Wlad v Ruddock

Razor had a fierce reputation leading up to the Lewis fight which was big for Lewis. A very good boxer with 1 of the best jabs in the game. Standing at 6'3 with a 82 inch reach Ruddock was a real contender.

He was unlucky against Lewis because he was caught by a punch quite similar to the 1 Price took against Thompson in their first fight. He got caught just above the temple and his balance and equalibrium went which was a shame because I expected to see Lewis tested back them and in most eyes it was a 50/50 fight.

Better names on his resume then Wlad like 2 fights with a still very good Tyson including going the distance in their second fight, koing Bonecrusher who for 12 rounds frustrated PRIME Tyson, Cokes by ko, Ribalta by ko, a win over Morrison and Mike Weaver all would put todays current crop of heavies to shame.

Does our present H/W champ do to Ruddock what he has been doing to everybody thus far??? Wlad has 3 inches height on Razor but Razor has longer reach and could jab as I said before.

who wins.

What names does Ruddock have better on his resume than Wlad ? Ruddock failed everytime he stepped up. Wlad better in most departments and I would expect him to get Ruddock out of there before the final bell.

Cheers, Rodders

Rodney wrote:What names does Ruddock have better on his resume than Wlad ? Ruddock failed everytime he stepped up. Wlad better in most departments and I would expect him to get Ruddock out of there before the final bell.

Cheers, Rodders

Tyson, Smith, Weaver, Cokes, Ribalta, Morrison all better then anything Wlad has faced. I think most will agree that Leapi, Jennings, Peter and the rest do not have the pedigree the aforementioned have.

The spelling mistake too obviously deliberate but other than that I do enjoy these fantasy match ups.

Makes you realise just how dire today's crop of heavyweights is when you compare them to what was around in the 80''s.

A pre-Tyson Ruddock I'm assuming we're talking about as come the Lewis fight everyone knew Ruddock was finished. Funnily enough the second fight with Mike finished both he and Tyson.

You have to give a pre-Tyson 1 a helluva chance against Wlad surely...

Vicious and could get rough with good jab. Just the sort to give Wlad fits.

Herman Jaeger wrote:The spelling mistake too obviously deliberate but other than that I do enjoy these fantasy match ups.

Makes you realise just how dire today's crop of heavyweights is when you compare them to what was around in the 80''s.

A pre-Tyson Ruddock I'm assuming we're talking about as come the Lewis fight everyone knew Ruddock was finished. Funnily enough the second fight with Mike finished both he and Tyson.

You have to give a pre-Tyson 1 a helluva chance against Wlad surely...

Vicious and could get rough with good jab. Just the sort to give Wlad fits.

You critic my spelling yet you fail to construct a sentence properly. Anyway its petty.

Ruddock was seen as a threat when he came to UK to face Lewis. I don't know how old you are but I remember this fight and the lead up to it and it was 50/50.

I don't critic your spelling just the self- consciousness of it...

Good match up though. Let's have a few more of these over the coming months. A nice steady flow...

Ruddock himself states, that his 2 wars with Tyson had takena lot out of him.

So losing to Lewis, losing to Morrison, losing twice to Tyson (post image shattering), an SD over Weaver and two good wins in Dokes & Bonecrusher are enough to elevate him above/suggest he could beat Wlad K??

Don't get me wrong, would love to have him around now, but behave......

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:

Herman Jaeger wrote:The spelling mistake too obviously deliberate but other than that I do enjoy these fantasy match ups.

Makes you realise just how dire today's crop of heavyweights is when you compare them to what was around in the 80''s.

A pre-Tyson Ruddock I'm assuming we're talking about as come the Lewis fight everyone knew Ruddock was finished. Funnily enough the second fight with Mike finished both he and Tyson.

You have to give a pre-Tyson 1 a helluva chance against Wlad surely...

Vicious and could get rough with good jab. Just the sort to give Wlad fits.

You critic my spelling yet you fail to construct a sentence properly. Anyway its petty.

