BoxRec

I think this one is interesting. Would it go 12?

ruddocks problem was he could never fight disciplined for 12 rounds....if he did decide to fight disciplined he could easily outpoint tua and bust him up and keep him at a distance like lewis did. he had all the tools and talent to do that....but if the 1992 onwards version turns up, the one who held the record for laughing when he got knocked down, and who had neglected his earlier mobility and right hand...and was seemingly becoming more exposed around the chin year by year, than yeah Tua has hell of a chance of knocking him out with his left hook. A pick em fight

Great assessment of the fight Mugabi

Ruddock was far better then the overrated Tua. If Ruddock keeps him at Jabbing range & counter left hook Tua he can't lose. No way hosay.

Ruddock with his sloppy bombs away style and lack of a jab gets caught by a left hook at some point and put to sleep a la the Morrison fight. Bad style matchup for Ruddock.

Prime for Prime i would go for Ruddock.

People think of the Morrison bout when Ruddock is mentioned.

But if the Ruddock that faced Page, Tyson, Bonecrusher or Dokes turns up - He would have a field day for Tua.

Tua has looked clueless against opposition that won't be intimidated by him or bullied by him. As his record shows, his wins and "Devastating" Ko's have been largely against C Level Opposition.

The fact that Tua has never won a title in arguably the worst era in HW Boxing speaks volumes.

Tua was God awful.

Give me Ruddock by handy decision.

dempseyfire wrote:Ruddock with his sloppy bombs away style and lack of a jab gets caught by a left hook at some point and put to sleep a la the Morrison fight. Bad style matchup for Ruddock.

Even Tyson never done that to him Steele who stopped the 1st fight was sheer foley. Tyson had the same dimensions as Tua a better left hook much faster and more accurate. How the hell you think Tua wins I don't know.

Tua wins 1 in 5 like how he beat Ruiz.

observer1 wrote:Prime for Prime i would go for Ruddock.

People think of the Morrison bout when Ruddock is mentioned.

But if the Ruddock that faced Page, Tyson, Bonecrusher or Dokes turns up - He would have a field day for Tua.

Tua has looked clueless against opposition that won't be intimidated by him or bullied by him. As his record shows, his wins and "Devastating" Ko's have been largely against C Level Opposition.

The fact that Tua has never won a title in arguably the worst era in HW Boxing speaks volumes.

The Razor that faced Page? Page, by then washed up and way past his peak, was nailing Ruddock with flush shots that whole fight and Ruddock was completly gassed by the 3rd round. Only Page's shot legs enabled Ruddock to get the eventual KO. Dokes was also fat (15 lbs heavier than when he'd fought a great fight vs Holyfield, and about 30 lbs past his prime weight) and past his best; ditto with the 38 year old Smith (who had just lost to Aldison Rodriguez of all people), who put Razor down hard in that fight.

I'll take Tua's best Ws over Maskaev, Rahman, Ruiz, Moorer, Izon over Razor's anyday. Ruddock feasted on a bunch of bums and has-beens, and got WAY too much credit for taking beatings vs Tyson. He won, what maybe 5 rounds total in the 19 rounds they fought? WHoop-dee-do. Ruddock at his 'peak' had crap boxing skills, crap defense, average stamina and style-wise an iron-chinned knockout puncher who carriers his power late is ALL wrong for him. The fact he couldn't finish a glass-jawed Morrison who had awful stamina himself says it all.

I thought in these hypothetical match-ups, it was always the best version of A against the best version of B. Is that not one of the ground rules?

Well now that depends on just how far away you want to toss your objectivity.

I think most would agree that Razor's peak was the guy who fought Tyson the first time and knocked out Dokes, not the stick and mover who beat Weaver. Either way he loses to Tua . . the boxing Razor didn't have the power to keep Tua off of him (he hadn't discovered his punch yet). It would be a redux of the Nicholson/Oquendo fights.

dempseyfire wrote:

observer1 wrote:Prime for Prime i would go for Ruddock.

People think of the Morrison bout when Ruddock is mentioned.

But if the Ruddock that faced Page, Tyson, Bonecrusher or Dokes turns up - He would have a field day for Tua.

Tua has looked clueless against opposition that won't be intimidated by him or bullied by him. As his record shows, his wins and "Devastating" Ko's have been largely against C Level Opposition.

The fact that Tua has never won a title in arguably the worst era in HW Boxing speaks volumes.

The Razor that faced Page? Page, by then washed up and way past his peak, was nailing Ruddock with flush shots that whole fight and Ruddock was completly gassed by the 3rd round. Only Page's shot legs enabled Ruddock to get the eventual KO. Dokes was also fat (15 lbs heavier than when he'd fought a great fight vs Holyfield, and about 30 lbs past his prime weight) and past his best; ditto with the 38 year old Smith (who had just lost to Aldison Rodriguez of all people), who put Razor down hard in that fight.

I'll take Tua's best Ws over Maskaev, Rahman, Ruiz, Moorer, Izon over Razor's anyday. Ruddock feasted on a bunch of bums and has-beens, and got WAY too much credit for taking beatings vs Tyson. He won, what maybe 5 rounds total in the 19 rounds they fought? WHoop-dee-do. Ruddock at his 'peak' had crap boxing skills, crap defense, average stamina and style-wise an iron-chinned knockout puncher who carriers his power late is ALL wrong for him. The fact he couldn't finish a glass-jawed Morrison who had awful stamina himself says it all.

Well what that showed was that Ruddock could take a beating. So that takes away Tua's main weapon, his power.

The Morrison bout was long after the highlights of his career. Going by your logic, Comback-Foreman was overrated because "he couldn't finish a glass-jawed Morrison who had awful stamina"

I know it's common to find on Boxing Forum's that any boxer who didn't have an undefeated record or held 9 title belts is overrated...
Ruddock may not have been the most elegant HW, but he had the goods to take on Tua, even if it meant trading and going to war. Something Tua didn't like to see in his opponent.

That takes away Tua's power? Razor was stopped in one of the Tyson fights (early or not, he wasn't going to last the distance) and KO'd early by Lennox. Also KO'd by Morrison. Hurt by Weaver, Smith, and Page. He certainly could be taken out by Tua.

Ruddock was no Ibeabuchi. He's not going to survive trading toe-to-toe with Tua. And he doesn't use the jab or discipline to follow a Rahman-esque gameplan to outpoint him.

And please, it's not like the Morrison bout was when Razor was washed up or anything. He was still young and in good shape. And him getting KO'd by Tommy is definitely worse than at 44 years old losing a competitive decision to a much younger guy (as Foreman did).

Ruddock by decision, Razor could take anything David had to offer. And Page lost every round, LOL at repeatedly tagging him. Good ole Dempsey and his imagination.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Ruddock by decision, Razor could take anything David had to offer. And Page lost every round, LOL at repeatedly tagging him. Good ole Dempsey and his imagination.

Ruddock is the type of fighter that would try to stand toe to toe with Tua, from what ive seen, he rarely uses his jab, i mean for a tall bloke he uses his left uppercut more than his jab.

If he did he would pick Tua to death.

If Tua catches him with a left hook(which i dont see it hard for Tua to find on Ruddock) hes done.

Tua maybe overrated, but his power speaks for itself.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Ruddock by decision, Razor could take anything David had to offer. And Page lost every round, LOL at repeatedly tagging him. Good ole Dempsey and his imagination.

So Ruddock looked good in that fight? Yeah Page nailed him throughout the fight.

Ruddock could take anything Tua had to offer? Yeah he sure took Morrison's left hook well . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raLB4luB5ds (4:40)