Mike Tyson:Overhyped?

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'89 Tyson still gets no love.

All because he was mildly fazed by Bruno, showed cracks in his defense and took less shots to the body. It was clearly a change from Rooney but lets be real: He had his ass on the canvas within seconds of the opening bell and stopped him in the fifth with some of the most savage uppercuts you'll see. His other fight against Williams lasted about as long as Spinks. 220 lbs of grown ass man flung across the ring by a single left hook.

 

I think to say he was a shadow of himself post 1988 is overstating things quite a bit.
He still kicked the snot out of Bruno, Williams, Stewart (who gave some big names a pretty rough evening) and of course Ruddock twice.

Of those, only Stewart could really be considered a little bit of a soft touch, and even that's a stretch. (And Tillman)

I agree that his dedicated approach to the fight game seemed to have wavered a bit, no denying he had problems outide the ring, and no denying that he seemed to neglect some of the things he used to do in the ring...all true and all played a part that made him slightly less effective as time wore on.

But he was still an animal. Very much physically prime still. He still tore these guys some new holes.

I think that his slight decline post Spinks and pre-prison was the result of two things:

1) He had conquered Spinks and had no mountains left to climb. As a result, he probably wavered just a bit in terms of dedication to his craft.

2) Jacobs and Rooney were gone, and with them went the last two people he respected, and who could reign him in. Don King was pure poison for the kid...he let him do as he pleased, and unfortunately, when let loose, Tyson was often up to no good.

 

Great post!


I think he still han good performances after 88, but that just goes to show how good he was, i.e in emotional turmoil, unmotivated etc he could still destroy top 10 fighters.


















Dreamweaver A.K.A Sexun

 

...Peach of a punch that ended Botha though. One of the best he ever threw though, imo.
Reminded me a bit of Marciano's right on Walcott.

 

Thanks. :good

I've been watching some Tyson fights again lately. Been good to relive those days again.

 

I watched the Botha fight recently, Tyson looked AWFUL. It suddenly took the lustre off Holyfields wins becuase Botha made Tyson look like a complete fool.

Ill never forget Bothas woof woof woof though

 

He wasnt a shadow of himself, however hed thrown away a lot of what him great. But he still had enough in the tank to be the best in the world.

Didnt Stewart give Foreman/Holyfield a decent fight? I think the period after Douglas and before prison was Tysons best, because he was still fighting the top names, but his performance had dipped slightly and he was much more vulnerable now. Fights with Holy, Bowe, Foreman, Mercer would have been very interesting around that period had he not gone to jail.

Tysons problem was always overconfidence. Holyfield stated that in an interview recently, he said Tyson used to train very hard, but as the fights got easier he started training less. He didnt train very hard for Douglas and Tommy Brooks stated Tyson only trained for Holyfield for 2 weeks.

I think peak and prime get mixed up sometimes. Tyson was in his prime when he lost to Douglas, however his peak had been a couple of years earlier.

Ive got Tysons autobiography, Tyson said he wanted to retire after beating Spinks, he said he didnt want to end up broke like the champs of past and that he had conquered everyone and beat who was to beat. It was Don King who had other plans.

After Spinks, Rooney had tried to keep Tysons mind focused, the next stepping stone was to try and break Marcianos record.

Don King was basically, "Mike your the champ". Rooney and Cayton were more, "get your ass in the gym" totally different attitudes.

 

The Spinks fight convinced everyone that the Tyson era was for real.
But there were loads of people who were unwilling to put him on the ATG list next to Ali and Louis - it was thought a bit early for that. Wait and see how his era plays out.
This was still supposed to be the beginning stages of a long and glorious reign.
Nowadays people viewed it as the beginning of the end stages.

I see parallels with Sonny Liston. When Liston destroyed Patterson, everyone was thinking he'll be champion for as long as he wants.
It didn't turn out that way, for him or for Tyson.

 

Luckily for Liston, he lost to Ali. His legacy didn't take quite the same hit.
Tyson, well,...you know.

 

I think the difference with Liston is that he lost because somebody better came along and beat him, with Tyson that was not the case, he simply beat himself

 

The only person who was unconvinced was Mike Katz, but he was a douche that hated everyone. He even went so far to say Holyfield was the only challenger in the future and he wasnt that good either.

 

Well put. :good

 

It was over two years after the first Holyfield fight, and Tyson had been exposed as a mental case in the meantime. I'm guessing he had entered a new stage of self-loathing and public embarrasment after the bite fight. He acted like a nut-case from post-'97. The commission really would have done him a favour if they'd never given him his licence back.
But then again, it wouldn't have been right to end his career on the bite fight either.

 

In fairness to Katz, Holyfield didn't quite convince a lot of the media that he was the Real Deal (despite good showings at heavyweight) until ironically he lost to Bowe.