Ruddock was seen as a threat when he came to UK to face Lewis. I don't know how old you are but I remember this fight and the lead up to it and it was 50/50.

TopHat24/7 wrote:So losing to Lewis, losing to Morrison, losing twice to Tyson (post image shattering), an SD over Weaver and two good wins in Dokes & Bonecrusher are enough to elevate him above/suggest he could beat Wlad K??

Don't get me wrong, would love to have him around now, but behave......

Never said anything about elevating Ruddock above Wlad but truth be told Ruddock faced better opposition then Wlad. Its a match up of styles and technique I see Ruddock koing Wlad mid to late rounds. Far better boxer in the traditional sense with a better chin.

Smith, Dokes, Weaver and Page were all on the decline when Ruddock beat them..ONETWO...

Ruddock was a one handed puncher with little much of anything else.....If he lands Wlad goes....

But he tended to forget to turn up when he was in a big fight.....

Will always love watching his fight with Tommy though.....

Should have gone for a Witherspoon-Wlad matchup or something........

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Smith, Dokes, Weaver and Page were all on the decline when Ruddock beat them..ONETWO...

Ruddock was a one handed puncher with little much of anything else.....If he lands Wlad goes....

But he tended to forget to turn up when he was in a big fight.....

Will always love watching his fight with Tommy though.....

Should have gone for a Witherspoon-Wlad matchup or something........

Wlad would have beaten Witherspoon who looked like 99% of Wlads opponents anyway.

Ruddock offered more. Longer reach and a great jab and real power. Don't think Wlad could grab his way out of this one.

As for Smith, Dokes, Weaver and Page well they were still good wins. Dokes and Page I give you but the rest were quality heavies.

Witherspoon was a very talented heavyweight with a cracking defence......

Don't be silly..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Witherspoon was a very talented heavyweight with a cracking defence......

Don't be silly..

He was good for like a minute had the quality but fell in love with food at some point

Wlad is very underrated. He isn't Ali or Lewis but he is a dam good Heavyweight.

He isn't fun to watch but gets the job done. He could jab Ruddocks head off.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Witherspoon was a very talented heavyweight with a cracking defence......

Don't be silly..

He was good for like a minute had the quality but fell in love with food at some point

I'm thinking of the Tim that beat Holmes when he was in or near his pomp.....

When I think up fights I don't usually put the worst of one against the best of another...

Witherspoon stops Wlad for me..

Wladimir UD. Puncher's chance for Ruddock.

Safe to say that Wladimir's going to have a hard time standing up to some of the bombs that Ruddock was able to land on Tyson in their rematch - his chin just isn't cut out for that. But Tyson abandoned his boxing after a couple of rounds in that one and basically begged to get caught flush with the way he was fighting. As one writer said, ''he looked like the oldest 24 year old in the world.''

Can't see Wladimir giving Ruddock those kind of opportunities and I don't think Ruddock had the explosiveness, skill or tenacity (he stunk the place out against Tyson in their first fight, and missed a trick in the second by not stepping on the gas or backing himself enough) to take matters right in to his own hands and try to overwhelm a cautious Wlad, who carries enough power to put Ruddock on shaky legs as well.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:So losing to Lewis, losing to Morrison, losing twice to Tyson (post image shattering), an SD over Weaver and two good wins in Dokes & Bonecrusher are enough to elevate him above/suggest he could beat Wlad K??

Don't get me wrong, would love to have him around now, but behave......

Never said anything about elevating Ruddock above Wlad but truth be told Ruddock faced better opposition then Wlad. Its a match up of styles and technique I see Ruddock koing Wlad mid to late rounds. Far better boxer in the traditional sense with a better chin.

Faced but lost.

So I'm not really sure that tells us anything. Only read something into losses where someone equips themselves particularly well, i.e. big Vit against Lewis. It's what narrows the gap between he and little bro, because he performed so well against a faded great who's better than anything Wlad has faced.

