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

You skipped the part where Dokes competed in maybe the best heavyweight fight of all time in 1989

 

I’ve been thinking about it and I love the archetype of fighter Razor was. I’d never copy him in the ring but him, Satterfield, Fuji, Moon, Shavers, Lopez, and Jo weren’t ever the best around but they also didn’t get hit and quit in the fights I’ve seen they’d play till the end.

They’d never leave the pasture to avoid punches they had a bunch of confidence in what they were doing fully committed to the knock out, turning over on every punch and on the line about it.

I remember watching Tyson vs Ruddock 2 even after the KD as much as it could’ve been detrimental to his health he was still trying to whip his smash through and returning fouls in the clinch. He wasn’t going quietly and If you wanna be the toughest you can’t.

 

I’ve never seen the Dokes - Holyfield 89 fight is it really so good?

 

It was voted the best heavyweight fight of the 1980s by one publication.

So, yeah, it's pretty good.

 

Yes

 

A) It was a good fight. It wasn’t the Thrilla in Manila or even Holmes-Norton nor Holmes-Weaver. Nor probably a bunch of others. No way it was the best heavyweight fight of all time, lol.

Heck, it’s probably not any higher than the third best fight Evander was ever in, and even that position isn’t a lock.

B) “Competed in” isn’t the same as “won.”

If we’re going to rank fighters by ‘took beating well, was in there trying with some success’ then I guess Ruddock and Dokes are all-timers. Ruddock really tried twice vs. Tyson and took two really nice beatings. Dokes really tried vs. Holy and took a beating.

 

Go write The Ring an angry letter. The Holyfield fight is why Dokes was placed ahead of the underachievers beneath him.

 

Holyfield-Dokes was a great fight.

I just checked and Ring Magazine was the publication that named it the Best Heavyweight Fight of the 1980s.

Ali-Frazier III, Holmes-Norton and Holmes-Weaver took place in the 1970s.

Name all the great heavyweight wars of the 1980s that were better than Holyfield-Dokes?

Holyfield didn't have a more exciting heavyweight fight in the 1980s.

Neither did Holmes. Neither did Tyson.

 

He had one odd win over a (fringe) contender in nearly a decade (technical split or majority decision on a fight stopped on a butt-induced cut after four rounds vs. Tex Cobb).

The Holyfield loss was a “good loss,” I guess. But it isn’t a win. He won several fights in a row during his here-today-in-rehab-tomorrow period after losing his title, but they weren’t over top competition.

 

I was responding to someone who has repeatedly called it the greatest heavyweight fight of ALL TIME. Which it most certainly was not.

If you want to limit it to a particular decade, I’d say it’s one of the better. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was the best.

And losing a good fight without convincingly beating a single contender in eight years isn’t usually how one gets ranked highly, but it is what it is.

 

It was voted the heavyweight fight of the decade by Ring.

It was great fight. Dokes fought great. So did Holyfield.

Name a better heavyweight fight in the 1980s?

It's easy to say there were better ones ... name some.

 

Yes and it's the odd situation where Tubbs had failed a drug test after a solid win, the division was mostly cleaned out by Tyson, and Damiani had a single win years earlier against a fringe contender in unsatisfying fashion (stopped on a cut).

 

We’re not communicating.

Another poster said it was THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHT OF ALL TIME.

That means the greatest heavyweight fight in the history of heavyweight boxing. Not a particular decade.

I said it was not. I stand by that. You tell me if you agree it was the greatest ever or not.

That has nothing to do with the 1980s.

If I say Ray Robinson was the greatest welterweight of all time and you say ‘but so-and-so was the best of the 1970s,’ what does that have to do with what I said? Nothing.

 

Witherspoon vs Holmes was better IMO.

 

It certainly didn't end better.

Dramatic knockouts at the conclusions of great fights are always preferred over controversial decisions.

If Holmes destroyed Witherspoon at the end of their fight, or vice versa, I'm sure it would've gotten the nod, being a title fight and all.