Razor Ruddock vs Frank Bruno

here we go with the unfocused Tyson again. Tyson wanted to quit boxing ahead of the Tucker fight. He had the clap. But he was forced to go through with the fight. Nobody cares because Tyson won that fight. But it gets pulled out if somebody says he should have knocked Tucker out. Tyson happens to catch Williams flush early and he’s great - but unfocused with Douglas. Unless he knocks guys flat he’s “unfocused”. Why can’t it be that the guys he fought that gave him a bit of resistance were good enough to make Tyson look less good? That’s how it is for everyone else.

Tyson came to fight against Bruno. And he was unbeaten during the first fight. The second fight he was challenging for a world title with the motivation of regaining the title after an enforced exile.

why was Tyson “much lesser” against Bruno the second time than when he met Ruddock? I am not certain he was or wasn’t, but Tyson after Douglas was coming off two brief one round blow outs and Ruddock was practically the first guy to hit Tyson back to offer more than a moments resistance since the Douglas beating some 13 months before. Against Ruddock Tyson was marching in and depending on power. His head movement was far more nonexistent in both Ruddock bouts. On his comeback Tyson was unbeaten in six years, in very good shape and on his third fight in 8 months. Potentially Tyson should be more faded but his focus should be more pin point with a title on the line shouldn’t it?

 

Tyson wasn't as good after prison. He had lost some speed. He wasn't as fluid with his punches. He was more or less just a bomber. No one actually tested Tyson post prison until Holyfield.

 

He didnt move his head because ruddock wasnt snapping out a jab. He didnt want to risk weaving or ducking into the smash. You do realize that the jab and the headmovement were ment to safely get him inside a tall opponents jab and straight? Neither of which ruddock used? And that ruddock had KO power particularily in his uppercut and tyson was a smaller guy(therefore making caution advisable)? Nothing wrong woth tysons reflexes, stamina, punch resistance or desire in the ruddock fights. Tyson was very good against ruddock. An "off" tyson wouldnt have been able or willing to take those shots and fire back in the late rounds nor would he have landed some of the sharp counters that he did.

Even though ruddock gave him a tpugher fight, The tyson of the ruddock fights was alot better than the tyson of bruno 1 imo as someone whos seen every fight of his many times.
I think the tyson of the douglas fight wasnt that bad either. Maybe not well prepared but once the fight started he really did the best he could with what he brought to the dance that night in tokyo.
Not so against Bruno in 89. Tyson was just really really bad against bruno, the complaint that he wasnt using his technique is much more legitimate for that fight. Kevin Rooney never showed up to the training camp for that fight.

Prison and fighting evander Holyfield too early after coming out ruined Mike Tyson. Before that there wasnt anything really wrong with him.

 

Yeah? I'd never heard that one about the Tucker fight. Do you have a link to those claims?

The bottom line is Tyson took a few heavy blows against Bruno and against Ruddock. Ruddock did not succumb as easily and shipped sunstantially more than Bruno.

Tyson certainly came to fight against Ruddock. He'd not long lost the title and had to win to have a chance of fighting for it again. He'd had a big wake up call against Douglas and there was no room for complacency anymore. Quite a few also thought Ruddock might topple him. He was seen as extremely dangerous.

Tyson was declined when he came back 4 years later. This isn't even up for debate.

 

“A month before one of the most famous fights in his career, in 1987, he almost quit altogether. Tyson says he disappeared from training camp and partied in Albany for two weeks straight.

In a nightclub, he told friends he was going to retire. But his manager, Jimmy Jacobs, called him and said that they would be sued if he backed out of the fight, talking him out of it. He says: "I should have retired then but I didn't have control of my own life." He went on to beat Tucker to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/nov/14/mike-tyson-undisputed-truth-astonishing-claims

 

I can envision Frank building a points lead with his jab but then Razor ending matters in the mid rounds with his patented left hook/uppercut. Frank had a mediocre defense and very limited foot movement.

 

Thanks for the post, John. The reference to Ruddock's Jaco loss has no basis in the equation of who would win between Ruddock vs Bruno. It is cherry picking at its finest.

That said, sooner or later Bruno runs into Ruddock's left hook and freezes and gets brutally KOed. Bruno was very consistent, he gets hurt, he freezes, he gets KOed.

 

Bruno had poor mental punch resistance. I dont think he was physically that fragile. Certainly he had poor stamina but Tyson never actually knocked him down properly and in all his stoppage losses he didnt get sparked with one shot. He just took a big shot late in the fight and then kind of frozw up and wilted and was pounded into submission.

 

Cheers Curtis. I think the likely outcome would be a Ruddock stoppage. The Jaco loss is indeed totally irrelevant.