Boy,...boxing has plummeted if that was a HW championship match.
Not Heavyweights,....but to see what Boxing *was*,...watch the first round of the Hagler-Hearns fight.
Awesome fight - watched it happen.
Like Sam Houston, I will vote for what is best for ME in 2020. Texans read their Bibles to find what they want it to say, and are blind to what it actually says...
Leaving all race, color, and creed, crap aside, the fight was fascinating in a number of ways. First, by the end of the second round, it was plain that Ruiz was in far better condition, from a stamina standpoint, than was Joshua. Second, it was interesting that the man who should have been employing a stiff jab and combinations (Joshua) declined to do so. On the other hand, Ruiz worked his way in behind a decent, quick left jab. Third, the referee did what he could to handicap Ruiz by not allowing him to punch in the clinches. Fourth, after the first knockdown (which was more a result of the element of surprise than any real power in left hook by Joshua), Joshua landed a very good, cracking right hand and Ruiz walked right through it; that was, in my opinion, the moment in which Joshua's spirit began to fail. Even when he was being pressured, he still left the left jab parked in the garage because, every time he brought it out, Ruiz, counterred with flurries of hard punches. Can anyone here imagine what the fight would have looked like if Ruiz fought more like Joe Frazier or Rocky Marciano? Or, if the referee had allowed Ruiz to punch his way out of the clinches? The fight would not have lasted as long as it did. Joshua was a beaten man the moment Ruiz walked through that good punch and fought back. His confidence was shaken and his spirit was fractured. Another aspect of the fight which was quite apparent was, while neither man has a great defense, Ruiz is, by far, the better of the two in this regard. He did a reasonably good job of slipping and countering but did get caught flush on occasion. Joshua seemed to want to employ the left-hand-down style but didn't seem to know how. He crried the left low but didn't know enough to use his shoulder to deflect a right hand over his head and counter with his own right or with a left hook over top. If you don't know how, you shouldn't do it. Bob Foster knew how, so did Georgie Benton and Jersey Joe Walcott was a master. Joshua is not. On those occasions that he did manage to make Ruiz miss, he didn't counter. I got the impression that Joshua was tense and that tension was draining his strength. Ruiz was relaxed and controlled. If there is to be a rematch, Joshua needs a lot of schooling and ,possibly, a heart transplant since he showed precious little in this fight. The better man won the fight. GD
Mike Tyson in his prime was the best there ever was.
Like Sam Houston, I will vote for what is best for ME in 2020. Texans read their Bibles to find what they want it to say, and are blind to what it actually says...
Mike Tyson in his prime was the best there ever was.
He was in his prime when he fought James Smith and showed a remarkable lack of inner strength. He was in his prime when he fought Buster Douglas but his lack of discipline caused him to eschew everything he had been taught and get badly beaten. At the time, I felt he could have beaten Holyfield and I still believe that would have been possible with D'Amato in his corner. Without D'Amato, his lack of personal integrity caused his confidence to desert him. I believe, if George Foreman, when he was 41, had gotten to fight Mike Tyson for the title, he would have knocked him out in two or three rounds. Didn't happen though; I don't think Tyson wanted any part of big George. GD
Tyson was a pit bull. Hate him or not, tough to beat in the ring when his head was in the game. The guy was used badly by promoters and he made them a lot of money. Too bad his talent (and anger) wasn't used to his benefit. Short but amazing window as a fighter.
Tyson was a pit bull. Hate him or not, tough to beat in the ring when his head was in the game. The guy was used badly by promoters and he made them a lot of money. Too bad his talent (and anger) wasn't used to his benefit. Short but amazing window as a fighter.
Here is an interesting interesting take on Tyson..
All Bull chhitt aside that might be my most favorite Interview I've ever watched. Teddy is a boxing god. A fight god. And he just nailed that. Most of us a kids i'm 53 now were alive to watch Ali, Hearns, Hagler, omg the list goes on and on. I was raise during boxings greatest years IMO. Tommy Hearns my hero. Loved everything about how he fought his athleticism his grit. Tyson is exzactly as Teddy described. Top Rank Boxing my most favorite thing on TV. For those of you whom haven't seen Vasily Lomanchenko fight yet I feel bad for you. In my entire life I've never seen a better fighter. At one point he had 3-4 journeyman fighters that didn't answer the bell. Why? Because he broke their spirit. Never in their life had they ever faced anyone so skilled. They quit because he ripped their hearts from their chests. He's the best fighter I've ever seen. An inventor. He re sets the bar every fight. He's a damn Messiah. Teddy is the best. Raiders fan to boot.
Thanks for posting that. Peace
Your Every Liberal vote promotes Socialism and is an attack on the Second Amendment. You will suffer the consequences.
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And this is the thing about fighters, or many other athletes, which is difficult to quantify; heart, mental resilience, pride, the ability to keep trying. In boxing, a decision to quit may be an intellectual one or it may be because the spirit is broken. When things were tough, Tyson caved. Compare him, with his power and potential, to Floyd Patterson. Thirty pounds lighter and nowhere nearly as strong, Patterson never quit. He got knocked out, but he never broke. Tyson broke. Joshua broke. Imagine Mike Tyson in Rocky Marciano's shoes; fighting Ezzard Charles. Rocky was battered, his nose split, eye cut, bleeding profusely, yet he knocked Charles out for the win. In the same situation, I can almost promise that Tyson would have quit. Marciano had too much pride to stop. I do believe some fighters can find strength they didn't posess early in their careers. George Foreman is an example of a fighter whose mental toughness might have been questionable in his early career but certainly was not in his second one. GD
Just a quick comment on Tommy Hearns: Hearns was a great fighter and wasn't lacking in heart at all. What he did lack was intelligence in the ring. Sometimes he made decisions which were difficult to fathom. In his fight with Iran Barkley, Hearns hit Barkley with a left hook to the body which nearly put Barkley down. Another hook to the same place and Barkley's hands were down. A third hook and he was so available for a right hand (Hearns' best punch) that it's landing was a forgone conclusion; Hearns never threw it. In stead, enamored with that left to the body, he kept thowing it. He landed, as I recall, five in a row. The last one didn't have the effect the earlier puches had and when he tried a sixth, Barkley beat him to the punch with a perfectly timed right hand and Hearns was down and out in a fight he should have won easily. Still, he was always good to watch. GD
True. I guess it was because I at the time was built like him. And naturally moved like him. I was connected in that way. My favorite punch he could throw? Moving/falling backwards on one heel and land the KO. No body else in that division could do that. Iran Barkley! lol Now this thread is going places!
Last edited by Shag; 06/04/19.
Your Every Liberal vote promotes Socialism and is an attack on the Second Amendment. You will suffer the consequences.
GOA,Idaho2AIAlliance,AmericanFirearmsAssociation,IdahoTrappersAssociation,FoundationForWildlifeManagement ID and MT.
For Mike Tyson to achieve what he did given the circumstances he experienced as a child - experiences that would make 90% of folks crumble into weeping bags of chit - is a miracle in and of itself.
When Tyson had someone in his corner (Cus D'Amato) that endeavored only to bring out the best in Tyson, Tyson was unbeatable. When that ended, his demons returned, and he lost. Many of you here have no clue how fortunate you are to never have had anything close to the same experiences.
If one takes the time to listen to Tyson today, he has evolved philosophically, way beyond his boxing career.
Like Sam Houston, I will vote for what is best for ME in 2020. Texans read their Bibles to find what they want it to say, and are blind to what it actually says...
