Why Did Razor Ruddock Brawl with Tyson?

Holyfield's weight fluctuated a lot in the early 90's so he would have come into the fight at what weight he thought was best, a lighter Holyfield was never really outmuscled by the giants such as Bowe or Foreman so Tyson, who's never been really physical up close would pose no problems for Evander.

 

Agree with everything you said here. Both were totally different animals in 1991 than they were in 1996.

 

Actually only 10 pounds heavier, but, yes, they did bulk up on purpose.

 

why not? they were very good heavyweight fights...did you see wlad last fight in new york city? disgracefull:-(

 

Agree with you mate, good post.

 

First of all , Tyson forced the brawl, simple, right out of the gate in both fights he brought the heat to Ruddock.............you guys also underestimate the bodywork especially in the first where I was ringside.....it sounded like 22's going off.

As far as the Holyfield comments, well, it is not what Evander did but what Tyson did not do but used to do......three years in the can getting soft in the head and after getting out fighting cannonfodder between fooking drinking and coking , lol, what do you expect when you go up against someone who made it his sole purpose to fight you...

BTW, while nobody questions Holyfields will and heart but.....1-1 with glasschin Moorer, 1-2, really without the fan man 0-3 with Bowe, 0-2 with Lemmie...in reality once he stepped up he lost more than he won and what always puzzles me if TYson is such utter **** why are those two Holy wins so remarkable ? Holyfield entire legacy is based on defusing a washed up Tyson, fact.

Ruddock was a much avoided fighter before facing Tyson, as a matter of fact Tyson was the only one who stepped up to the plate, because Bowe and Holyfield did not want anything to do with him aka Duck.

90/91 time frame Holyfield brawls way too much, he would not have the discipline to fight a controlled fight against Tyson and that would play right into Tysons hand...nobody goes toe top toe with him when he is firing on all cylinders, too fast too quick punches too hard etc etc, ultimately Evanders game spirit would have been his undoing.

Last but least, Evan Fields was a novice PED user back then, 1996 he advanced to tripple black belt Master of PED's.

 

It is funny, but i read somewhere once, someone said (regarding Holyfield) as soon as he steps up and faces a young hungry fighter he will get exposed, cant remember which writer it was. This was before the Bowe fight.

 

Which opponents were capable of 'feinting and eating Tyson' during that period? feinting is more or less a lost art and to my knowledge, Evander used very little feinting in their 2 outings

They didnt throw the combos because they knew that gave Tyson the openings to close the show. The whole reason why fighters were scared of Tyson was because of his defence. Larry Holmes said it bes 'Tyson is very hard to hit and he hits very hard now thats a bad combination'

For those that have actually boxed, know how it feels to throw a punch, miss it and then caught.

To my knowledge, the only guy who ever used feinting was Douglas and that wasnt particularly hard considering Tyson was just rushing in trying to land the big shot, using his face and chin as his defence

I think you're overrating Evander a little too much.

Peter Mcneeley had pushed Tyson up against the ropes, nobody had ever done that before except Douglas in the 10th round, and Mathis made Tyson look like an amateur. Seldon was pissing jabs on Tyson until he took a dive. All Evander had to do was connect the dots.

 

What else could Ruddock have done?? He's never been a masterful boxer so he did what he had to do. IMO opinion he should have jabbed more and used his straight right more often.

He was using the Smash way too often and Tyson anticipated it most of the times. If he'd had used it more sparingly he might have caught Tyson by surprise, nobody at that point had really gone to Tyson's body either and the Smash would have been the perfect body shot too but Ruddock was head hunting all night.

 

91 Tyson would've eaten Holyfield's children.

 

Interesting, nobody EVER worked Tysons body. Tony Tubbs said hed do it but didnt.

The only guy who ever hit Tyson with a body shot was Holyfield, the one that dropped Tyson in the 6th round.

 

If you watch the first first fight, Holyfield lands a beautiful body shot in either the first or second round. Tyson smirked as if to acknowledge a good shot, I think it hurt Mike tbh.

 

To my knowledge, Holyfield is the only one that worked Tysons body. A good strategy nonetheless.

Nobody ever tried it or risked it, Tubbs found out very quickly what happens if you try fighting on the inside

 

Tyson never really fought well on the inside, he mostly clinched and waited for the Ref to break it up. :conf

 

youre razor ruddocks trainer and your preparing him for Tyson.
In Ruddock you've got a big super strong bomber with absolute devastation in his left hand and not too much in his right.
Hes got a good chin.
His big wins have come from him throwing big left hand bombs coming forward, and hes been finishing people in real style. And nobody has been able to take his full power.
He can be lazy, especially moving back
and when he moves back his hands drop and his power isn't as consistent.
Hes fighting Mike tyson.
He's in with a bobbing weaving destroyer who'll come in low and fast, and look to bomb you out first chance he gets.
this is an expert on cutting off the ring and has been superb against taller fighters.
Cant really blame ruddocks camp for choosing to stick to their guns and let their fighter be what he is in the biggest fight of his life.
Cant go back, we'll probably get hit and wont be able to deliver the smash consistently, better to leave a small space for Tyson to step into then time him with the bomb. No ones ever stood up to it. It was a high risk, high reward strategy worthy of a challenge of this magnitude, as opposed to backing off and trying to box one handed against tyson which was a high risk low reward strategy.
And it worked great and Ruddock got his bomb off to perfection numerous times.
Problem was that Tyson had a chin as hard as diamond and the second he got past the smash was able to do heavy damage up close.
Strategy didn't work, but its easy to see why they chose it