I just watched Razor Ruddock fights with Tyson,Morrison and Lewis,do you think he was overrated?

Well ... actually the whole 90s HW division was kinda overrated, Tyson included, so I would say You are probably right on Ruddock.

 

Overrated in what way ? I don't think anyone really rates Ruddock highly. People compliment him on his power which he had in abundance. And for also being pretty much the only fighter who's ever stood toe to toe with a still good version of Mike Tyson for 12 rounds.

Ruddock was also considerably past it vs Morrison, and it was back and forth war which could've gone either way until Morrison landed the most perfect left hook you'll ever see.

Vs Lewis well Lewis is an ATG and the tough fights with Tyson in which Ruddock had his ribs and jaw broken probably took something out him.

Hes rated fairly IMO very good puncher but a bit one dimensional, he used to be a fairly good boxer in his younger days but fell in love with his power and "The Smash".

Is Ruddock one of the best H2H fighters ? No. Does he best any of the ATG Heavyweights ? No. But would he be a considerable threat to most of the top 10 ranked Heavyweight contenders in any era with his dangerous punching power ? Yes.

I think that's the fairest analysis you could give.

 

A bit I think . Dokes and bone crusher were both past it .his whole fear thing was mainly hype . Never really faced a top contender before Tyson. Difficult to judge with out a spoon Mercer or maybe Bruno in the mix.

 

Ruddock = 90s Earnie Shavers. B level fighter with A+ level power. High risk, low reward.

 

So many threads now of "overrated" and "underrated" with nothing clear about how they're rated and how they should be.

Ruddock was tough as hell and had lethal power in his smash. That's what I would say about him, don't know where that falls on the rated scale.

 

Ask Larry Holmes.

 

Dokes was considered the 3rd best heavyweight behind Tyson and Holyfield when Ruddock bludgeoned him. So despite being past it Dokes gave Holyfield hell for 10 rounds before succumbing.

Only a year later, Ruddock needed 4 rounds and 1 punch to solidify his victory.

It was big at the time. Very big.

 

Dokes was indeed ranked No. 3 by Ring Magazine when he fought Ruddock in 1990, but it was a very odd ranking.

His last win over a contender before that was when he won a split technical decision over Tex Cobb in 1985 in a bout stopped after four rounds due a cut from a head butt. Before that, his last win over a contender was when he stopped Mike Weaver in one round in a very controversial stoppage (and got a bit of a gift draw in a rematch) — in 1982.

So basically Donovan beat up a guy who had a high ranking but no wins over contenders for nearly a decade.

Dokes built up his record after losing his title to Gerrie Coetzee feasting on B- and C-level guys like Ken Lakusta and Rocky Sekorski, the types George Foreman fought early in his comeback, avoiding contenders altogether.

He did give Evander a good tussle, but beat four nobodies after that before fighting Ruddock.

Razor’s resume on the whole has two notable wins: past-prime Bonecrusher in a fight Ruddock had to get off the canvas to win, and an elderly Dokes who hadn’t cleanly beaten a contender since topping fringe contender Lynn Ball before that questionable Weaver stoppage.

And that’s it.

Took a couple of beatings from Tyson and took them well, but you have to really bend some reality to find a lot of quality on his win ledger.

 

I've dissected Ruddock's resume before. He was a good fighter and earned his high ranking fair and square. But as you said, when you really analyze his fights and the context of the opponents he faced, it isn't some sort of jaw dropping endeavor.

Dokes, Smith, and Weaver are 3 good names on paper. All were ex champs and had kept themselves relevant and busy. However, all 3 were past their primes, had been through the ringer with some rough fights. Smith and Dokes were nearly 40 and were overweight. Ruddock went life and death with Weaver earning a split decision and was nearly KOd by Smith.

It's because of this that I don't think Ruddock was significantly better overall than these ex champs given all the circumstances and how 2/3 of them nearly beat him. So when people say his was past it when he lost to Lewis and Morrison, I'm not sure how accurate that is. Ruddock was only 28 and the #1 contender against Lewis, and only 1 year removed from his duels with Tyson. Ruddock was even favored to win. With Morrison, sure you could say Ruddock was past it to be fair since he was the same age as Weaver when he beat Weaver, and ballooned up to 240+. But based on their fight, I didn't see anything that would make me think "if only Ruddock were 5 years younger, he'd destroy Morrison".

Overall, I think Ruddock was the Ron Lyle/Dillian Whyte of the 90's. A fun, explosive, big man with a big punch but leaky defense who gave the fans some exciting brawls. I haven't seen too many people overrate him in terms of his career (other than a handful of Tyson fanatics). As for h2h, he gets an awful lot of mileage for his size and spectacular KOs which can sometimes propel him to mythical status, but people are usually able to put out the fire with common sense.

 

Good and fair analysis.

My roundabout point was leaning into the Tyson fanatics line: Ruddock was a monster, but Tyson ruined him so the fact that he never accomplished his ATG status (or did anything of note, really) after Tyson just underscores how great Tyson was!

Except he never accomplished much before Tyson either. So more or less he beat three past-it names who still had some utility but were on the downward slide, not an upward trajectory, then he took two beatings from Mike and he got KTFO in much more impressive and explosive fashion than Tyson did in his two meaningful fights after Mike.

That’s the sum of his career. If he never fought Tyson, people wouldn’t make a big deal out of him.

Could he punch? Hell yes. However, he was one punch at a time and it was the same punch every time … a one-trick pony. Was he tough? Sure. Beating him is a nice stone on someone’s legacy ring, but it ain’t the Hope Diamond … if it is, let’s hoist Lewis even higher on the all-time rankings because he took RR out in much more definitive and impressive fashion.

 

Morrison couldn't even beat Ross Purrity and got taken out by Mercer and Bentt. You don't have to rate Ruddock highly to think he would have beat Morrison in his prime.

 

I’d say Morrison (a) as you point out, wasn’t all that, and (b) he still took Ruddock out … so what does that tell you? Because this wasn’t ‘prime’ Morrison either, as it happened after those two results you mentioned.

 

Ruddock is overrated in the sense that anyone favored him to win the "4 man tournament".
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/4-man-tournament.710947/

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He was the biggest telegrapher of punches I may have ever seen. When you went to his fights, everyone in the audience could see what he was doing and was going to do.
A sloppy defense never helped and his ringsmarts are invisible. I'm not sure if a better corner would have helped much either--a guy has to listen afterall. To me, he was a raw slugger along the lines of Knoetze.