Ruddock took two bad beatings at age 27 !!!!!! Never the same again !!! Same as melldtick Taylor after Chavez bout
Some posters here have a lot more faith in old Georges abilities then he himself had.......... Question : Who did Foreman "bust up and stop " in his comeback who even remotely had a pulse ? Crickets...... fact is that Foreman struggled , even in winning every SINGLE time he stepped up........and besides Holyfield and Moorer he fought C and D level fighters almost exclusively. He took the Holyfield fight only, straight from his mouth , no folklore, because he believed and many more, that Holyfiled is not a full fledged Heavy and not a particular hard puncher..............he gave a gallant effort but was used as a heavybag for 12, his face/eyes were so damaged that he wore sunglasses for two weeks straight in public and at the past fight recap HBO interview. Tommy Chin,, classified by the "experts" on here , a borderline bum who only benefited from his skin color, was another hand picked opponent for Foreman to look good against while picking up a belt.......backfired big time when he could not lay his hands on him because he punched in slow motion. Moorer fit the same mold, average hitter but confidence issues and a glass.chin....again, after impersonating a heavybag for the majority of the fight he landed his 11th hour Hail mary....good for him from a historical stand point but he rather got stripped of the belts before facing ANYONE worth a lick.... Fact: Foreman did not face ONE dangerous large Big banger in his prime in his comeback, zip nada...and Holyfield was never dangerous, tough yes, skilled yes but never dangerous...he did not even meet the second tier like Mercer/Bruno/Bonecrusher/Tucker/McCall/Tua.......he simply fought Tuesday night cannon fodder until another get go at a title was gifted to him.....he did not even face mental midget Golata who a totally washed up STONED Tyson stopped a round later than Prime Lewis. First of all he would never ever face Ruddock, even if Ruddock would have a belt, Arum would make sure of that but if he did he would take a bad beating and most likely standing TKO Ref Mercy stoppage. Now Ruddock is no ATG but he had a lot more in the tank at 27 then Foreman had in his forties......if you get busted up against stepping stone Stewart, cannot get rid of never was Savereasy and flop against Grimsley your Goose is cooked against Ruddock or any other similar young fresh fighter with a heavy hand. Young Foreman, complete different story......old Foreman all smoke and mirrors.
I just rewatched Holyfield-Foreman last week and looked to me like George did just fine in that fight, in fact Holy is heard after I think the 10th round asking his corner if all his teeth were knocked out. Foreman also showed one hell of a big championship heart, more than all his 70s fights put together. He had nothing to be ashamed of, and neither did Holmes btw. Both of those "old men" had their moments in those fights, certainly more than any other former champs their age did.
Winning roughly 3 rounds is nothing to write home about.....he got simple out classed by a fresh fighter is his Prime, if Holyfiled had a punch similar to Lewis or Tyson Foreman would have been stopped Nobody gets better in their forties.....full stop......most athletes rapidly decline after they hit 30, there are exceptions but father time catches up with everybody.
Foreman wasn't better, Holmes wasn't better. But neither were a joke in their comebacks. I admittedly gave Foreman four rounds and Larry five (in fact, after the first eight rounds of the Holyfield/Holmes fight I had Larry comfortably ahead). I respectfully agree to disagree. Tyson was tailor made for Foreman, especially in the 90s, and unlike Frazier, Mike wouldn't have gotten back up. 91 Foreman in two, max (granted, he might have been knocked down himself). All Mike knew was how to come in, often wide open for the right. George LOVED guys like that.
Round 1 opening seconds against all time great Carlos Fernandez .. This content is protected This content is protected Lakusta (11:08)
Foreman in the 80s was NOT what he turned out to be from Coetzer on. Had he fought Mike during that time it would have been a wipeout, George took it too easy when picking opponents during that time. I'd bet George himself had no intention of fighting Mike during that time. Let's also not forget just how shockingly well Qawi did against George until the end, getting through with a bunch of rights he shouldn't have. It probably was best George picked his opponents wisely when coming back, because it took him a few years to get up to snuff. The 80s were not a good time fighting for Foreman.