The Ruddock who faced Tyson would have been a difficult proposition for Klitschko. While his balance was poor, his chin was good and he was courageous enough to keep wading through whatever Wladimir could throw at him.

The second Tyson fight ostensibly ruined Ruddock as a fighter. There were rumours within the sport of drug-taking in the aftermath (Bowe once labelled him a "crack-head")and he looked somewhat chinny against Lewis and Morrison (which wasn't actually the case prior to the second Tyson fight - when Razor suffered a broken jaw).

Tyson and Morrison would both attest to his power - I think both may have heralded him as the hardest puncher they faced actually.

I'd take Ruddock by knockout.

88Chris05 wrote:Wladimir UD. Puncher's chance for Ruddock.

Safe to say that Wladimir's going to have a hard time standing up to some of the bombs that Ruddock was able to land on Tyson in their rematch - his chin just isn't cut out for that. But Tyson abandoned his boxing after a couple of rounds in that one and basically begged to get caught flush with the way he was fighting. As one writer said, ''he looked like the oldest 24 year old in the world.''

Can't see Wladimir giving Ruddock those kind of opportunities and I don't think Ruddock had the explosiveness, skill or tenacity (he stunk the place out against Tyson in their first fight, and missed a trick in the second by not stepping on the gas or backing himself enough) to take matters right in to his own hands and try to overwhelm a cautious Wlad, who carries enough power to put Ruddock on shaky legs as well.

I'm not sure about Ruddock stinking the place out - the first fight was nothing less than enthralling. In fact, after Ruddock cracked home a series of lefts in round six, the crowd began chanting his name!

Ruddock was explosive and tenacious in both Tyson fights - his left hook-left uppercut hybrid ("THE SMASH" as he termed it) was one of the most lethal weapons in heavyweight history.

hazharrison wrote:

88Chris05 wrote:Wladimir UD. Puncher's chance for Ruddock.

Safe to say that Wladimir's going to have a hard time standing up to some of the bombs that Ruddock was able to land on Tyson in their rematch - his chin just isn't cut out for that. But Tyson abandoned his boxing after a couple of rounds in that one and basically begged to get caught flush with the way he was fighting. As one writer said, ''he looked like the oldest 24 year old in the world.''

Can't see Wladimir giving Ruddock those kind of opportunities and I don't think Ruddock had the explosiveness, skill or tenacity (he stunk the place out against Tyson in their first fight, and missed a trick in the second by not stepping on the gas or backing himself enough) to take matters right in to his own hands and try to overwhelm a cautious Wlad, who carries enough power to put Ruddock on shaky legs as well.

I'm not sure about Ruddock stinking the place out - the first fight was nothing less than enthralling. In fact, after Ruddock cracked home a series of lefts in round six, the crowd began chanting his name!

Ruddock was explosive and tenacious in both Tyson fights - his left hook-left uppercut hybrid ("THE SMASH" as he termed it) was one of the most lethal weapons in heavyweight history.

Agree with this.

Never rated Wlad who is lucky to be plying his trade in such an awful division. Any top contender from mid 80's to mid 90's wipe the floor with him.

I must be thinking of a different Razor Ruddock....The one Haz describes sounds awesome..

Didn't give him a round in the first Tyson fight and like Groves - Froch a poor stoppage saved his butt and gave him a bigger payday second time around..

Saw him nick a split against a past it Weaver....ancient Greg page seemed to be schooling him early until he got knackered because he was a lazy slob...

One handed fighter that couldn't cut it..

Haz, Ruddock came to life in the sixth and was having a decent seventh as well before the stoppage. Those four or five minutes of good stuff from him, coupled with the stoppage which gave him a Harry Hard Luck story, seems to have wiped out a lot of people's memories of the first five rounds, where his game plan basically consisted of grabbing hold of Tyson and tentatively trying to stay away from the bombs Tyson was throwing.

