prime donovan ruddock vs ike ibeabuchi ??

[badkatt]

ike gets to much praise on 2 fights against tiny chris byrd and 5 foot 9 david tua / i luved ike in the day / but i think donovan razor ruddock stops ike ibeabuchi somewere in the fight / tua and ike fought in a phone booth and ruddocks smash would land from a distance .....not on the inside like tua .....razor ruddock knocks out the mythical ike ibeabuchi ..

[Boxing Writer]

ike gets to much praise on 2 fights against tiny chris byrd and 5 foot 9 david tua / i luved ike in the day / but i think donovan razor ruddock stops ike ibeabuchi somewere in the fight / tua and ike fought in a phone booth and ruddocks smash would land from a distance .....not on the inside like tua .....razor ruddock knocks out the mythical ike ibeabuchi ..

Ibeabuchi by KO

[SenorPipino]

Razor had a lot of flaws and was fairly easy to tag with his often wild style.

He night be winning the fight but eventually Ike would poleaxe him much like Tommy Morrison did.

I never felt that Ruddock had the most solid chin.

[badkatt]

bump

[BoxBuzz]

This is simple....Ike NEVER lost a fight.....If Ike and Rocky were to ever meet up....Well....I'm afraid the entire known universe would cease to exist.

[davie]

This is simple....Ike NEVER lost a fight.....If Ike and Rocky were to ever meet up....Well....I'm afraid the entire known universe would cease to exist.

Well as long as we're talking over hyped fighters, Balboa had 2 losses in big fights, Clubber battered him in the first fight and despite a creditable performance (and some on here scoring it for Rocky) he lost the decision in the first fight with Creed.

Ike doesn't have a padded early record against tomato cans like Spider Rico, what did Balboa do to earn a shot at the title, he was fighting small hall shows and leisure centres. Talk about a weak resume.

His biggest wins were Creed II and Drago and he was well behind on the scorecards before he got the knockout, hell if the ref wasn't counting so slow Creed would have retained his belt in Superfight II.

How long did he duck Lang for? His opponents were hand picked for almost every defence up until he eventually had to face Lang, even then he toyed with retirement before he'd face him. And that was never a prime Lang he beat.

And lets not forget he refused to fight Cane and Gunn in their primes yet came back to fight Dixon, a blown up light heavy weight and still lost despite rumours Mason hurt his hand during the fight.

Ike would have beaten Balboa easily. TKFO before round 6 for me just like the first fight with Clubber. Some people on here with their rose tinted specs for Balboa.

He was more interested in the box office sales with his exclusive MGM deal than building a legacy IMO.

[Ambling Alp II]

Have to dispute some of this.
Rico was vastly underrated. Great jab and a sneaky right hand.
Balboa didn't duck Lang. He waited until Lang had proven himself the top contender. And Lang was in his prime when they met.
The man beat Creed, Lang, and Drago! You just have to respect that.

I do think we can all agree the fight that we all missed out on was Lang-Drago. That could have happened!

[BoxBuzz]

I like what you did there.

[gregor]

I would still favour Ike. I do not think Ruddock would be able to stay on the outside and outpoint Ike for 10/12 rounds.

BTW the fight still can be made, both seem to be active at this moment

[davie]

Have to dispute some of this.
Rico was vastly underrated. Great jab and a sneaky right hand.
Balboa didn't duck Lang. He waited until Lang had proven himself the top contender. And Lang was in his prime when they met.
The man beat Creed, Lang, and Drago! You just have to respect that.

I do think we can all agree the fight that we all missed out on was Lang-Drago. That could have happened!

Drago? Who had he fought?
An over the hill Creed who had been retired for years.
He came over with a reputation and little more.
I think too many people put an emphasis on his height, reach and weight

Lang had most of his opponents beat before they got in the ring. Good at blasting out contenders but never liked it when someone stood up to him and gave him some back
What did he achieve after the second rocky fight? Nothing, the fact you never saw the Drago vs Lang fight tells you all you need to know.
He wouldn't have lasted long in a great era like the 70s heavyweight scene. He was weak mentally, never recovered from the Rocky defeat. Imagine what Ali would have done to him, the mind games would have broke him before a punch was thrown