Donovan Ruddock vs Mike Tyson II

I didn't mean in the Lewis fight. The two fights he had after Tyson, one was against Phil Jackson and he looked pretty good in that one. I forget the other fight, but it was another KO I think.

 

It was against a washed up Greg Page. He had a good run after the Morrison fight too, but he was still shot. Level of competition..

 

Greg Page, that's right.
No one mentioned ruddock being shot or ruined until after the Lewis result, as far as I can remember.

 

I think Tyson had more respect for Ruddock than he did Douglas and probably wouldnt have taken the fight so lightly as, contrary to some of the naysayers on here, he did, against Douglas. Remember coming into the Tyson fight Douglas had shown lapses of concentration and will to win, and had been stopped by mediocre opponents, plus Tyson himself said in his documentary, he had beaten a guy who stopped Douglas, and who he felt was a far better fighter in Tony Tucker, so I think there is some truth to Tyson not thinking Douglas would show up that night.
I will say Douglas had better overall skills and more of a skill set to beat a guy like Tyson. He had an excellent jab, decent righthand and could move well. Ruddock on the other hand, had little else besides his lefthook and left uppercut. He didnt move particularly well, and didnt have a good enough jab to keep Tyson at bay.

 

agree

 

This was a good heavyweight brawl.

Tyson again was showing signs of laziness in terms of not enough head movement, and too much bombing. On the plus side, he was better in the clinches this time and punched his way out of more of them. He also showed his punch resistance as he took some big shots from a huge left hooker, particularly the shot at the end of the 6th that send his mouthpiece flying.

Ruddock fought gamely but was perhaps too brave for his own good as he took a dreadful beating. I love those body shots Tyson landed in the 10th.

 

Had Tyson used better headmovement, fought in a crouch more and threw more viccious combinatons like he did against Ribalta in the later rounds, he might have made his job much....much.....easier. But who knows.

 

I agree.

 

Common mistake of all punchers, including Mike Tyson himself. They fall in love with their power, and forget about what was behind setting up those power shots. They than become very one dimensional and easier to defeat.

 

Ruddock got his nickname from Chuvalo because he had a razor sharp jab, that some said was the best at the time since Larry Holmes.

It is too bad that Ruddock neglected the other weapons in his arsenal because he should have made a better performance in the two fights against Tyson. The first one, Richard Steele had no business stopping, but there were no excuses in the second fight.