Man, it's a great match-up. I'm going to go with Ruddock by knockout. But really, you can make a strong case for either of them.
Thomas had a very good chin, if he's switched on, he could put on a session, but you can never count Ruddock out.
Pinklon wins this no doubt. Before any one comes out with any BS... the Tyson who fought Pinklon was way better then the 90s version who fought Ruddock. I'd go for Pinky by UD or late stoppage.
ruddock if pinky struggles with weaver and coetzee and looses to berbick thats not a good thing to deal with a huge puncher like razor ruddock especially pinkys hands down by his side
That Weaver would of been a 50/50 vs Ruddock. As for the Thomas who fought Berbick... he was no where near his prime in that fight.
A fourteen fight Ruddock actually fought and defeated Weaver within fairly close proximity to that time frame. Hercules was well past his prime of course but Donoven was pretty green. His career did see a decline due to drug use. But that being the case then how long of a prime did he really have? A year and a half perhaps, during which time some of his opponents included Bruce Granham, Alonzo Ratliff, Michael Greer, Leroy Boone and an aged Mike Weaver? For the record, I'm not sure who wins between Thomas and Ruddock. I think its a pick 'em fight. But neither of those guys had spectacularly long or significant primes to speak of.
Thomas. That jab is going to score the points and the anemic/woeful punch output of Ruddock is not going to win rounds. It'd help the Ruddock chances if he threw a straight right hand in there to come over the top of those jabs & bothered to try throwing counters in there.
I think at their best, Pink's jab and concrete chin see him through the rough moments. Funny, but I always seem to pick against Ruddock. He had great physical gifts but fought like a moron half the time.
Funny thing about Ruddock was the guy got countered to death in there. And he only threw about 20 punches a round. Can you imagine how often this guy gets countered if he had a normal punch output?
Yet had a 16 win streak before fighting Tyson?Hes overatted but was the only guy in history to go toe to toe with Tyson his entire career?How is he overatted when he was never considered a top guy of the 90's since everyone but Tyson ran from him while he was still in his prime?