Tony Tucker

[LondonRingRules]

thats funny cause he looked soft against Lennox, although he did go the full 12.

** Lewis is hurt and almost knocked out and sure wasn't laughing as he was lucky to finish on his feet. Need to watch that fight again.

Tucker was as good a fighter at his best as anyone in history. He stands up early and gives Tyson the most difficulties during his terrible reign of terror, but, but a broken right hand limits his offense after the 4th or so.

Tucker is like Esteban DeJesus in Duran's career, a tough talented peer who falls just short of an alltime great in his full flower. People forget that DeJesus gives Duran more problems than Leonard ever did when Duran was at his best.

He fell into King's stable which is understandable since King controlled the heavies until Tyson came along, but also his manger/father reputedly makes off with his winnings after the Tyson fight, so he loses a lot of heart at a key point in his career. His only weakness was lax training, but he was so talented that he could coast along, knocking out most everyone else and going the distance in tough fights against the class of the 80s, Tyson and then the 90s, Lewis many years past Tucker's best.

The Tucker that Tyson beat would've whooped the still tender Lewis by boxing and moving even with one hand and maybe knocked him out early before his right hand went. Say hello to Tony for me, and tell him that Kimbo Slice wants no part of TNT, but keep on training, ya never know in this biz and it's good for his heart.

[La_Vibora]

** Lewis is hurt and almost knocked out and sure wasn't laughing as he was lucky to finish on his feet. Need to watch that fight again.

Tucker was as good a fighter at his best as anyone in history. He stands up early and gives Tyson the most difficulties during his terrible reign of terror, but, but a broken right hand limits his offense after the 4th or so.

Tucker is like Esteban DeJesus in Duran's career, a tough talented peer who falls just short of an alltime great in his full flower. People forget that DeJesus gives Duran more problems than Leonard ever did when Duran was at his best.

He fell into King's stable which is understandable since King controlled the heavies until Tyson came along, but also his manger/father reputedly makes off with his winnings after the Tyson fight, so he loses a lot of heart at a key point in his career. His only weakness was lax training, but he was so talented that he could coast along, knocking out most everyone else and going the distance in tough fights against the class of the 80s, Tyson and then the 90s, Lewis many years past Tucker's best.

The Tucker that Tyson beat would've whooped the still tender Lewis by boxing and moving even with one hand and maybe knocked him out early before his right hand went. Say hello to Tony for me, and tell him that Kimbo Slice wants no part of TNT, but keep on training, ya never know in this biz and it's good for his heart.

I totally agree. Tucker was definitely one of the most underrated heavyweights ever imo. I thought he was sort of like Jerry Quarry, in that if he had come around at a different time he could have been the recognized champion. I think at his best that he could have beaten both Holyfield and Lewis imo.

[Terry A]

Tony Tucker had the physical tools to make an even bigger impact in boxing than he did. His dad Robert may have held him back a little, who's to know for sure.
I would have enjoyed a match of him vs Tony Tubbs when they were each at their best. Lots of wasted talent between the two of them but I still liked both these guys.

I respect him and any other pro fighter. I don't want my post to sound as if I'm ragging on him. I just think he could have done so much more with what he had. He had such a nice amateur pedigree and with his size and ability....
I bet if you asked him, he'd agree that he'd like to be able to do it all over again.

Him against Kimbo? I'll be pulling for TNT hard. I'm not a fan of Slice at all.
Tell Tony to get his cardio up, because Kimbo's liable to run out of juice out again. Then Tony can go to work on him.

[them_apples]

I totally agree. Tucker was definitely one of the most underrated heavyweights ever imo. I thought he was sort of like Jerry Quarry, in that if he had come around at a different time he could have been the recognized champion. I think at his best that he could have beaten both Holyfield and Lewis imo.

he wasn't THAT good, but he was good. Prime Holy looked much more impressive. he'd give Lewis a good fight though, even when he was fat he didn't look to shabby.

i'm gonna re-watch Tucker - Lewis and see where my opinion lies.

[TheGreatA]

I thought he was very, very good but I did not see the potential in him to become a great (this is not an insult since very few truly are).

Perhaps injuries and trouble outside of the ring affected his career but the same could be said about many other fighters.

Douglas practically quit against him in a fight he was leading on the scorecards, while the decisions against McCall and Norris could've gone the other way as well.

He does deserve a lot of credit for going the distance with both Tyson and Lewis though.

[LondonRingRules]

I thought he was very, very good but I did not see the potential in him to become a great (this is not an insult since very few truly are).

Perhaps injuries and trouble outside of the ring affected his career but the same could be said about many other fighters.

Douglas practically quit against him in a fight he was leading on the scorecards, while the decisions against McCall and Norris could've gone the other way as well.

He does deserve a lot of credit for going the distance with both Tyson and Lewis though.

** I really couldn't stand him in the day, but always thought he was very talented. I think the reason can be found in this thread.

Tucker was 7-8 yrs into his career before he fights any top 10 fighters and that was my complaint about him. He had beaten Jame Broad and Jimmy Young, but both had dropped from ratings. Then he back to backs Douglas and Tyson, a huge step up in class, drops off the radar for two years in spite of all the kudos given to him in the Tyson showing, probably in a funk over the old man swindling his money. Doesn't surface as a title challenger until King stages the Lennox Lewis title match 6 ys later. Keep in mind that Holy and Bowe controlled the belts and neither was fighting legit comp save each other. Foreman was considered something of a joke fight, and certainly Holmes with Cooper bookended by them, where Tucker was still in his prime and a legit former champ and contender.

According to boxrec, the Douglas scores were perfectly split at the time of the stoppage, a perfect point draw as it were. Tucker starts coming on the 9th with good body shots and rights over the top. Buster is aggressive, but jabs mainly and Tucker always backs off when he moves in. It's like each was fighting his shadow except that Tucker is displaying a very underrated element in his arsenal, footwork.

A good pace, a technical fight lacking drama, but those are whipping jabs each is landing. Tucker comes out looking for more of the same, and starts landing rights early. Buster is fighting back with some left hooks and rights like his corner told him to be more aggressive, but it's like watching an avalanche as Tony moves into full combos, lefts, rights, uppercuts. Buster is knocked about, and in his last effort, throws a Hail Mary uppercut that misses as Tucker knocks him into the ropes to finish. He tries to rope a dope but Tucker is too accurate and Mills jumps in. Figure 30 seconds of being knocked about with Tucker landing a wide assortment of around 20 shots.

Let's also face facts, had that been Ali, they would have let it go on. Buster slipped what he could, but Tucker was methodically picking his shots and Douglas had finally been trapped.

Not sure how to imbed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4rTSarVyJk&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4rTS...eature=related

[jjones10591]

i think he was a great fighter

[American_Ninja]

Tony Tucker was a so so fighter. Nothing special.
Razor Ruddock was better.

[Dynamite76]

Tony Tucker was a real good fighter, problem was,like Mitch Green to a lesser extent, he was hurt by problems outside of the ring.Also, was out about 15 months with a knee injury when he was starting to make major moves.

[Boxing Bob]

Tucker was a good fighter. I wouldn't say real good and certainly not great. To say he could have beaten Holyfield or Lewis is pure bull*****!