The Magic of Mike Tyson with Emanuel Steward

Golota cannot really compare with the klitschkos. he quit against Michael Grant even and was blown away by Lewis and Lamon brewster. he somehow managed to lose a lot at the top level. with the klitschkos its the opposite - they tend to win

i think wlad klitschko is good at tying up his opponents. and Tyson tended to get tied up on the inside. so its not as simple as just getting in there and making klitschko fight. its hard to force a 245 pound octopus to fight on the inside. Tyson would also stop punching on the inside. he liked to unload when coming in. not so much when he was locked in close. esp when a fighter would grab and hold

im not saying klitschkos beat him but its no easy task. i wouldnt bet on it eithwr way

 

Yes Don King is why Tucker was in the mix but same goes for Douglas and pretty much all the contenders who were controlled by King around this time. Lets face it Witherspoon and Spinks were probably the only ones who were not.

Douglas might have faced more name opposition but Tucker beat Douglas and really showed he was on the same level and maybe a bit mentally tougher.

 

Wlad was also blown away by Lamon Brewster Corrie Sanders and stopped by Ross Purrity. I would say thats comparably as bad and probably worse than Golota's meltdowns.

He was also stopped in comparable fashion where he was put in a situation where he couldnt handle the pressure.

Vitali stopped fighting due to an injury against Byrd and was broken down fairly quickly in a fight where he lost control against Lewis.

These are serious mental deficiencies that have been covered up in recent years due to the lack of real class opposition.

 

i think wlad has improved since he lost to Brewster. technically. and he has matured mentally.
thats a lot of guys who have failed to put the pressure on him and break him. im sure some of them were trying

i dont think the klitschkos "have serious mental deficiencies". thats probably a fairer description of Tyson

 

I havent seen any improvement on the inside other than his ability to hold and while that might work against the Sanders and Brewsters of the boxing world no way does it work against Bowe Lewis and Tyson.

 

Tucker - 6'5, Golota 6'4, Bruno 6'3 - similar styles,

You mean the guy who knocked out Wlad? Golota was past his best by that stage. Tucker, Bruno and Smith tied Tyson up, it didn't stop them getting beaten up by Tyson in range

He did melt down against Brewster and Purrity. Wlad also doesn't want to engage, he does anything to avoid it. This fight he would be made to engage

 

If we're talking about the absolute prime Tyson, what sways this fight for me, is Mike had an iron chin. He could take sustained punishment round after round and he proved that more than once. It would take more than a few decent shots to put Mike away. Wlad on the other hand, if Mike gets into range and lands a few shots Wlad is in big trouble. The speed of Mike's head movement, foot speed, hand speed and co-ordination suggest he would get in range more than once throughout, and once you're hurt there's no better finisher than Prime Tyson.

 

or he would just tie Tyson up for a few rounds and find his range as tyson's pace slows down after 3 or 4 rounds
The brewster fight was almost 8 years ago now. Purrity was more like 13 years ago !
i think wladimir of 2007 - 2011 is better. matured technically and pyschologically.
of course he boxes not to get hit. he doesnt need to "enagage" he just shuts down his opponents offense. with tyson that would be tricky but not impossible
its silly to write off either mans chance in this fight.

 

He hasn't fought anyone who could pressure while slipping the jab. It's completely different fight to anything he's experienced.

In fact a case could be made Wlad's opponents have been intimidated and lost the fight before they entered the ring. They're all looked to box on the back foot bar the crude Peter in their first fight and Wlad got knocked down 3 times then. Even Haye just backed up and looked to counter punch.

Wlad could have become very good in fighter with his great left hook but it seems Steward has turned him into a jab and grab merchant

 

when they slip the jab and come forward wlad just grabs them.
its not like Wlad is fighting opponents who never try to pressure him or who dont know how to slip and jab and step in. he just shuts it down

when youre in there feeling the strength and being outmaneuvered and on the raw end of Wlad's jab im sure its no longer as easy as it looks from the outside.
the man is good. hes big and he keeps the fight at his distance and his punches soon make the opponent more hesistant to press
if there was ever a 5'10 fighter with short arms who could overcome that it would be Tyson or frazier. but its surely no foregone conclusion
it would be a tall order

 

Steward did that on purpose, didn't he?

That way Wlad fights minimizing risks to minimum.

 

It happens rarely, modern fighters just don't know how to move their heads and slip the jab to move into range, it's a more difficult skill granted.

He's rarely pressured, neither is his brother, I seriously believe the 6'6 brothers are pretty intimidating and many fighters just don't give up trying to make a fight of it. You have to give props to Areola for pressuring Vitali and he did better than most

 

I dont think many big men can be good infighters. It takes special coordination for a big man to fight inside and throw short punches and thats why a lot of people were so impressed with Riddick Bowe. Bowe could really throw short shots on the inside..hooks and uppercuts.

Wlad has a lot of speed with his jab and he can hook pretty good at range but hes too big and clumbsy on the inside like most big guys.

Even Lennox Lewis didnt have the prettiest shots on the inside. He telegraphed his shots very badly and often held his opponents head to land the uppercut. Every once and while he would throw a nice counter uppercut as his opponent moved in but on the inside he looked pretty bad.

 

Big men aren't good on the inside by definition. But Wlad (the 2005+ version) always holds on the inside, so it seems to almost be a moot point. Particularly against Tyson, who was relatively tame on the inside as well. Nothing would happen when they'd meet up close, just like nothing happened whenever Douglas or Tucker held Tyson. Mikey would find Wlad's chin sooner or later (which isn't easy given the huge gap in height) and I'm not sure whether Wlad survives, but I don't think the fight would be as easy for Tyson as most think.

Vitali doesn't punch as hard as his brother and doesn't have half his jab, but he's got an iron jaw and throws a lot of heavy punches. If a guy like Tucker gives Tyson a decent fight, then be assured that Vitali will not exactly be a walkover. It would be brutal. :bbb

 

I agree with you. Mike Tyson's defensive skills were a big part of his success against bigger guys. Tyson's ability to both evade punches and counterpunch was second to none. Steward makes it sound like Tyson beat bigger guys simply because the bigger guys were scared of him, and that had the bigger guys not been scared, Tyson would have had a more difficult time. But Tyson's overall skill level was the main reason for his success.

And I think Steward is wrong for referring to Tyson as a "small heavyweight"; a guy who is 5'10" and 220 pounds of solid muscle is not a small heavyweight; he's a short heavyweight, but not a small heavyweight. Tyson had more mass and thickness at 220 pounds than did Lennox Lewis at 240 pounds.