Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock faced Mike Tyson twice in 1991 before stepping through the ropes with Lennox Lewis a year later.
The Jamaican-born heavyweight had just one defeat on his record when he came up against ‘Iron’ Mike and was on a run of sixteen victories. Tyson dropped Ruddock in the third before forcing a referee stoppage that some felt was soft in the seventh. The rematch three months later went the distance with ‘Razor’ Ruddock suffering a broken jaw early on before losing on all three scorecards.
After two wins – stoppages over Greg Page and Phil Jackson – Ruddock came up against Lewis, who knocked him down heavily with ten seconds to go in the first and finished the job quickly in the second leaving Ruddock lying dazed face-down.
Despite the two world champions being the biggest names on his record, Ruddock picked Page as the most skilled heavyweight he faced in a feature with the Ring Magazine.
“He was so crafty because he came from the Muhammad Ali camp. He was very slippery. He had good skills; he was champion of the world. I would have him on the ropes and his hand and footspeed would work in tandem to comfortably dodge a wave of punches and dance away.
He would then continue to dance around the ring. Page was a superior fighter with a remarkable uppercut that tagged me several times. It was an all-out war between us from beginning to end. When I landed, he would absorb the blow and just continued to move his head despite the punishment. He just kept bouncing around exhausting my energy as I threw power punches. He had great stamina with a lot of heart. It was remarkable.”
Page was a regular sparring partner of Tyson’s and was briefly the WBA Heavyweight World Champion in ’84 after a win over Gerrie Coetzee. He had nine losses when he came up against Ruddock in ’92. Despite putting in a spirited effort, it was stopped in the eighth after he took sustained punishment.
He would hang up the gloves with 58 wins from 76 fights and moved into training, interestingly being a part of Oliver McCall’s corner team when he beat Lewis in a shocking upset. Page died in 2009.
