I haven't watched this fight since 1989, and frankly I remember thinking that Boncrusher Smith was pretty well past it by that point. I never realized until recently however, how far Smith's career had fallen prior to facing the Razor. By July of 1989, Smith was 36 years old. His last victory was over Tim Witherspoon in December of 1986, therebye making it nearly 3 years since Boncrusher had scored a win. He had only fought once in the previous two years leading up to the Ruddock fight, which was a draw with 11-0, Mike Rouse-a fighter who would never amount to much of anything. His other fights included losses to Tyson and Rodriguez for a comprised record of 0-3-1, in a near 3 year period. Additionally, he weighed in at 249 Lbs, which was about 20 Lbs over his traditional best fight weight. Despite these issues, Smith managed to rock Ruddock several times in the fight, including a vicious second round knockdown, before being Ko'd in round 7. By the 6th round, it was clear to me that Smith was exhausted and showing the signs of a deconditioned fighter who was ill prepared to be in the ring with a much younger prospect. Why did I post this thread? Basically, I wanted to point out that James Smith is commonly mentioned as being one of Razor Ruddock's signature wins, topped only by his later victory against Michael Dokes. If an aging Smith fighting under such circumstances could give Ruddock the type of trouble that he actually did, then I have little doubt that the Smith who faced Holmes and Ko'd Bruno several years earlier would have done him in. It also makes us question weather or not the Razor was truly the big threat that he was so often deemed as in the early 90's, and if perhaps he was largely hyped to build up the declining career of you know who. Here is a youtube link of the first two rounds of Smith vs Ruddock, and the knockdown in round two. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Coa7n_Q_I
One hell of a knockdown. Ruddock is one of those guys with a Louis-like chin: he can be knocked down but it's pretty hard to keep him there. He didn't have Louis' recuperative abilities however, but he did get up from that incredible left hook of Morrison. Smith was definitely on the decline. It looks to me like he spent some of that inactive time after the Tyson loss with coke. I think he was one of the hardest punchers of the 80's though - even if his KO record isn't that good.
I never read nor heard anything about James Smith using cocaine or any other drug, although it wouldn't surprise me either given that he came up with the right generation of fighters for it. I do know that he was the only heavyweight champion in history to acheive getting a masters degree, and in fact owned or owns an insurance company. I can't help but think that a younger better trained Smith would have capitalized on that knockdown and finished Ruddock.
Razor's resume is pretty weak when you look into it. I'd like to see how close the Weaver v. Ruddock fight was in 86 (SD). He seems to have one decent win if you take Smith away from him, (Dokes) and then the two Tyson losses where he made the fight fairly competitive. Granted he turned pro very young and was brought up slow. And, Ruddock was the name that Lennox Lewis made his big announcement with.
The Smith win gave Razor Credability, Smith was past his best but still good name to have on the resume, and the fight showed Ruddock was a contender. Donavon showed a lot of heart to get up from the knockdown and the finish of the fight was impressive. Ruddock was at the time I fought overrated, it is never a good idea to consider someone the best off the back of two defeats and many in the boxing world figured he would end up on top once himself/Evander/Riddick and Lennox sorted their differences out in 92/93.
I remember people were talking up Andrew Golota as a serious threat to all the top Heavies on the strength of his back to back losses to Riddick Bowe as well. This proved to be a falsehood of course and proves how false it is to credit fighters like Ruddock and Golota for losing fights.Great fighters find ways to win,also rans find ways to lose.
Like I said in another thread the other day, Ruddock is greatly overrated. He never really beat anyone in their prime. Dokes was past his prime and fought Ruddock evenly up till the KO and it was a hi-lite KO. That KO is what everybody remembers when they think of Ruddock. He did fight Tyson tough twice, but Tyson has already peaked and those fights were the being of his long decline. Ruddock got creamed by Lewis and lost to Morrison, in a very close fight till the end. I will say this for Ruddock, Riddick Bowe avoded him like the plague. For some reason Bowe seemed to be fearfull of Ruddock.
Say what you want about Razor, he was a big strong dude with a big punch, very tough, and got in great shape for those Tyson fights. He showed heart and power, took beatings, and kept dishing it out. He proved a massive punch in the SMith and Dokes fights, and showed some heart coming back from getting decked by big punchers in both Smith and Tyson. You don't need a resume to know what your eyes show you.
Yes, some good points here, but the point of this thread is that Smith was way past it and in horrible shape when he fought Ruddock, yet he nearly kicked his ass. A similar argument could be made for most of the aging fighters that Razor fought. Smith, Dokes, Page, Broad, and Weaver were all past it. Dokes showed up in pretty good shape and looked like he was going to be a good fight, but I don't think Dokes ever had much of a chin for big hitters. In his first career, he was Ko'd by Gerrie Coetzee and in his second career, he was knocked out by Holyfield who was fresh from the Cruiser ranks. Not to mention, whats to say that the Holyfield battle didn't ruin Dokes some? Ruddock lost to Dave Jaco, barely beat Mike Weaver, was nearly beaten by James Smith, drew with a 7-20 journeyman named Phil Brown, and was Ko'd in two rounds by a rising Lewis. I'll give him credit for his losing efforts against Tyson, but this wasn't a peak Tyson either. Ruddock was a good figjhter, but his credentials were blown up way too far in the early 90's.
Ruddock had the tools. He lacked smarts and ring generalship. The proof of this statement lies in the fact that after he blew-out another in-decline fighter in the form of Michael Dokes, he blew every showcase opportunity he had by fighting the wrong fight. Further proof lies in the fact that during this period, he stiffed all of his trainers, always making a point to finger them for his failures. Good chin? Devastating power? World class talent? Who cares? Whenever he faced somebody with any of those attributes that was within region of their primes, and they showed some smarts, Ruddock was gunned.
Good post and I agree with all of it. Ruddock certainly gave Tyson a run for his money, but outside of that losing effort, the rest of his credentials are pretty shallow when examining his other wins and losses. I personally think that he was over sold to the public, and built into something that he clearly wasn't.
In analyzing whether how younger fighters compare with their predecessors it is interesting to look at crossover matchups. Younger fighters have traditionally done well in these matchups but it may be difficult to tell how close the fighters are to their peaks. If Smith was indeed far removed from his best against Ruddock, the fight might not be indicative of how the Holyfield-Tyson era compared with the Witherspoon-Dokes era.
