Tonny Tuckers lost title fights

Let's play another round of over-estimating an under-achieving heavyweight and trying to agrandize his deservedly limited position in history.

Yawn.

 

I think Tony Tucker would have probably beaten George by a decision in a very dull and boring fight. George was such a scoundrel though. He gets to pick his first defense of the title he won against Moorer, and then when his hand-chosen opponent turns out to be tougher than expected, he refused to rematch him and he refused to fight the number one contender in Tony Tucker! George did a good job of separating his moral, upright Christian self from his shady, underhanded business self.

 

Tomy Tucker defined the term "as dull as dishwater" perfectly. At least from a boxing perspective.

 

You have to question what Tucker did to be #1.

 

I could see Tucker beating Spinks, maybe, but Foreman, he would lose to on stoppage.

 

I think Tucker might beat both. He has the size, stamina and skill to bother the much smaller Spinks and i think he could possibly outbox George safely enough. Hell, Morrison did right before George beat Moorer and i think Tuckers better than both for what it's worth.

 

Wasn't Steward Tucker's trainer for the Tyson fight.

 

I'm not sure about his rating in the 90's, but in 1987 it was a bit more justified.

Rather than questioning what Tucker did to earn his title shot, we should ask ourselves who was more deserving in 1987. Sure, Tony had a padded record, but their weren't many other candidates that I'd place ahead of him. Spinks gave paydays to Steffen Tangstad and Gerry Cooney, neither of whom had any business getting such a lucrative opportunity. Holmes of course, was retired. Tubbs, Witherspoon, Page, Berbick, Smith, Bruno, Williams and Thomas had all suffered recent losses. Tyson was the current holder of the WBC/WBA belts, excluding him as a mandatory contender for the IBF. Coetzee was out of the picture and Dokes was just beginning to pick up the pieces of his shattered career. Biggs was a talented young olympian, but in the spring of 1987, he had all but what 13 fights? Gary Mason and Francesco Damiani were mere prospects who were not yet contender material and for the most part never would be. The only other name left is Buster Douglas, whom Tucker defeated in the tournament for the title.

Tony was not by any means an all time great, but he was better in 1987 than people give him credit for. As an amatuer, he brought back a gold medal from the 1979 Pan Am games, and turned pro compiling a 34-0 record before fighting for the IBF title. He never defeated anyone of tremendous quality during the 80's, but he at least fought actively winning all of his fights, and beating some of the division's better journeyman and trialhoarses. As mentioned above, his title shot was mainly given to him by default as the heavyweight picture in 1987 was in staggering shape. He did however, make good use of this opportunity and managed to win the belt more than convincingly, then took a peak Tyson 12 rounds, and did so with an injured hand. After taking a few years off, he returned to the ring and beat 14 opponents including Orlin Norris, Oliver Mccall and Mike Evans, before challenging and going the distance with a peak Lennox Lewis at age 35. Tucker's record at this point was 49-2-0-39, with only decision losses in world title bouts to two peak all time greats. Throughout his career, Tony also won multiple regional belts such as the NABF, USBA and California state heavyweight title.

Once again, Tucker was not a historical fighter, but personally I think that his 1987 title shot was at least justified to some degree, and he managed to capitalize on it. Rather than calling Tucker a fraud during the late 80's, why don't we ask ourselves why Mr. Spinks was so highly respected at this point in time? Following his first victory over Larry Holmes he diminshed to the quintessential paper champion. He arguably lost in his title rematch to Holmes and was gifted a decision. Instead of going on to prove his place as a champion, he gave a title shot to a powerless and chinless Steffen Tangstad, and renounced the IBF title to seek a fatter, safer payday with an inactive and semi-retired Gerry Cooney. Then in 1988, he did little against Mike Tyson other than just to show up despite receiving a check of some $13 million. Tony Tucker was promised $ 1million against Tyson, and only received about $250,000 yet look at the performance he gave.

 

Yeah, Tucker deserved a shot at the title in the same way, say Tyrell Biggs did, but it's scandalous that he was in the position of "If you don't fight this man you'll lose your title". He was never convincing when he won against any decent fighters, although he looked okay in losing battles- a touch of the Joe Bugner's there. His ranking in late 1994 of #1 for the WBA had to be the strangest decision of all-time (apart from when the guitar player Jethro Tull had a sex change).

He'd lost easily the year before then beat a few no marks- but there he was again at #1. I know measuring clout at the box office should be no way to get a title, but he couldn't draw flies to a bucket of ****. This, coupled with his CV from the Lewis fight till the mooted Foreman fight should have meant a one-way ticket to Bugnersville. Luckily, Seldon (another lemon) beat him later that year to finally put at end to this monotonous statue. Hey, but "Tucker had the tools" they say. He did: big, strong, half-decent boxing skills, solid chin, but so did Bugner. A just glad to be here fighter, if there ever was one- just like Bugner.

 

Fair enough,

And the Joe Bugner comparison was probably a good enough one. I agree that Tucker didn't deserve a #1 rating in 1994. In 1987, however he was probably a worthy challenger, but as I said before, it was mainly due to an abscence of better available contenders.

 

In the scenario of him facing Michael, I could see Tony winning that fight, his skills were much better then, but on the scenario of him fighting George Foreman it's a 50/50 or 60/40 in Foreman's advantage.

 

Think he beats them both solidly, bit underrated Tucker