Halloween Day, 1992 Lennox Lewis stops Razor Ruddock

Remember watching this with my uncle on HBO, WHAT A SHOCKER. I was a Lewis fan from the beggining, but damn, Ruddock had showed his balls against Tyson.

 

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what a pity Newman & Bowe renaged on the deal for them to meet Lennox next. They knew Lennox had Bowes number

 

Lewis's power was insane. He basically knocked him out with a jab.
He has that awkward form, and doesn't look balanced when moving.
When he throws his punches they often look soft and only somewhat leveraged.
But when his fists land on the opponents heads, sheesh.
That man had thunderous power with some really good boxing skills and awareness to boot.

 

It was a volley of blows not simply or basically a jab. I think he gets very good leverage on his right hands. Certainly a thunderous puncher, absolutely. That right hand belongs up there with the best in history.

 

Awesome. " Happy Halloween

 

Remember this well. Lewis took on some big fights early in his career, Gary Mason was one, He ducked nobody. I always thought that the weight that he kept adding slowed him down and stoped these kinds of performance.
The McCall knockout also made him very cautious thereafter.

 

Early on, Lewis had a real nice left hook in there. By the time Correa became trainer, it was pretty much gone. And so was Correa, for that matter.

And like you said, a lot better at the 228 range. Now he put on additional weight as well as anyone has, but the heavier version lost that hook. I really wonder how Lewis does if he did the add 1 or 2 pounds a year thing like an Ali or Holmes.

As for the McCall bout, what guy has an easy time taking on a DKP fighter back then for the WBC title? The other heavies are not signing the contract. And Lewis was only a 4-1 and in some places, 3-1 favorite. Lots of folks were going with King's fighter for the upset. It was not a huge underdog type of fight. A live underdog, going in.

Prior to the Ruddock fight, most folks in America had maybe seen Lewis fight Weaver. Nothing else and like I said many times, not buying vhs tapes of foreign based fighters to watch their professional development.

I really like Lennox' development when he took on Williams. Real nice improvement was obvious. Pretty risky fight at the time & there were certainly easier bouts to take. Really got the job done.

 

Ruddock had no discernible jab. Bowe had an excellent jab. Lewis dropped his hands. Bowe had a powerful straight right that could have spelled trouble for Lewis's shaky chin. Lewis's chin never got tested by Ruddock. If Bowe and his team were scared, it's a shame because Lewis/Bowe had all the indicators of a great match-up. I am inclined to think Bowe's team wanted some easy money after the Holyfield war instead of having to face Lewis right away. Lewis was a risk but I cannot fathom Lewis would do to Bowe what he did to Ruddock. Look how competitive Bruno was with Lewis in '93 using a good jab. Bowe would certainly use his jab.

 

Remember it well, all the british press had Ruddock down as this big beast who will unleash the "Slam" or "Smash" on Lennox.

After watching his fights against Tyson I got caught up in it and feared for LL.

I was utterly gobsmacked at how lennox won, heck I even felt cheated as I expected a tougher fight...

 

Ruddock had a terrible style for people his own height or taller, It was already visible against bonecrusher Smith who put him down in a similar way.

Lewis was nearly as athletic, just as big but 10x the technician.


Interestingly enough ruddock does actually hurt Lewis with a smash with 1:25
left in round 1 if you watch closely. Lewis legs buckle big time.


Lewis retaliated and put ruddock down!

 

I never noticed Lewis got hurt. If so, that's actually a plus for him, because it shows he could recover quickly.

 

Yup. He held for a bit then shoved ruddock so he doesn't think the punch did anything

 

It was brutal, just like later Lennox's destruction of Golota or Grant. By far the best pre-Steward Lewis fight.

 

I'm in total agreement here bud.I recall watching it in the late hour's over in the UK .After Ruddock's display against Tyson my respect for him shot up .I had him beating Bowe ,Holy ,Bruno or mercer if they ever met .
So when he signed to fight Lewis ,my first thought was ..Lewis doesn't see past 5 .But of course in hindsight Lewis was a ATG in the making ,so Ruddock' was just a step on the journey .