurt badly vs Smith, knocked down 4 times vs Tyson, 3 times vs Lennox, 3 times (2 of them standing counts) vs Morrison.

Ruddock was knocked down by Tyson left hook and Morrison left hook who almost decapitated him.

Tua's best punch is left hook.

Tua on his side was never knocked down till the late stages of his career.

Tua fought Lennox who dropped Razor hard 3 times, and was hit by Lewis' hard shots and never was hurt.

So I'd pick Tua by late (10-12 rd) KO, while clearly losing on points. Tua lands left hook, hurts Ruddock and finishes him in the corner or referee stops it to save Ruddock from punishment.

 

Ruddock of 91 on points for me. Tua was a bit overrated imo. If Tyson couldn't remove Ruddock after than beating I don't think Tua could. He might hit harder but no where near the skill level or combination punching.

 

Tyson that fought Ruddock is still a better fighter than prime Tua. Both fighters at the time proof they're capable of absorbing huge punches and went to full 12 rounds. Although Ruddock seems to be finished physically after the second bout.

Ruddock was at his very best when he fought Tyson. He took every hard shots by Mike and never get stopped, although it must have cost him his punching resistence after that fight.

Tua never really charge forward when he fought Lewis, which is why he survived for 12 rounds. Its not like he pressed Lewis and stunned him many times like Mercer did.

 

Tua did press forward throughout the fight he just didn't have the skills to do anything about it. I watched the highlights the other day and Lewis hit him with some beauties and he ate them up much better than Tyson did against Lennox. Tua also carried his power late better than Tyson who tended to run out of steam which took some sting out of his shots. It's either Ruddock on points or a late Tua knockout for me.

 

donovan ruddock via dec / styles make fights / tua in his prime struggled horribly with jeff wooden/masquev/rahman /izon/ if ruddock fought a smart fight and pushed tua back (ala foreman did to frazier ) ..instead of head hunting and aming that uppercut to the solor plexis and throwing heavy hooks to tuas body / it would really stop tuas wanting to fite on the inside (tua got hurt badly by feather fisted c byrd when byrd went to tuas body ) ......if ruddock followed and watched videos of the 2nd foreman v frazier fight ...and used that game plan against tua he would win ......and tuas so much easier to hit then tyson ....

 

Ruddock has the advantage in height, speed, reach, and heart. Yes, heart. He was dropped by smith and got off the floor to win by brutal knockout. He went 12 rounds with a prime mike tyson for crying out loud.

Morrison and Lewis had to pound on him with their best shots over and over to take him out. Lewis did it by cathing him with just the right leverage at the perfect angle--he didnt see it coming. Tua was no precision puncher nor was he a good combination puncher. He fell in love with his hook and fished for it every single time knowing he could walk through most guys punches.

I will say tua has the obvious chin and cardio advantage. His thrilling bout with ike speaks for itself. However, be could very easily be outboxed as lewis and byrd showed.

So its basically this: if ruddock cant take him out within 5 rounds hed better conserve his energy and outbox tua. If he goes to war or empties his gas tank trying to get him out of there he himself might get ktfo.

My money would be on ruddock by split decision over 12 after getting off the floor once 6 times out of 10. Both men would be battered, bruised and swelling. Either has a punchers chance for a knockout obviously but tua struggled with guys much taller with reach who also had power. Only way tua gets a knockout is if ruddock blows his tank or fights stupid.

 

A gruelling one this one. So dangerous for razor against tua. Can see ruddock going all out in first few rounds trying to land the # smash # and tua been hurt by it. But somewhere in middle round s tua gets through with a savage left and ruddock goes down. His legs will be gone and ref jumps in.

 

U have to factor in tua chin v razors. Tua could take a bit of bigger punch than ruddock could. Ruddock would go in there blasting, it would wobble tua but would be donavon that as the ref helping him up

 

Id argue that Tuas chin is (slightly) overrated. Lewis didn't really dish out the same kind of punishment against Tua that he did on Ruddock. Vs Tua, Lewis just jabbed and moved while Tua plodded along. Against Ruddock,l Lewis went all out.

Also, Ruddock much bigger punchers than Tua did. Ruddock fought Tyson, Smith, Morrison and Lewis, Tua has Lewis and Ike.

 

Tell me more about this video evidence.

 

I don't think it's just a case of ruddock having a bad chin, but a balance issue. When he was caught by a lot of punches he was throwing those far out upper cuts and he always seemed to be to be off balance. So he suffered more knock downs

 

TUA TKO 8

 

Tua KO 5

 

Tua before 6 in a war, Razor isnt going to play safe and outjab Tua.