Why did Tucker keep dancing away?

That doesn’t detract from the point I highlighted. Physical Strength wasn’t why he beat Mike Tyson.

 

Tucker’s four biggest wins:

James Broad WUD 12 (pre-Tyson … this apparently is the foundation his spot in the vacant IBF title bout vs. Douglas is based upon, which is pretty shaky ground to begin with … IBF was vacated because lineal champ Michael Spinks wasn’t interested in the tournament and wisely waited for Tyson to win it for a huge-money showdown

Buster Douglas W TKO 10 (fight was even on the scorecards when Tucker landed a right that stunned Douglas and Mills Lane stopped it when he followed up; AP reported that Douglas appeared comfortably ahead on its card)

Orlin Norris W SD 12 (lost a rematch)

Oliver McCall W SD 12 (Oliver was 19-4 at this point; biggest win was over Jesse Ferguson and he was considered at most a gatekeeper and really a journeyman)

Pretty big dropoff from there to whatever one wants to consider his fifth-best win, and that’s not Hof material exactly.

Other than that, his resume is ‘landed a left uppercut that caught Tyson flat-footed and made him stumble a bit, took a decent beating without being stopped)’. That uppercut doing a lot of heavy lifting for those who rate TNT as much.

And as noted by the thread title, it’s not like Tony went to war with Tyson. Basically fought a negative fight to survive.

 

Injured hand, exacerbated during the fight.

 

I do think he gets overrated aswell he never fought any of the other notable 80s Heavyweights like Tubbs, Witherspoon, Page, Thomas, etc. So we don't know what level he was at compared to other notable 80s Heavyweights.

His best win is vs a Buster Douglas who quit after being well ahead, and his other notable win vs Orlin Norris for example was a very controversial decision.

Tucker never had a stand out performance/win over any Heavyweight ranked in the top 10.

I'll give Tucker credit for showing alot of toughness vs Tyson, Lewis, going 12 rounds with them is nothing to sneeze at and you have to have some ability and toughness to be able to do that.

But apart from his height and durability he never really stood out to me, this maybe a bad take but you could compare him to Joe Bugner honestly. Two big guys pretty durable who fought in a cautious manner.

 

I would have danced away too, rather than get my face caved in by Iron Mike Tyson.

 

Especially for how little Tucker got paid for that fight. He got screwed big time

 

August 1 1987. Amen, Tucker got screwed without getting kissed.

 

The other 2 12 rounders he won were against David Dixon and Lionel Washington. Dixon had a good record because he didn't fight anyone and Washington finished around .500 because he kept taking hard fights. Washington had noteable power and was the California HW champ which was why Tucker fought him.

But yeah 6 12 rounders out of 57 fights isn't wonderful.

The thing is Tuckers era is defined by HW champs having paper thin resumes and not fighting each other. This is why he rates so high. Through 51 fights he was 48-2 with the 2 losses coming to Tyson and Lennox by decisions in which he won rounds. And the guy he beat for the belt upset Tyson making Tucker the first alphabet champ to win his belt by beating an eventual lineal champ. So that makes him the king of the alphabet champs. His size also plays a role. Not many HWs as large and skilled as him.

Also people have put Tysons prime on a pedestal and if you view prime Tyson as an unbeatable force of nature going the distance and winning 4 rounds is worth some consideration. And if you don't he did the same with Lewis.

 

So he didn't get consummately mashed.

 

A swift kick in the jewels would have fixed him up Rich

 

Because he was a known fan of Roxy Music.