Moore can be seen on camera, angry & denying that Foreman had a plan, that it was just a lucky shot. That is absurd. It is said above Foreman announced his plan before the fight, & Atlas told him to stay away. In fact, you can hear Atlas screaming at his fighter within about 10 seconds before he was iced " "Don't stand in front of him". This kind of approach is why Ruddock would likely lose to Foreman too.
I was hoping you wouldn't take it personally mate. I try to be fair. Sometimes i'm right, sometimes i'm wrong lol
Well I do agree with half of your post. Ruddock is propped up by some Tyson fans but I think it's warranted. I thought he had some good speed for a big heavyweight who wound up his shots. He missed Tyson with the "smash" by inches in that first 5 seconds in their first bout that woke Mike up immediately. He also had great determination. I agree he lost some ring smarts and opted for the powerpuncher label. But he was extremely dangerous and a threat to anyone at that time. Old Foreman mastered pacing himself and would probably catch Ruddock with big shots from time to time. I just can't see Foreman shaking off too many of Ruddock's bombs. Sandman's about to get me but I'd love to continue this tomorrow.
Oops, sorry man, my post was all over the place. But you understood anyways. Thanks for the reply. How do you think Ruddock in this time frame (1990-1991) does against the other 90's heavyweight hopefuls like Ray Mercer, Michael Moorer, Alex Stewart and even Frank Bruno?
I disagree that Ruddock was a "one trick pony", he was actually quite a formidable boxer before he fell in love with his power.
This is how I feel about Old Foreman compared to similar contemporaries (Rahman, McCall, and Smith) Best win: 1. Rahman--4 points (Lewis, undisputed) 2. McCall--3 points (Lewis, young) 3. Foreman--2 points (Moorer, lineal) 4. Smith--1 point (Witherspoon) Supporting top 3 wins: 1. Smith--4 points (Bruno, Weaver, Bey) 2. McCall--3 points (Holmes, Akinwande, Damiani) 3. Rahman--2 points (Sanders, Barret, Meehan or draw with Toney) 4. Foreman--1 point (Stewart, Savarese, Rodrigues of disputed win over Schultz) Relevant loses: 1. Rahman--Subtract 4 (Maskaev x2, Tua, Holyfield, Lewis, Ruiz) 2. Smith--Subtract 3 (Holmes, Tubbs, Spoon, Frazier, Tyson, Rodrigues SD, Ruddock) 3. McCall--Subtract 2 (Douglas, Norris SD, Lewis, Tucker SD, Bruno) 4. Foreman--Subtract 1 (Holyfield, Briggs disputed, Morrison) Totals: McCall--4 points Smith--2 points Rahman--2 points Foreman--2 points
I think Ruddock might actually have done pretty well against Moorer. If he caught him right, the fight might be over. He could have knocked Stewart silly imo. Foreman just made a big boo boo fighting Stewart because he blew his load early on. Not sure on Bruno, but I think Mercer would knock the crap out of him.
The old Foreman couldn't knock out a glass-chinned alex Stewart I(It was a very close fight.) Ruddock was far better than Stewart (A worse version Tyson destroyed Stewart in the first round.)
Foreman made the tactical error of trying to finish Stewart too soon. That's the only reason Stewart made the distance, and actually did really well. Stewart had at least better-than-acceptable boxing skills i.e. he could move some and keep out of range while jabbing. When did Ruddock did that? Please list specific fights post-Dokes.
I'll take your word for it. I haven't watched that one. The gist of what I'm saying is that there were plenty of guys in the late 80s and 90s who Foreman really didn't separate himself from.
For the purposes of this thread, Old Foreman need only separate himself from Ruddock, which he does by having won a World Title - something Ruddock did not do. For that reason alone, Old Foreman separates himself from "plenty of guys". Added to this is that Old Foreman gave a better account of himself against Morrison than did Ruddock, as well as having given a significantly better account of himself against Rodrigues than did James Smith (probably Ruddock's best scalp). Old Foreman also gave as good an account of himself against Holyfield as did Tyson, if not better - while, unlike Ruddock, Old Foreman was never knocked down, let alone knocked out. So, there's a gap and, on balance, it's enough of one to speculate that Old Foreman beats Ruddock.
