Mike Tyson:Overhyped?

Well, that doesn't seem to be the case with the Pinklon Thomas fight. Tyson had his range established straight away. Then it was Thomas who got himself into the fight. It wasn't just the jab either.
Thomas had no snap in those punches though.





... I hope we're not going to see a new series of prime Tyson myths :
"he only ever got hit when he was deliberately allowing himself to be hit"
"i heard he carried that guy" ....

 

Tyson really didnt start consistently getting hit cleanly until the first Bruno fight, where he was hit solidly and cleanly by power shots that did damage.

It was so rare in the early parts of his career that almost everyone who watched Tyson can name the two fights where his opponent actually landed something clean and stopped him in his tracks. Tucker in the first round and Smith in the last round. Neither was as damaging as the short hook he took from Bruno in their first fight.

Tyson beat Pinklon Thomas up badly and brutally stopped him. One of the hardest succession of punches Ive ever seen. I bet Thomas had a headache for a week.

I dont know what you call getting into the fight, it went 6 rounds and Thomas won what 1 round on two guys cards and took a brutal beating in the process. If you call surviving the intial onslaught getting back into the fight well ok?

 

I think those were the fighters who hit him with HARD shots.
I don't think they were the only ones who hit him with clean shots.

I know Thomas took a bad beating, that's not the point.
Thomas was hitting Tyson with jabs and straight rights, and a few cuffing hooks. They weren't damaging punches but they were landing on an incoming Tyson.
Arguably Thomas deserved to win the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds. That's no big deal. Tyson KO'd him anyway, and landed the harder punches.

I just don't see this defensive mastery from a prime Tyson in this fight. And people are saying Tyson was one of the best defensive heavyweights ever.

 

Is this serious?

Yes, bad arguments can be made for anything. Point proven.

 

Maybe he's scoring for successful clinching?

 

Why not watch the fight. I think Thomas landed more punches in those rounds than Tyson did. At the very least they were very close rounds.

Larry Merchant had those 3 rounds going to Tyson, and he was one of the voices at the forefront of the 1987 Tyson hype train.

Maybe you've remembered the fight wrong. Thomas didn't do an awful lot of clinching. Tyson was actually doing as much holding.

 

It works both ways against him, when Tyson cliches; give the other guy a point, when they clinch back, give them another point.

 

Yeah, which kind of evens it out. we end up having no choice but to score punches land.

 

To a degree yes. Tyson was boxing's biggest main attraction from the mid 80s, through his exile and when he returned. He is overhyped because of the bad people he's been associated with.

 

I hope you mean Mao... Che was awesome. :hat

 

Conn should be exiled from this thread for even suggesting Thomas won more than half the fight

 

Just wait until Foreman Hook turns up... Thomas probably won every round, including the one he was stopped in on his card! :yep It was a robbery!

 

No, he won three rounds at most.
Look at the 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds. I don't care if you give them all to Tyson, you will see that they are close.
Larry Merchant had them all going to Thomas.
Personally, i like even rounds so i don't care to argue about who had the rounds. But arguably Thomas could be given them.
Any reasonable honest person who looks at those rounds without prejudice will see that they are close. In fact, maybe the 4th was clear for Thomas, but i could make it even too.