Prime Razor Ruddock vs Prime Joe Louis

Lewis would be a towering 6'5 guy with an 84 inch reach.

A common mistake is other cards are thrown in like Lewis who would have nothing to do with the actual match up.

The reality is Joe Louis never fought anyone like Ruddock, on the flip side Ruddock withstood punches from Tyson and Morrison, and his weakness was taller guys that were able to land over the top.

Ruddock was more Bowe level than Louis was Tyson's.....that's should be obvious and that's what Louis would need to around the 90's time period BC that's his peak.

Very few guys could have defeated Ruddock who were sub 200 pounders , Holyfield is the only one and he had that counter punch aggressive style.

So then the realistic ( yes you have to be) question is what can Louis bring that those guys did to defeat him?

He would be easier to hit, less powerful and would give Ruddock time to maneuver BC Louis was a slow paced methodical fighter, .

Maybe if Ruddock didn't throw punches he could win...that's what happened against Lewis, but if he comes to fight?

Ruddock K.O's Louis .....he's too powerful period for Louis to stand up long if he takes a sustainable punishment.

 

You can count on the defenders of clown era bringing up Max "crude clubber" Baer to the table. This world class banger, who could fight two days in a row in 36 (yep, the opposition was that tough), would very well be one of the knockout artists nowadays.

 

Louis plays it smart and catches the sometimes clumsy Ruddock just like Lewis did. Pre-Douglas Tyson would have done the same thing to Ruddock.

 

Well you have to ask, if Braddock, Two ton and Walcott could drop him ,could Ruddock ?But then again he did get up to win .It could be a case of how hard Ruddock hits him., can Louis recover and how does razor cope with Joe's punching power ?

 

Lennox Lewis (pre-prime Lewis that got blasted out by McCall) destroyed Ruddock (The Ruddock that took Tyson the distance). This is the version of Lewis that hadn't linked up with Emanuel Steward and polished his attributes. Lewis was someone who relied on a big right hand mainly to win fights rather than the polished skills that Steward brought out of him.

Anyway, I bring that up because prime Joe Louis was a work of beauty to watch. Didn't do anything wrong, had perfect technical ability, great punching power. He'd wreck Ruddock just as easily. Ruddock was practically a one armed fighter that relied on the smash. Anyone picking Ruddock, do you honestly think that Louis was so bad that he would lose to a limited fighter like this? Imagine for a second they are the same size, would you still think the same thing?

 

Louis chin isn't holding up . Ruddock's chin is proven....guys like Shmelling wouldn't dent him.

Ruddock also had a mean uppercut, probably better than Lennox had. I consider Ruddock a harder puncher than him if not close with that left hook and that's more than enough power to flatten Louis.

People just are ignoring things like defense and distance too....which is why its never realistic on here...lol

Ruddock in the mid 80's would be more susceptible to lose BC he carried less power , ppl are also ignoring the guys amateur background. Which is better than Louis's.

 

It's a better fight than most will say it is, but I'll pick Louis based on Pedigree.

 

Schmeling has an underrated right hand. His right hand was like a bomb. He even made Dempsey quit in sparring the first time he hit him on the nose with it.

Where is this belief that Louis couldn't take a heavy punch coming from? He was stopped twice during his entire career. Once was at almost 40 by Marciano and the other was by Schmeling during a time when he was spending more time golfing than training. Even then he had to be hit with 70+ flush right hands. Ruddock on the other hand was stopped 5 times in his career by Morrison, Tyson, Lewis, and David Jaco. The 5th knockout loss doesn't really count like Louis's knockout loss to Marciano.

Ruddock was very inconsistent too. He was taken to a split decision by the chinny Mike Weaver but knocked out James Smith. How the hell does that work?? Louis demolished everyone put in front of him. He didn't have any fights that he was seriously on the verge of losing except Conn. In his prime...

 

Agreed . Louis was vulnerable to the knockdown. But like Larry Holmes he showed
amazing recuperative powers. Joe had championship qualities and that's why i
favor Louis to prevail over the dangerous Razor.

 

What do you see as being Ruddock's outstanding qualities?

What would have made him an exceptional fighter in any era?