Ruddock was disappointing for a while there, but only after the Tyson fights. Would've been interesting if Holyfield defended against him instead of Bowe in 1992. That was the match we wanted to see with the winner facing the Bowe-Lewis winner. Imagine if those matches came into fruition? We might've still gotten Holyfield-Bowe and Ruddock-Lewis but what if Ruddock-Bowe was the final or if Holyfield-Lewis took place 6 years earlier? In other scenarios Holyfield-Morrison would've been a barnburner! Or Bowe-Moorer! Or Ruddock-Bruno!! OK, back on track... Ruddock did some stupid things in the ring and could be reckless in there, especially against Lewis. He relied on his SMASH to bail him out and always had that in his pocket. Saying that I don't think Norton could withstand those shots. Ruddock was a big dude and as I said before he had deceptive speed. Anyone who had power like Ruddock is extremely dangerous in there.
Still doesn't change the fact that Holy beat out anything Dokes had left not to mention his heavy addiction
I can bring up David Jaco if you want to bring up Garcia (who was a more competent fighter than Jaco ever was). You’re only guessing how Norton would fare with Tyson (I agree Tyson is a bad match for Kenny). 1992 Lewis whilst he bombed out Ruddock who fought careless and recklessly, he was far from the finished article and prime Norton could absolutely trouble him. I’d favour Lewis to win but him blasting a seasoned, fit, skilled,awkward, strong guy like Kenny out in 1-2 rounds like he did Ruddock (who fought stupidly and without any respect for Lewis) is unlikely in my opinion. Lewis would box and break Norton down in a more measured manner if we go by his history (and I’m aware Lewis could be aggressive with overmatched or wide open opposition like Ruddock was). I doubt Lewis comes out blazing against a fighter of Nortons caliber.
That's a convenient narrative for you to discredit Ruddock. So it's changed from 2 years to 1 year. And now Dokes is a full blown addict the exact time Ruddock beat him even though after the Holyfield fight Dokes only lost 1 fight in 4 years.
Well the Jaco fight was Ruddock's 11th pro fight and apparently he had an asthma attack in the fight although I don't know how true that is. Lewis was more aggressive when he was younger and one clean hard right hand from Lewis would have Norton in all sorts of trouble. Lewis hits far too hard for Norton and would finish him with early. Could I see Lewis taking his time and Norton extending Lewis into the middle rounds ? Possibly. But you're mentioning Ruddock's losses to Tyson, Lewis, and my point is Norton wouldn't fare much better against either of them. I'd put money on it that Norton wouldn't make it to the 3rd round against Tyson that I am sure of.
I agree with you about Tyson-Norton. Post prison Tyson I’m not so sure about. If you look at his post prison record it is very underwhelming. In these match ups I tend to go with the guy who succeeded against world class opposition and that is hands down Kenny here. I’m always dubious about ranking guys highly off fights they lost (I remember the magazine’s at that time making Andrew Golota into some monster after the Bowe fights before Lewis again exposed that myth). I think Ruddock was better than Golota but they were both hyped after twice failing.
Dokes was a mere shell of himself by the time he fought Razor. His only real notable performance post Coetzee and drug addiction was a fine effort against Holyfield. He was 225 for that and 3 fights later he's 253 and getting dropped by a 10-5 guy. Despite a spirited effort against Holyfield he was always a step back.
No one is saying Dokes was close to his prime but he was still a viable Heavyweight when Ruddock stopped him it was a solid win. Dokes just 1 year before was ranked as a top 3 Heavyweight and he only lost 1 fight in 4 years after the Holyfield fight. I'm not buying that Dokes just becomes a full blown addict just because Ruddock beat him and its being used as a narrative to discredit him. Just because another poster believes Norton beats Ruddock so it's a way to find any faults with Ruddock. But let's ignore Norton's very poor track record against big punchers.
Dokes came out the other side of Holyfield a lesser fighter, that's obvious. Being beaten once in 4 years is all well and fine until one looks at who he was actually fighting. Aside from Holyfield he was fighting nobody. Did he beat a single contender, at all? The fact of the matter is that Dokes wasn't realistically a top 10 heavyweight when he fought Razor. He may have been much worse actually. One could easily argue he wasn't when he fought Holyfield too. He was being rated on name, not performance. He didn't fight any contenders to show his true place. He never beat any contenders.
I will concede to this one but let's be honest Bobick was pretty chinny. Either he got Bobick or Bobick would get him.
Ruddock wasn't 37 when he fought Morrison. Quite a bit younger. In 1992 3 years before Morrison Ruddock went life and death with a shopworn Greg Page. Razor did win the fight but if you watch that bout i dont see how you can be confident he stops a prime Norton.
Point being Ruddock looked fat as **** against Morrison, don't care how old he was, he wasn't close to his best. And he didn't go life and death with Greg Page. Stop it!