BoxRec

was looking at an old boxing monthly earlier think it was from 92/93 the editorial bit was a rant about the state of the heavies saying it had never been worse ! that issues top ten heavies included foreman, lewis, bowe, moorer, holyfield, mercer and morrison ! we didnt know how good we had it bring back the 90s !

Its been a recurring theme through history, it happens that the current lot catch some heat. Even happened to the 70's.

This time thoug we really mean it! D

littlepug wrote:was looking at an old boxing monthly earlier think it was from 92/93 the editorial bit was a rant about the state of the heavies saying it had never been worse ! that issues top ten heavies included foreman, lewis, bowe, moorer, holyfield, mercer and morrison ! we didnt know how good we had it bring back the 90s !

Exactly this myth at the time was propogated by 3-4 journalists working for KO/World Boxing magazine.....so called authorities....farhood and ryan....boxing monthly had 1-2 journalists who would follow this line.....absolute garbage.

In 92/93 it was pretty established in my eyes that Lewis, Mercer, Bowe,and Morrison were talented young HWs.....one of them went on to be an all time great....another was an inconsistent talent who nontheless might have been a top ten contender in any era.
Foreman , Evander and the imprisoned Tyson were already legends.....and Ruddock a guy not mentioned in that list was in my opinion one of the greatest physical specimins ever in the HW division ( pulverising power, fast on his feet (early on) unorthodox punches, iron chin and durability, and charisma in abundance).

Ruddock had an iron chin? Ok

A specimin I tell you.

OK. maybe not an iron chin, but you gotta admit Donovan Ruddock was an exciting fighter to watch. I always thought the first fight with Tyson was stopped too early too.

Cap

I was a big fan, very exciting fighter. He just didn't have close to a granite chin, not even in the vicinity. The rest of Mugabi's commentary was borderline lucid. One of his best contributions ever.

Ruddock was an awesome character, a big, scary, huge hitting addition to a packed heavyweight landscape in the late 80s and 90s. He was very durable and showed a lot of heart in his fights with Tyson and Bonecrusher.

He did have a terrific left hook when it landed. He may have gooton too carried away with it and relied on it too much. He was exciting to watch.

He definitely did, the first time I saw him fight he out-boxed Mike Weaver predominantly with his jab.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:He definitely did, the first time I saw him fight he out-boxed Mike Weaver predominantly with his jab.

I think I recall during the announcing of the fight, the commentators said Ruddock 'admitted' to not having a big punch, and thus he knew he had to box and move to have a shot at beating Weaver. How times sure did change. Shows you how much of a mental game boxing is. I remember George Foreman made a great comment during the Klitschko-McCline fight that in Jameel's mind, he was just a lightweight, not a 265 lb behemoth, thus he fought like one and didn't commit to his punches.

Foreman gets knocked so much for his commentary, but he really hit the nail on the head there with McCline. That is exactly what he looked like when he boxed.

Ruddock's transition from boxer to beastly puncher is fascinating. Not too many examples of that kind of thing, that I can think of off the top of my head anyhow. Even some of his lesser known KOs from the 80s, like Larry Alexander and Reggie Gross, are pant wettingly violent.

Always thought Ruddock-Mercer may have been an interesting fight. The 1990s had a lot of depth at heavyweight. The big problem was actually getting two of the top guys to actually fight each other. It could have been a better era than it was.

Indeed - the 90s have a lot of 'should have foughts', whereas the 70s everybody fought everybody.

loaded_gloves wrote:whereas the 70s everybody fought everybody.

No they didn't.

Oh Christ, I haven't been on this forum for ages and you're still at this game? Do you spend your whole life feeling like it's your responsibility to correct everybody? Can nobody's opinion ever be as valid as yours, even when it's the widely held opinion?

Come on then resident boxing oracle, expand. I'm very happy to hear it. Tell me who ducked who in the 1970s? Tell me why the world is wrong, why the 70s heavyweights aren't really considered 'the golden era', give me the real truth about boxing, a truth so damn real that only men as smart as "SaadOffTheDeck" can know.

loaded_gloves wrote:Oh Christ, I haven't been on this forum for ages and you're still at this game? Do you spend your whole life feeling like it's your responsibility to correct everybody? Can nobody's opinion ever be as valid as yours, even when it's the widely held opinion?

Come on then resident boxing oracle, expand. I'm very happy to hear it. Tell me who ducked who in the 1970s? Tell me why the world is wrong, why the 70s heavyweights aren't really considered 'the golden era', give me the real truth about boxing, a truth so damn real that only men as smart as "SaadOffTheDeck" can know.

The thing is, hes right though.

Still the same double act then? Since you're both in agreement, why don't at least one of you expand on it and actually detail who ducked who in the 70s era? This is a forum after all, let's have a fun debate.

The 70s era is rightly celebrated as a golden era of fighters fighting. I can't wait to see which warriors you two pick out to criticise.

When you stop making a complete dick of yourself, Im sure one of us will be happy to expand your knowledge.

littlepug wrote:was looking at an old boxing monthly earlier think it was from 92/93 the editorial bit was a rant about the state of the heavies saying it had never been worse ! that issues top ten heavies included foreman, lewis, bowe, moorer, holyfield, mercer and morrison ! we didnt know how good we had it bring back the 90s !

That's a good point.

It's astonishing to think that someone could have written such an article in the early 90s, as that was actually a heavyweight 'silver' age IMO.

It also highlights how truly great George Foreman is, that he was able to come back & be competitive & even regain his title in the 90s.

He's truly blessed to have been champion in the 2 best eras of the HW division.

Ambling Alp wrote:He did have a terrific left hook when it landed. He may have gooton too carried away with it and relied on it too much. He was exciting to watch.

Very true.

Ruddock completely reinvented himself from slick boxer to being over reliant on his power, especially that Left hook cum uppercut he practically patented.

loaded_gloves wrote:Oh Christ, I haven't been on this forum for ages and you're still at this game? Do you spend your whole life feeling like it's your responsibility to correct everybody? Can nobody's opinion ever be as valid as yours, even when it's the widely held opinion?

Come on then resident boxing oracle, expand. I'm very happy to hear it. Tell me who ducked who in the 1970s? Tell me why the world is wrong, why the 70s heavyweights aren't really considered 'the golden era', give me the real truth about boxing, a truth so damn real that only men as smart as "SaadOffTheDeck" can know.

Who said anything about ducking? Or that the 70's wasn't a golden era?

Yes, I feel the need to correct people like you that make emphatic statements that are incorrect. As you so eloquently stated, it's a public forum. Why are you so upset? Are you opposed to learning? Your statement wasn't an opinion, and it wasn't accurate.

Frazier/Norton
Frazier/Lyle
Frazier/Young
Foreman/Quarry
Foreman/Shavers
Norton/Lyle

Norton-Lyle would be a gambler's nightmare. Norton on points for me in a real tough one, and he'd be walking the tightrope throughout.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Norton-Lyle would be a gambler's nightmare. Norton on points for me in a real tough one, and he'd be walking the tightrope throughout.

Wait a minute, didn't they already fight? It's predominant 'opinion' that I'm wrong here. I would also tentatively back Norton.

You're right, my mistake. Man, what a breakout year 1973 was for Norton...

UD12 Lyle
SD12 Frazier
TKO8 Ellis
UD12 Ali