He certainly looked like upping his game in the sixth and seventh, but if it hadn't been for that round and a half then I doubt anyone would have cared about the stoppage, even if it was a bit on the early side. As it turned out, the stoppage came immediately after the only good spell Ruddock had in the whole fight and the accusations of Steele doing King and one of his fighters another favour came pouring out.

He gave it a better go in the rematch, mind you. But even then as I said above I think he missed a trick, because Tyson was technically very poor that night and was clearly not the same guy who'd looked invincible three years before. Ruddock had his moments but kept following up a really good round / spell with a timid, reactionary one afterwards, even before his jaw got busted. Showed a lot of toughness to hang in there and stand up to the punishment Tyson dished out but who knows, maybe he'd have claimed a famous upset scalp for himself if he'd realised earlier in the fight how much he was in with a chance of winning.

88Chris05 wrote:Haz, Ruddock came to life in the sixth and was having a decent seventh as well before the stoppage. Those four or five minutes of good stuff from him, coupled with the stoppage which gave him a Harry Hard Luck story, seems to have wiped out a lot of people's memories of the first five rounds, where his game plan basically consisted of grabbing hold of Tyson and tentatively trying to stay away from the bombs Tyson was throwing.

He certainly looked like upping his game in the sixth and seventh, but if it hadn't been for that round and a half then I doubt anyone would have cared about the stoppage, even if it was a bit on the early side. As it turned out, the stoppage came immediately after the only good spell Ruddock had in the whole fight and the accusations of Steele doing King and one of his fighters another favour came pouring out.

He gave it a better go in the rematch, mind you. But even then as I said above I think he missed a trick, because Tyson was technically very poor that night and was clearly not the same guy who'd looked invincible three years before. Ruddock had his moments but kept following up a really good round / spell with a timid, reactionary one afterwards, even before his jaw got busted. Showed a lot of toughness to hang in there and stand up to the punishment Tyson dished out but who knows, maybe he'd have claimed a famous upset scalp for himself if he'd realised earlier in the fight how much he was in with a chance of winning.

I’m pretty sure I don’t have Alzheimer’s yet (and can just about remember the whole fight). Tyson was way ahead at the point of the stoppage and had put a whupping on Ruddock over the first five rounds – that’s what he did to most fighters. Conventional wisdom dictated that you hold him, or move on him, to let him blow himself out a bit. It’s something of stretch to state that Ruddock stunk the place out in holding and hanging on while Tyson raged a gale, though (Holyfield’s winning effort against Tyson was built on holding and smothering), especially when we have Klitschko in the same conversation.

After taking a pounding, Ruddock looked to have warmed to his task and gave Tyson more issues in rounds 6 and 7 than anyone we’d seen save for Douglas (discounting Bruno and Bonecrusher’s single punches). While Ruddock was on the way down anyway, he was still game and the fight was enthralling throughout due to the threat Ruddock posed with his left.

Ruddock fought a really gutsy fight in the rematch – they both did. Neither fighter was ever really the same again (Tyson already appeared to have “gone off” in that rematch). Not many fighters could have hung tough with a borken jaw (against a Tyson who just stood flat-footed and swang).

Tucker vs Tyson was closer after 6..........

Some experts had it 3-3..........I had it 4-2 Tyson.......and he wobbled Tyson.....

Ruddock is on par with the likes of Hasim Rahman. Cannon fodder for WK.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Tucker vs Tyson was closer after 6..........

Some experts had it 3-3..........I had it 4-2 Tyson.......and he wobbled Tyson.....

I don't think I gave Tucker more than a couple of rounds (mind you, I wasn't prone to scoring fights when I was 10!). I remember the big right uppercut in the opener - corker. Really good fighter Tucker. Such a good mover for a big man.

Tough fight to call. Ruddocks wins and losses compare favourably with Klitschko and he fought a higher standard of competition. Id probably take a punt Ruddock to catch up with a tiring Klitschko in the middle rounds and stop him while behind on the cards.

Coming from a guy who has picked everyone ever to beat Wlad, doesnt say much

Tony Galento vs Wlad.

