Mike Tyson v Tony Tucker..question ?

Tucker broke his hand, when he signed the contract to fight Tyson, hence his abysmal performance

 

Haha. Ive heard it was damaged badly even fractured in sparring. If you watch the fight, Tucker stuns Tyson with an uppercut in the first round, Ive read that blow shattered his hand. Healthy Tucker seriously gives Mike a run for his money.

 

I'm not convinced. Tucker went 34-0 (29) 1NC prior to facing Tyson. He had beat Buster Douglas for the vacant IBF HW world title, WTKO10. The fight was even after 9 rounds. He also beat James Broad W12. Broad had been stopped in the 2nd round by Tim Witherspoon and outboxed by Marvis Frazier, L10. He decisioned a washed up Jimmy Young. The other guys he beat prior to facing Tyson really sucked. If any of these guys even dreamed about beating me... they better wake up and apologize. One of the worst 34-0 records I've ever seen.

Tucker lasted 12 rounds vs. Tyson... he should be happy with that. I'm not sure he could have ever done any better.

He won his next 14 fights, 10 by KO. 12 were bums, the other two were Orlin Norris and Oliver McCall. The fights with Norris and McCall could have easily went the other way. Norris did beat Tucker in a rematch.

Tucker went the distance vs. Lewis but was dropped twice.

What else did he do? Tucker didn't lose much because he didn't fight decent fighters very much. The only time he fought 3 name fighters in a row, he lost 3 fights in a row... LKOby7 Seldon, L10 Akinwande, and L10 Norris.

If Tucker had something special he never proved it to me.

He beat Douglas and went the distance with Tyson and Lewis. He also won fights vs. Norris and McCall that could have went either way. What else?

 

Be a bit honest and say that Tucker was in his later 30's when he lost his three fights in a row to men who were younger than Tony by 7 years or more.. Tucker was too passive to defeat Tyson.. regardless of a broken hand. without the broken hand I think he may have made it a more competitive fight for maybe three more rounds but eventually he would have been backing up like he did and the fight would be lost

 

What happened in Tucker's career really F***d him up for good.Otherwise, you might have seen the first fighter to beat Tyson.

 

Beating Mike Tyson might be going a bit strong. I do think that with the right opponents lined up in the right order Tucker would have been better earlier and a better fighter for longer.

treading water too long, fighting only the lowest level of losers over and over is often blamed on the prospect himself and I have never understood why. Prospects with world amateur pedigree are difficult to move without a lot of money behind them. Journey men know they can name the price, there are easier fights for them to take.

Tyson was bank rolled and moved fast. Telivised fights every two weeks. World class sparring. Training camps. Hlighlight reels sent to news stations etc. that was not down to 19 year old TYson.

 

I think the hand injury that Tucker was meant to have suffered probably did happen, but has also been blown out of all proportion over the years thanks to the shock of him actually giving Tyson a tough time for the first few rounds of their fight. After Tyson lost to Douglas, there were a lot of naysayers suddenly creeping out of the woodwork with lines such as "I always knew a tall jabber would beat him eventually" and "he was never that good to begin with or as dominant as people claimed" etc. Hence, according to some, not only was Tucker fighting with one hand against Mike, he also would have stood him on his head if he'd had the pair of them!

I think Tucker fought a decent fight, should be proud of his effort and basically did the best he could. No need to go over the top about it or dream of what might have been. Oddly enough, I've never understood why this win is seldom talked about when we discuss Tyson's career or how good his prime years were. It wasn't a typical Tyson victory, but in many ways that's why I consider it one of his very finest. Tucker, alebit his record was padded, was a good all-round boxer and his style caused Tyson problems that nobody else's did in his run as world champion. Tyson showed that he was more than just a knockout merchant or flat track bully by biding his time, eventually drawing counters (whereas it'd been him being countered early on) and proved that he could stick to a disciplined game plan when he needed to.

It should be talked of as one of Tyson's greatest nights, for me, but instead the retrospective talk always seems to forget what Tyson did and just focus on Tucker's injury and what might have been.

 

Yeah, it's quite a safe bet that a 5'11, short-armed slugger, fighting at heavyweight, is quite likely to lose - when he loses - his unbeaten streak to a tall guy who manages to keep him at bay with plenty of good jabbing.
Tyson beat plenty of those types before succumbing to one, to be fair.

 

Tucker is overrated anyway.
maybe of he'd had better management situation, and stayed away from cocaine, he might have been a big factor among that era. But he wasn't. He was undeserving of his high rankings, certainly after 1987.

 

You are right, he was past prime... my point is that when he was in his prime he never fought 3 decent fighters in a row... and that's why he didn't have very many losses. Had he fought people like Witherspoon, Dokes, and M. Spinks back to back to back... he may have went 0-3, even at his best. He did beat Douglas (even score just before the stoppage), Norris (very close, Norris won the rematch), and McCall (very close) but had he fought them back to back to back ,would he have won all 3?

Could Tucker have been better? Sure, anybody could have been better. I just wasn't that impressed with Tucker. I feel that had he took more risk and fought more decent fighters we would have seen that he really wasn't as good as some like to think he could have been.

 

Thank you, yes he was over-rated:deal, if Douglas had fought Tucker with the same heart as he showed against Tyson, Tucker wouldn't have ever became champ anyways...

As far as the hand injury goes Tucker had that excuse already made up, before the fight because he knew he was gonna lose..

Why do people keep bringing up this fight it was almost 30 years ago:huh, did i miss something what was so special about it:huh

 

correction,5'10"

 

Tucker's hand was injured before the fight, it was reported in the press before the fight. We have no good reason to doubt it was genuine. These things happen in boxing - a lot.
Maybe Tucker shouldn't have mentioned it after the fight. But people should just accept that he wasn't 100%. It's no excuse for losing, it's all part of the game.