Former IBF heavyweight champion Tony Tucker was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1958.
Tucker deserves to be remembered among the heavyweight division’s best – thanks, largely, to just two performances in 1987.
The first was his IBF title-winning effort against James "Buster" Douglas – who was in inspired form that night, as any rewatch will confirm. The second was his gallant 12-round points loss to Mike Tyson – the only time a peak, motivated and fully focused Tyson came remotely close to defeat.
“Close” may be overstating it, but the hefty left uppercut that wobbled Tyson in the opening round, and the persistent problems Tucker posed throughout, were certainly unfamiliar territory for the young champion. X-rays later revealed Tucker had fractured his right hand in four places – a brutal detail that only adds to the myth of what might have been.
Had Tucker not slipped into a haze of depression and drug abuse in the aftermath, he might have gone even further. He returned at the end of 1989, a shade slower and heavier, and notched wins over Mike Evans, Orlin Norris and Oliver McCall en route to a shot at newly crowned WBC champion Lennox Lewis.
Again, Tucker was a handful. His ring IQ and veteran savvy no doubt offered a valuable lesson for Lewis, but after 12 rounds, the result was clear.
A 1995 attempt at the vacant WBA title ended in defeat to Bruce Seldon, and Tucker’s decline was laid bare two years later in Norwich, where Herbie Hide thrashed an undeserving version of the former champion in a bout for the then lightly regarded WBO belt.
Incredibly the 21-year-old Tucker was supposed to be on a flight to Poland that crashed on March 14, 1980. All 87 people on board were killed, including 22 members of the U.S. boxing team. Tucker didn't go because of a shoulder injury.
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