was razor ruddock a shot fighter when he faced lewis and morrison ??

Ruddock was a feared monster in the division. In 1991 I'm fairly sure he would've beaten everyone except Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe and Lewis. Maybe a resurgent Tim Witherspoon takes him but I'd favor Ruddock over Mercer, Morrison, Foreman and probably Moorer.

Ruddock was still solid at the time he fought Lewis. I do believe Tyson took some out of him but he never improved and fought like an idiot when Lewis dispatched him in 2 rounds. By the time he fought Morrison he was faded big time. And he still pressed the action and was up at the time Lipton did the premature stoppage.

I'll have to turn back the clock and re-watch Ruddock's career from 1986-1995 again. But the guy was avoided for a reason...

 

Morrison took quick punishment resulting in lights out after he had dominated the early rounds. He did not take sustained punishment over the course of 12 rounds as Ruddock did against Tyson. Sustained punishment seems to do more damage in the long run

 

Klompton is not a Tyson fan your moron.

 

His results are an accurate reflection for what level of boxer he was. In the past he was a better technician with a good jab, but decided to focus primarily on slugging and scoring KOs. He was a bit like Robert Guerrero and both guys ruined their careers being overly aggressive abandoning some of the qualities that brought them so far.

Ruddock was the Buddy Baer/Cleveland Williams/Gerry Cooney/Samuel Peter/Chris Arreola of the early 90's. That was his level. A big strong guy with a good punch but leaky defense and mediocre technique. Perhaps he could have gone farther with a different trainer, but he was never going to be some legendary top 10 ATG. He had mixed results against B level fighters and came up short against the true elites. That's how you know someone is B level. He was never in a million years going to beat guys like Tyson, Lewis, Hoylfield, etc.

As for how much he had left when he faced Morrison and Lewis, I didn't see too much difference from his performance in those fights and how he did earlier against guys like Dokes, Tyson, Weaver, Smith, etc. Anyone who goes life and death with Smith and Weaver isn't going to beat Lewis, prime or not. Morrison was of a similar level to Ruddock to begin with and their fight showed that. It was an ugly but entertaining back and forth slug fest. Morrison just had a bit more heart and wanted it more so he won.

If we're being brutally honest, the only reason this is even a discussion is because of some Tyson fans who want to act as if everyone he beat could have been an ATG if not for running into Tyson!

 

This was the most pertinent post of the thread and it seemed to get ignored.

If Ruddock was all that he had used to be, and it was just a sensational display from Lewis, why couldn't Lennox replicate it more often? From looking so sensational against Razor, he went on a very ordinary streak of form. His next impressive kayo was arguably against Golota five years on when he was a completely different fighter.

We're rewriting history totally by saying Razor was just some guy that was never that good and waiting to be blasted out in two by Lewis. He was actually favoured by the highest number of experts to win the mini tournament of the big four at the time and become champion. Obviously, we're right to edit those opinions with the benefit of hindsight. He wasn't quite what we'd thought and the other three fighters - Bowe, Holyfield and, especially, Lewis - were better than we gave them credit for.

He was favoured as he had been a very good fighter who had stood up to a resurgent Tyson who had dispatched Alex Stewart with the kind of ease that eluded Holyfield and Foreman. Tyson was looking good. And Razor did well. But against Lewis, he looked like Bambi on ice before Lewis landed anything. Those are the facts and they weren't being considered in this thread as much as whether or not you rated Tyson which seemed to be the only criterion affecting judgement.