BoxRec

Thats true, but in the 80s he was a boxer. He didn't seem to realise his own power, and jabbed his way to wins.

The established 1990s Ruddock was scary!!

overhand_right wrote:Thats true, but in the 80s he was a boxer. He didn't seem to realise his own power, and jabbed his way to wins.

The established 1990s Ruddock was scary!!

I guess that was the Problem. When he was Established as one of the most Powerful Punchers, he Relied way to much on "The Smash" and forgot about the Boxing Skills.

He never used his Jab in the way he could have.

Was it Lewis or Tyson that caused the infamous thumb sucking/underwear/teddy bear incident? I forget.

Patterson tried getting him to jab more, but that seemed to be a short lived affair.

Can you elaborate on the thumb sucking thing ? I thought that was Tony Tucker ?
If your refering to what i think you are.

I think Ruddock was a vastly underrated fighter that could've accomplished a whole lot more than he ever did had he just trained more, stayed with one style of fighting rather than a couple of distinctly different ones & had he stayed a LOT more active later on in his career.

He was an enigma in that he could box effectively & put his jab & movement to good use when he had to ( see his W10 over a faded, but still dangerous Mike Weaver for example ) or he could simply stand there & trade bombs with just about anyone. But, could never seem to employ the skills from one style toward the other in order to become a much more complete fighter.

For instance, imagine him being able to jab, box & move like he did against Weaver, while also punching like he did against Dokes, Page & others. And using that skill set against Tyson. Something tells me that might have gotten him a KO win over the former champion back in '91.

Robinson wrote:Patterson tried getting him to jab more, but that seemed to be a short lived affair.

Can you elaborate on the thumb sucking thing ? I thought that was Tony Tucker ?
If your refering to what i think you are.

I must be confused. Thanks.

observer1 wrote:Arguably, who was responsible for the downfall of Ruddock..

Some say The Two Fights with Tysons finished him, and he never recovered,

Other say Lewis was responsible for ruining his career.

I must say i'm surprised he was KO'd so early to Lewis, since with his Rematch with Tyson, Ruddock took some shocking punishment in the first few rounds and weathered the storm pretty good even though Lost pretty obviously.

Its surprising how he just folded under Lewis's Punches in their fight, not more than Tyson's though, i cant help but think he was psychologically gone after the Tyson Fights.

What do you guys think

Apparaently he lost the Lewis fight because the London crowd were jeering him! :P

I don't think it was necessarily a downfall thing with Ruddock, he was just exposed as the limited fighter he became after his spectacular KO of Dokes.

There is no doubt that he was tough; & yes, he took some thunderous shots from Tyson; but he lasted as long as he did against Tyson because Tyson was just as one dimensional (in 1991) & one punch orientated as Razor himself was.

I think against Lewis, he got caught cold by a stunning Right hand & Lewis' Right hand is one of the most devastaing single shots in HW history.

I believe that Lewis had heavier hands than Tyson, that's why he was able to hurt Ruddock more than Tyson did.

Tyson's KO's came from his combos & devastating handspeed, but as we all know, he was not throwing combos in 1991 so he was not as effective as previously.

Indeed. Tyson's Performance against Ruddock was in Contrast to his performance at around the time he Fought Berbick, Spinks and Holmes etc.

He never Really worked his way in and wear down his opponent, and just went looking for the One Punch Knockout. I get the feeling had this fight taken place at say around 87-89, Tyson would Knock Him Down even more times than he did in his Two Matches.

Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:Was it Lewis or Tyson that caused the infamous thumb sucking/underwear/teddy bear incident? I forget.

The Tony Tucker thing that never happened. You'd have to be brain damaged to believe such a ridiculous story.