I pick Galento.

Honestly I get the heavyweight scene is rubbish but Wlad is a very effective fighter, who gets the job done.

Perhaps I overrate him but I know for certainty, many underrate him too.

Wlad wins easily enough most times. Just too good for Ruddock and it would be a formulaic Wlad fight with Wlad dominating to the mid rounds then stopping Donovan.

Young Wlad v Razor might be different. A shootout would be on the cards and Razors got a chance against the pre Steward version.

Theres a bit of a desperation on here to convert Klitschkos lengthy, consistent but fairly unispiring career into that of a great fighter.

Throw Klitschko in against the same opposition that Ruddock had, and hes unlikely to do any better.

Assuming you take Ruddock at his best - he had the kind of power that is scarce on the heavyweight scene in recent years. Despite a load of supposedly massively, enhanced super heavyweight - most of them are poorly conditioned and dont punch anything close to their size.

Ruddock at his best would be right up there with the most dangerous opponents Klitschko faced. Klitschko might win, but its laughable the idea that he breezes through these type of opponents who were generally leagues ahead of the crap around in Kitschkos reign.

AdamT wrote:Tony Galento vs Wlad.

I pick Galento.

Honestly I get the heavyweight scene is rubbish but Wlad is a very effective fighter, who gets the job done.

Perhaps I overrate him but I know for certainty, many underrate him too.

Me too. After a cautious start, two ton tony fires himself up with a cigar and a triple hamburger between rounds and sparks the chinny klit bro with a trademark left.

Sanders managed it with a similar diet and training regime

Well there's more than a grain of truth in that catchy. To be fair, sanders could fight.

catchweight wrote:Theres a bit of a desperation on here to convert Klitschkos lengthy, consistent but fairly unispiring career into that of a great fighter.

Throw Klitschko in against the same opposition that Ruddock had, and hes unlikely to do any better.

Assuming you take Ruddock at his best - he had the kind of power that is scarce on the heavyweight scene in recent years. Despite a load of supposedly massively, enhanced super heavyweight - most of them are poorly conditioned and dont punch anything close to their size.

Ruddock at his best would be right up there with the most dangerous opponents Klitschko faced. Klitschko might win, but its laughable the idea that he breezes through these type of opponents who were generally leagues ahead of the crap around in Kitschkos reign.

Agreed.

The fighters who were around in that period were second only to the great 70's era. The likes of Rudduck, Morrison, Tua, Holy, Bowe, Tyson, Lewis, Briggs, Moorer, and even Cooper would do serious damage in the H/W divison nowadays.

The talent in the heavyweight division in the 1980s was miles higher than recent years. In the U.S this is last decade that really produced talented heavyweights. I think the commercialism of other sports like nfl, basketball, track etc really started to way outstrip boxing and as a result the talent went to tohersports with the big guys.

Klitschko would have a middling record if he was around back then. What he has going for him is that he he remeains focussed and professional and hasnt succcumbed to a lot of the vices that derailed so many of the heavyweights back then. That may or may not have allowed him to outlast most of them and he would have been able to pick up wins over a lot of them if they turned up cocaine addled and out of shape. But Klitschko would be exposed as the not so great heavyweight fighter he is if a lot of those 80s/early 90s heavyweights showed up totally on their A game.

All joking aside two ton was a character. He claimed he was taking the Louis fight seriously.

He only had a feed of beer 2 days before the fight!ha

Sanders was quality. Theres a reason Wlad never fancied a rematch.

Can understand people picking Ruddock. He had some dangerous weapons and its more than fair to say he fought in a far better error.

Its just hard to take seriously from guys who were convinced Haye would beat him and are now giving Fury a shout.

Has anyone here actually seen Ruddock fight? His technique was awful. To put him on par with a former olympic gold medalist, unbeaten in 11 years, 10 year reigning HW champ having never been knocked down and barley lost a round in that time, can only be a wind-up. Razor was no better than any number of WK victims.