"Back in my day, boxers were better."

Do tell, who did Ruddock beat that was any good at all?

I’ll get the popcorn.

 

Three former champs and he broke bones in Tyson's body.

 

Mike Weaver who was career 41-28-1 is one.
Micheal Dokes who held a belt but was not in any universe a champion. And even then Ruddock didn't win the rematch.
Greg Page, who had lost to old man Joe Bugner a few years earlier and lost almost every fight he ever had against anybody who was any good.

Is that it? Is that all you've got? That's the hill you are going to die on? Tyson beating Razor Ruddock a couple of times? You're having a laugh mate.

Foreman beat Norton and Frasier in their prime and then an undefeated proper heavyweight champion Michael Moorer when he was 45 yars old.

Ruddock wouldn't get near any of those guys, despite your ridiculous comment about smashing Norton to pieces.

 

Anyone with a big punch smashes Norton into bits. He lost to every big puncher he ever fought.

 

Jose Luis Garcia in 1970, George Foreman in 1974, then Earnie Shavers in 1979, and lastly Gerry Cooney in 1981.

 

Perhaps and I will concede that.

And Ruddock could punch but he ain't Foreman or Shavers in that respect either. I'd still back Norton but point duly noted.

 

Yeah, back in the "good old days" (20s, 30s or whatever) the top boxers fought each other all the time - and many times, too! But how much extra oldtime knowledge/skills did (for example) Britton and Lewis pick up from their 20 (or thereabouts) fights against each other? What more was there to learn after their (say) 4th or 5th encounter? Maybe not all that much, I would argue!

 

Of course, they probably learn something in every new fight - but that many matches against the same opponent, surely can't be as "educational" as meeting different opponents (I would think).

 

He was in his prime for all of one of those bouts. Against a peak Foreman. He was passed prime for Shavers, and flat out shot for Cooney. His ranking was a joke.

I've always believed that this "Norton loses to every puncher who ever lived" is a bit overstated.

 

rematches would teach a lot. They make fighters really focus on what they have to do with certain styles. Great point.

 

Ray Leonard
Thomas Hearns
Wilfredo Benitez
Roberto Duran
Marvin Hagler
Hector Camacho
Matthew Saad Muhammed
Michael Spinks
Aaron Pryor
Alexis Arguello
Mike Mccallum

At one time all these boxers were active AT THE SAMETIME. Go ahead and show me a list of TODAYS boxers that compare to the depth of that list.

 

Agreed. You’ve already qualified where Ken was at upon each of those KO losses - and Garcia was early career. Atop that, they were the top 3 extreme punchers.

Norton was a bit deceiving. As a fighter takes increasingly harder punches against different opponents, you might see incrementally greater effect - thereby getting a gauge on the type of power that might tip them over in quick time.

But with Ken, he could takes shots that measured, say, 7.5 to 8/10 pretty damn well - without any strong hint that anything above say 8/10 would suddenly see him come completely undone - however, he did come undone - but as you said, Shavers and Cooney came much later in the piece.