Mike Tyson:Overhyped?

I suppose part of the reason this event was so shocking at the time is because Tyson had yet to completely fly off the rails and was still considered an elite fighter. It was years before he tried to break Bothas arms, before the children eating comments, before the testicle stomping comments. Tyson was still better known for his boxing exploits than off the wall sound bites and behavior, even post-prison. Up to the ear biting, it was about boxing. He wasnt a joke.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXfPifoFcyk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXfPifoFcyk[/ame]

 

The ear bite was the beginning of the end of Tysons career.

He destroyed everything hed achieved just by that one bite and any sympathy he had after the Douglas-Prison saga was out of the window. He solidified himself as the bad guy

 

Can only ponder what happens if the bell rings for round 4. I just dont think the turbulent boiling cools to a calmer simmer. It'd already crossed the point of no return and became an all-out street fight, well before the first bite even happened. Really a shame, because as slowed as both of them were, they showed up in almost cartoonish condition. Both of them looked even more ridiculous than the November 96 affair, and as Sangria noted it was the last time Tyson ever came in under 220.

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Tyson underestimated Holyfield big time in the first fight, as did everybody else! In the second fight he came in condition and he was reserving his energy, he was boxing well behind the jab. What also seems to be forgotten is that Tyson had Giachetti in his corner for this fight.

In the first fight Holyfiled had Brooks and Tyson had......HIMSELF!!!

 

No doubt, the training camp with Giachetti played a role in Tyson showing up the way he did. He was brought back into the fold in early January of 1997 with a 15-week camp planned.

 

From August 1987 SI:

 

Nice post!

Tyson beat all that was put in front of him. His downfall was not knowing everything that was going on in his life that he chose to let Don King take control of.

People urged him, literally pleaded with him to get back with Atlas and get his career back on track with the trainer who knew him the best. Atlas wanted to get with him right when he came out of jail. I can understand how Tyson wanted none of him, considering the stories of Teddy holding the gun to his head threatening Mike to stay clear of his daughter. Hard to forgive and forget that one.

Tyson is a tough out for every heavyweight, champion and contender. The only way to beat Tyson is to frustrate him, moreso early, outspeed him to a decision or outpower him early and stop him.

Nobody has really out-pointed a prime Mike Tyson if you look at his career. He wasn't prime against Holyfield in either fight. Physically he was there, but he didn't have the game plan to take it to Evander and beat him. He relied too much on the bullying and scare tactics and it didn't work the first time.

Give Douglas the credit of a KO, but that Tyson in Japan had too much on his mind and in his life to be champion, and the other guy had his mother pass away for his motivation. Any other night, Tyson probably beats Douglas, but Busted had the blueprint for big men, which Lennox Lewis took in his fight with Mike. Keep him outside with the jab, don't stand in front on him and trade, set up the straight right hand to the body and head.

It's amazing how people forget the first fight with Holyfield was competitve despite the knockdown and stoppage. Tyson wasn't as quick moving his head or body and he still made Holyfield miss. He couldn't reset himself quick enough to avoid Evander's "first class counter punches," which were the differerence.

The second time out he just tried to do the same with a smarter Holyfield not buying it. Mike got a little desperate and Holyfield took advantage with the Holyheadbutt and the crowd in his favour.

I think prime Louis, Lewis, Liston, Foreman, Holmes, Dempsey, Marciano and Frazier give him the toughest fights and he can beat them all. Langford, Quarry, Lyle, Bonavena and Shavers might have some underrated toe-to-toe action.

Tunney, Corbett, Terrell, Schmeling, Jimmy Young, and the Klitschkos all give the same boring Mitch Blood, Tony Tucker contest with close decisions either way.

 

i dont think atlas would have done much good, he was only with tyson for a couple of years in the amatures. rooney was with him for years!

 

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Foreman Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook!:smoke

 

Did he?

I know Evander was a heavy underdog and seen as well past his best, but that does not mean that Tyson took him lightly.
He'd have been a fool to, no matter how washed up Evander may have appeared to be.

Tyson looked in great shape and fought a great fight, at least early on. He fought miles better than in Tokyo, where that was one time I do believe Tyson took his opponent lightly.

