Razor Ruddock vs Shannon Briggs

Ruddock was so vulnerable to an overhand right. Briggs was tall and powerful and could deliver it. It would be a pickem fight for the first four rounds, and then the edge would go to Ruddock.

 

Razor Ruddock was ****, no jab..and fought like a complete ******.

He was unable to throw straight punches...

 

He looked like a crab walking sideways. You just knew the left was coming, he was hardly ever in a position to throw anything else. Suprisingly enough it was quite effective, mostly because of his reach and power.

 

Although, I would probably favor the Razor, I'm not entirely convinced that Ruddock winning this fight is a given. Donoven was certainly dangerous, but he also blew hot and cold. The first time I ever watched him fight, was when I was around 14 years old in 1989 against James Bonecrusher. This was a match that was a career break through for Ruddock as a rising contender, but frankly I wasn't all that impressed. Smith looked very out of shape, unmotivated and was reported to be something like 36 years of age... Sometime in the second round I believe, Smith landed a huge shot that took Ruddock right to the canvas. Razor regained composure and fought on until James basically ran out of gas for a mid round stoppage.

About a year and a half later, Ruddock surprised the hell out of me with a one punch shot to finish off Dokes, then taking Tyson the distance. Not long after however, he was sparked in two by a still developing Lewis, hence my point, he blew hot and cold...

Briggs is commonly regarded as one of, if not, THE weakest claimant to a lineal title. Some ( including myself ) felt that he was actually gifted a decision against a near 50 year old Foreman. He also doesn't have much in the way of stellar win list in a career spanning nearly 55 bouts. Additionally, he was another one who often blew hot in one fight, then fizzled in the next.

I really don't know for sure who takes this. Both men made their marks off beating mostly diminished opposition, along with having chins that saved them in some fights, but failed in others. In either case, I don't see this being a long distance fight. You have two men who are going to be in it to score the knockout early, and there is the right combination of power and questionable whiskers on both sides of the ring for anyone to take it....

 

I kind of see this as Magoo does. I'm leaning towards Ruddock myself, but he's so open to being hit (at times) and so left hand mad, that Briggs could stop him just as easily as Ruddock could stop Briggs.

It'd be a great fight to watch, while it lasted.

 

Nice description.

 

I don't think I'm underrating Ruddock; after all he's one of my favourite heavies. But one must admit his wins over real quality opposition is quite lacking...but as I said I do lean with him on this fight.

 

Boxing analysis isn't always that simple....

By this logic, a green 21 fight Lewis should have been KTFO too. Didn't exactly play out that way.

 

Thats true, but to be fair the Ruddock that turned up for that fight was significantly worse due to his two fights with Tyson, as well as going through a lot of personal troubles that really affected his training. I heard a report once that he basically didn't train, or only got through a fortnight or so camp.

 

Claiming that the two matches with Tyson " ruined " him, is nothing more than shear speculation, and frankly a common statement made by Tyson advocates to explain why Lewis defeated him in far decisive fashion..

As for him not training, I'd really like to see these reports and find out who wrote them. Looking back on that match 17 years ago, I can remember watching it live and recalling Larry Merchant commenting on how physically fit both men were, calling them " two sculpted Adonysis."

 

That isn't the point. The other poster was drawing clad iron conclusions based on how Ruddock performed against Dokes and Tyson. I don't know how old you are or if you were following the sport in the early 90's, but to give some background, almost everyone including myself were drawing the same kinds of conclusions about predicting Ruddock to beat Lewis for the exact same reasons..

Incidentally,The Lewis who fought Ruddock was a pre-Steward version who would soon struggle with Frank Bruno and get KO'd in two rounds by McCall. The one who fought Briggs was a far more polished version of Lewis, and Briggs lasted longer against a 1998 Lewis than Ruddock did against a 1992 version..

 

I'll certainly see if I can find where that report was, you may have to wait though as i'm busy tonight so will probably end up doing it tomorrow morning.

I do have to admit I did notice a notable decline in both fighters after their two fights together, whether or not they directly caused it we'll never know, but I do think it could be taken into account, especially given that both fighters have independently said so and agree. But who knows, people say many things.


One thing I would like to know, and has bugged me for some time, is what Ruddock was saying to Lewis before their fight. You can see him speaking to Lewis, something the commentator also notes, but I never found out what he said.