Joe Frazier vs Razor Ruddock "Primes"

I gave him credit for disposing of Smith. No one else had him badly hurt like that and out for the count, most of his other ko losses were stoppages on his feet due to cuts. Smith took tremendous shots from Bruno, Holmes, etc without going down.

But the flip side to this is Smith was getting pretty old and was a very heavy and slow stationary target. Really the perfect opponent for an up and coming 1 dimensional slugger like Ruddock. But I give him credit for getting off the floor and showing tremendous guts being the only man to brutally KO Smith.

Yeah you could compare Ruddock vs Lewis to quarry vs Shavers. The difference was quarry had a chin of granite while Lewis had a suspect chin and had beaten Lewis before on the amateurs. It didn't make sense on paper for him to get destroyed so easily in 2 rounds. Lewis was not trained by Stewart yet either,this was not the seasoned veteran version of Lewis.

I think Lewis taking him out faster than Tyson did in two attempts is because Tyson just brawled with him. Lewis stayed on the outside and aimed for the perfect counter that took advantage of the wide openings in Ruddock's guard. He didn't see the shot coming and his legs turned to jelly immediately.

I'd say Morrison and Ruddock were close in raw power. Their fight reflects that. Their delivery had similar effect on opponents when they landed flush. Morrison might have had a tiny bit more raw power, I think he had more early knockouts and more one punch kos.

 

Frazier was behind on points for a while until the fat Buster Mathis gassed. It depends on Ruddock's condition, Frazier's short reach and pressing style put him in harms way. He could only fight once way. The right hand was a non-factor and he had no jab. 60/40 for Frazier but it would not shock me if Ruddock won.

 

Frazier gets floored twice, comes back and keeps pounding nasty body shots. By the tenth round the fight is even and it's a big one, with both men landing and getting rocked hard by the other. Frazier outworks the flagging Ruddock over the next two rounds and wins a pretty close but UD.

 

Frazier was the greater fighter and was a champion his resume alone is insane BUT in a head to head matchup he stops Frazier...the punches he KO's Bonecrusher Smith and Dokes with were pure KO's against huge quality durable men the fight 1 with Tyson he was throwing some serious power and did catch Tyson and hurt him...not the unmotivated lazy version that lost the title but the mean nasty and driven though less skilled version. And I love me some Frazier but he even said his bobbing and weaving was perpetual motion to avoid some punches if possible due to his poor eyesight and poor defense....Ruddock times him.

I hold Frazier like Marciano in higher esteem than Tyson due to his limitations and will to win but I hold Tyson superior in head to head all around power, speed and ability....Frazier could never overpower Razor like Tyson did