I would. Apart from his win vs Douglas and a solid effort loss to Tyson, he didn't amount to much. He has decent power, good punch variety ( a rare heavyweight who could throw the left uppercut with accuracy and authority), good footwork and defense and a solid chin. He should have been in the mix with Holyfield, Bowe, hell even Ruddock, Bruno, Morrison, Mercer etc. In a way he was unlucky to run into a peak Tyson and he knew there was nothing he could have done to beat the best version of Mike. So perhaps he was demoralized that the best he could do vs Tyson was to survive. But i still think he had loads of potential.
I would too. Unfortunately, he lacked the killer instinct and was often prone to fight on first gear. And at the moment he seemed to develop into something good, he disappeared and returned without his former speed and mobility.
He missed out on too many of the notable 80s contenders to really gauge how good he was. We know Tucker had a good chin and some decent skills but that's about it. He was also too cautious and fought too much in one gear. I often compare Tucker to Bugner two big durable guys with decent skills who fought on the cautious side who are both best known for going the distance against ATGs. As for whether Tucker underachieved probably but I don't see him doing that much better there was simply better fighters around Witherspoon, Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis, Tyson, etc. Tucker was 48-1 going into the Lewis fight for example how much better could he of done ? I mean had he stayed off the drugs he probably could've got a few bigger fights. But again we don't really know how good Tucker was because he doesn't have many stand out wins. And had he fought the likes of Witherspoon, Holyfield, he probably would've ended up with more losses.
Not really he achieved a lot IMO not everyone gets to be Joe Louis. Tony won a piece of the belt and beat two guys who would hold the lineal title. I’d walk away happy with just his amateur career. With what he achieved it was a worthy way to spend a youth.
everyone isn't an underachiever or overachiever, some guys.......................the majority of guys actually.......................accomplished what they were supposed to. No more, no less Tony Tucker is that
He performed well against Tyson and Lewis. He should’ve regained a title against Seldon, but Seldon messed his eye up.
Yep he did well to go the distance with Tyson and Lewis, and he got the win over Buster but that's the highlight s really.
His father wrecked his career stage 1. Sold so many shares in him for upfront money without Tony's knowledge.. Kept him away from big fights because a big payday would reveal his duplicity to his son. Eventually it had to happen and Tony received less than 30 thousand dollars from a million dollar payday and he only got that because his father was selling new shares in him the night prior to the bout. When Tony found out , he was devastated at what his father had done. He took time out before resuming under Don King. He was a talented fighter. Excellent Boxer who had every box ticked. He lasted the distance with peak Tyson with relative ease although it was a landslide verdict for Mike. Funny moment at the end when he goes over to Tysons corner and tells him and Rooney " Praise the Lord and don't worry Mike , I'll give you a rematch " ! Never really worked his way up against rated fighters , he was either beating lower ranked guys or losing to Tyson or Lewis. There wasn't much in between apart from the Douglas win. Had lots of cracks at ' title versions ' later , but I don't look much at his career post Lennox ,as he was 34 and on the downgrade . It's a shame he didn't have one or 2 other high profile fights in between Tyson and Lewis , as this would've given us a better idea as to to his capabilities. If I had to give a straight answer to the O.P I would say yes he did under achieve slightly.
Of the 14 other 1980s heavyweight title holders, Tyson is the only one he fought. No Dokes. No Thomas. No Tubbs or Witherspoon nor Page, Weaver, etc. Not even shopworn-but-still-useful versions. He avoided basically the entire decade in which he came up. You can’t miss ALL those guys on the way up (or post-Tyson) by accident. He had to be deliberately steered away from that bunch for it to happen.