Sorry, I've just never really bought these 'unprepared' excuses. Not just in Tyson's case, but in lennox's case, Wladimir's case and in most other cases too.
I think it's a bit too convenient to fall back on that excuse, when we seem at a loss to explain why the more fancied fighter lost.

 

There was an interview posted on here of Tommy Brooks a couple of years back. I remember reading it and Brooks stated Tyson only trained 2 weeks for the Holyfield fight. Remember nobody gave holyfield a chance at all, everybody was picking what round he would be Kod in.

I dont accept Tyson fought a better fight than Tokyo. In 96 he was looking to the ref (for a way out) as early as round 6ish. In Tokyo he had desire and was still fighting back even in the round he was Kod in. Ive come to the conclusion recently that Douglas is Tysons best fight (hes stated this himself too)

Tokyo was more of a better brawl, although Tyson was throwing 1-2 sloppy punches and Douglas was throwing jabs and then 3-4-5s.

Ive recently rewatched both fights. Douglas/Tyson was a poor mans Bowe/Holyfield but an good fight nonetheless. 96 Holyfield schooled Tyson.

 

XPERT post!! :rofl:rofl

Tokyo WAS Tyson's best fight for being a punch-bag And getting his bloody arse kicked And not even winning one Round of 10! NEVER before or after did Tyson get BATTERED And ABUSED that one-sidedly. Tyson won 2 of teh first 5 Rounds VS Holyfield, he won the 1st Round VS Lewis, he won teh first 2 Rounds VS Danny Williams And he won 3 Or 4 Rounds VS Bummy McBride - BUT VS Big Bus Douglas, he did not win ANY Rounds. Bummy Douglas pounded his face in with HARD JABS And NASTY COMBOS all night long And then put him to SLEEP. Even in Round 8, wen tYSON did drop Douglas, he took such a bloody beating it was a EVEN Round at best. :deal


Foreman Hooooooooooooooooooooook!:smoke

 

Yes, but Holyfield got away with the butts, as most fighters do. With these two styles they will butt each other. I'm not saying it's accidental. These guys are professionals, they've been fouling opponents with sneaky butts and elbows their whole careers. It's part of the game.
It's only the unprofessional amateurish headbutts that can be seen as 100% deliberate, so a referee has his hands tied really. With these two styles against each other, it's not something that can be realistically prevented.

Biting is an unprofessional foul, to the extreme. Obviously something you will NOT get away with, and if you get away with one bite and do it again, you are not behaving like a professional at all.

The "way Tyson was fighting" was obviously in a very amateurish and third-rate manner, from an emotional and mental standpoint.

Technically and physically, yes, he was producing the goods.
But clearly he was a mental and emotional mess.
You cannot get by with just one aspect.
The coolness and mental strength are the more important aspect at this level, pitted against such a high caliber opponent.

Holyfield was probably concerned or afraid or getting his ear bitten off completely. He also told his corner, let me go out there and knock him out. Does biting make Tyson a badass ? Or just an embarrassment ?

Tyson was the guy who was crying about headbutts and worried that he might have to see his kids with a cut eye. Please, let's not get into the embarrasing excuses or the infamous John Horne interview territory.
Tyson was in the wrong.
Tyson was more the guy who couldn't handle it or control his fear. he had a terrible fear of losing, or having to endure a tough fight.

Look, let's not split hairs.
When an experienced professional fighter of championship standards allows himself to be so unprofessional, so outrageous and amateurish in his fouling, in such an obvious and blatant and uncontrolled manner .... he's basically looking for a way out.
When it's 100% obvious to any rational individual that what you just did should result in a DQ, leaving the referee no real choice but to issue a DQ, then there's no excuse - you didn't really want to fight. Maybe you wanted to hurt the other guy, but you didn't want to be bothered to do it in the sporting manner. basically that's quitting.

This is professional boxing.
There's no such sport as street-fighting.
You can bend the rules, and you can even get away with breaking the rules within reason. Tyson got away with breaking the rules a lot. So did Holyfield.
But biting a guy's ear twice, in full view of the spectators, was an act of ridiculous madness. Obviously it's a DQ. It's not a well-calculated foul at all, UNLESS you are trying to lose. And everything done in the ring should be well-calculated.

 

Tyson beat Holmes who beat Ali who Beat Foreman :hi: