Tony Tubbs

Yeah, they could have.Page had a stronger chin, and a stronger punch, slightly longer reach, and slightly taller, but, otherwise, the same.

 

They weren't that far apart, but I don't see Tubbs losing to some of the guys who Page lost to.

 

Yeah,he was "troubled" alright so much so that he knocked him out in the next rd! it was a case of biding his time and patiently planning his punches.how could his size have been a "trouble" when they fought close range the whole fight?

 

If that was Tubbs in the ring with Larry Holmes instead of Carl Williams, boxing history definitely would've been changed.

 

Tyson KO 2 actually

 

He hit his prime in '85 when he easily decisoned Bonecrusher Smith and fairly comfortably decisioned Page. He weighed 229 against Page which seemed an ideal weight for him. Then he ballooned to 244 for his next fight against Witherspoon. After the loss to Witherspoon he barely fought for 2 years. Then after he lost to Tyson he broke with Don King and really had trouble getting big fights. He beat Orlin Norris in 89 but tested positive for coke. The Bowe fight was very close. He boxed and Bowe was kind of plodding. Ko mag. thought Tubbs won. He fought on USA TV a lot in the early 90s and was fairly impressive but often came in at over 240 lbs. In 2004 he was still able to beat fringe contender/journey man Brian Minto by decision. I think part of the problem with Tubbs, as well as a lot of the early to mid 80s champions is that Don King promoted and managed through his son Carl King just about all the contenders. He had a conflict of interest and didn't care who won these championship fights because he would win either way. Guys like Page, Tubbs, Witherspoon and Thomas floundered under King and there were rumours all these guys were getting ripped off by him. Tyson cleaned up but then stupidly aligned himself with King even after King had screwed over all these other guys.

 

Tubbs was pretty damn good. I see him doing well in any era. The 80's heavyweights are vastly underrated.

 

Other than Holmes, Weaver, & Berbick, most of that crop of 80's heavyweights were underachievers. They had flashes where they showed what they could do but that was it. It should have been a pretty good time for the division because the talent was there.

I wonder what the right weight would've been for Tubbs. Maybe 218 or so. Definitely a cleaver boxer with great handspeed. Yeah he got blown away in 2 by Tyson but he fought a great 1st round. Getting out of the 1st was quite an accomplishment back then!