I'd never seen that video, I had seen the one where Ken Lakusta staggered Foreman. Hernandez didn't look good or well trained in the video (being previously stopped in one round by Eddie Gregg and Boone Pultz show that he wasn't durable), it's hard to reconcile that Foreman went from a tough fight with a guy like Hernandez to beating Michael Moorer. Some people who knew the underside of boxing and had promoted alongside Rick "Elvis" Parker told me that nothing about the Foreman comeback was legit but I assumed they were just talking about Foreman picking his opponents. Maybe they meant that it was more than that? The commentators mentioned that Pinklon Thomas and Razor Ruddock told them they wanted to fight Foreman but he wouldn't fight. After seeing a relatively well conditioned 245 pound Foreman look slow and unimpressive against a set up, I don't know what to think of the rest of the "comeback." It's hard to believe that a 40 year old man who was slow and unimpressive at 245 became better by getting older and gaining more weight? Something doesn't smell right.
Foreman improved very slowly, but he did improve. The only heavies he couldn't beat the night of Holy (besides Holy) were probably Lewis and Bowe, though Lewis at the time did have that rather self-destructive clowning attitude at times...Lennox might have given George the opportunity to knock him senseless. Even Bowe...he really did take too many shots, and George like that kind of fighter. But Bowe was quicker, younger...not exactly smaller. Bowe would have beat him.
Funny how Tyson absorbed Ruddock's power for 19 rounds and didn't go down. The same Morrison who people criticize Foreman for fighting actually got off the floor to stop Ruddock. Mike Weaver went the distance with Ruddock. But I am seeing silly posts claiming Ruddock will stop Foreman? Let's stop pretending people aren't picking Ruddock because he gave Tyson such a hard time. The guy had poor balance and was not particularly hard to hit (or drop) even if we are only sticking with "prime" Ruddock (who was dropped half a dozen times by Tyson and even by Smith). He neglected his right hand and stopped using the jab that helped him make it to the world level. A one armed slugger who lacks defense and chin is going to beat Foreman? First of all, how does such a telegraphing punch with the lead hand land on a cross arm block? And what about Foreman's jab? Even Holyfield couldn't avoid Foreman's jab; it busted him up frequently and pushed him back several times with a high connect rate. One would have to assume Ruddock has better defense/evasiveness than a prime Holyfield to think he wont get tagged by that ramrod jab. Don't get me wrong, Ruddock is dangerous, brave, and has the size and power to really hurt George but this is a horrible style matchup. George said it himself in an interview after the Cooney fight that if he knows the opponent is a big hitter, he will try to take them out as soon as possible. George would have his guard up, then start establishing the jab. He'd block and pitch and by the 3rd round, he will meet Ruddock ring center to trade heavy leather. Ruddock lands a smash and stumbles him backwards, but Foreman tightens his guard and makes sure to never make the mistake again. In the 4th he'd connect with a devastating uppercut that knocks Ruddock senseless. Ruddock fights back and loads a huge smash but is countered by Foreman's own left hook followed by a big right cross and Ruddock is counted out.
The groundbreaking thing about George’s comeback was he didn’t go the usual route of taking one or two tuneups and then go for the big payday. He treated it truly like a second career, starting out almost as if he were a debut guy and working his way slowly up to main event-level 10-rounders against more solid opponents. His first 20 or so fights on his comeback aren’t drastically different than the way a Mike Tyson or someone might choose opponents when building from their first fight. George took his time and finally got to a point where he had fought his way back into shape reflex-wise and conditioning-wise and mentally.
That's your evidence that Ruddick could stop Foreman with a single punch? He got knocked off balance and recovered immediately. I'm not even sure he was stunned by it. I can post a clip of Ruddock getting his legs taken clean out from under him multiple times by Lewis, Tyson, washed up Bonecrusher and Morrison (the same Morrison who didn't make Foreman blink despite hitting him plenty) to argue that an all-time power puncher like Foreman would do likewise to him even in 1991. Foreman was durable as hell especially in his comeback (he wouldn't have gotten anywhere at all if he wasn't) and to say otherwise is rubbish and this example clip is a fail if that's supposed to show Foreman as vulnerable or chinny.
So you admit Tyson got ktfo by a blown up Lt Heavyweight then? That's good you're finally admitting he wasn't infallible. Took you long enough. That said 42 years old Foreman still did better against the blown up Lt Heavy than 30 years old Tyson could manage. At least George didn't get sat on his arse and have to be saved by the referee when he was punched into semi-consciousness.
