The myth of Tysons post prison skills...

If you were really a Tyson fan you'd already know the how's and why's. The drop-off in his skillset was documented over and over and over in the contemporary magazines of the day.
I'm certainly not going to do your homework for you by pulling out source after source.
People will believe what they want to, anyway. Waste of time.

 

I'm not a Tyson fan in the least, but there is no way he wasn't deteriorated by a 4 year layoff.

I still think Holyfield beats him whenever they would have fought.

 

End thread.

 

Now a few inconvenient facts.

To all intents and purposes Tyson was a " pro " at 16. The master plan was he went to the Olympics, wins a gold, and turns pro for big money.

Holyfield was selected in preference over Tyson so the master plan was scuppered. Shortly afterwards Lewis came down to the Catskills from Canada for some sparring. Day 1, Lewis is battered all over the place because Old Man Tomato had a " pro " on his hands. Lewis's trainer says fvck this, fight back. By the third day Tomato has Lewis kicked out of the gym, because dear little Mikey is getting his ass kicked.

Tyson is " launched "onto the pro scene and fed people that make him look good, and his confidence builds with every fight, and he looks to all the world to be devastating. However Old Man Tomato, dies before he gets the chance to teach Tyson what to do if he meets another Lewis who wants to fight back.

Unfortunately that happens in Tokyo, in 1990.

From there on in, its only a matter of time until he " has " to fight another live one. Holyfield. And the rest as they say is history.

 

This is a very extreme version of the truth. All champions are fed fighters to make them look good and keep miles off the clock. Tyson was not unique in this.

He was a pro at 16 though. Tyson was a no expence spared million dollar Frankenstein project as soon as he moved to the Catskills. That had to be an advantage to his development.

As for Tyson not learning how to fight back? I think that is a but insulting that anyone needs to be taught that after so many years training and fighting competitively.

Tyson still cleaned up. There was nobody better to fight. Everyone has an excuse for a loser. Tyson beat good fighters. In style.

If there was something missing from Tyson it was the ability to mature both as a person and a fighter. He never adapted. Always set off like an angry teenager and would lose concentration the longer a fight went.

Like Sonny Liston a frozen fighter brought the best out of him. He knew an intimidated fighter could not perform and it was smelling the fear, sensing it that gave him that extra edge, the fury and speed nobody could match. Tyson knew he could not miss. It drove him on. Against resistance however, Tyson could not unleash any of that. He needed to think and would get frustrated.

Tyson was brave, he was not a bully, but mike did not adapt or mature like most other great fighters.

 

holyfield headbutts any version of tyson into ko

works everytime

 

It couldn't have happened to such a clean fighter as Mike, Tyson was always the consummate professional. If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen, that's exactly what he did in their second bout.

 

For sure Tyson was NO coward, when being out fought he took his licks with true courage. ( ear biting incident aside )

What makes me think he was a bully though was his belief that he could foul as much as he wanted to, but screamed like a baby to Mills Lane when Holy was free with his head.

 

Absolutely.

Another thing worth noting with Tyson was that his assets as a great fighter were the unfair advantages he had. All his advantages early on were connected to his incomparable youth. The speed he had was youth speed. He also had man strength as a boy because he developed physically training with men. Man strength plus youth speed plus the technical schooling, one on one training with all time great trainers, millionaire managers etc etc is a hell of a combination. His route to the title was mapped out superbly. No other prospect could be moved along so expertly without the full focus of an entire team of people with the contacts and money to pave TYsons way through the ranks at breakneck speed. The whole plan was about developing a fighter to be an old head on young shoulders. Creating a youth seasoned enough to fight for a title whilst still being young enough to be athletically and technically superior to the opposition. Trouble was with out speed Tyson was just a heavy handed short heavyweight.

TYsons hands were always fast. He could always move his head but once he lost half a step of foot speed he could not be Mike Tyson anymore. He only moved his head when he was moving in. As he got older he spent more and more time on the outside waiting.

That half step of foot speed prevented a shorter armed fighter beat a long guy to the punch. It was as simple as that. Without that extra half step Tyson was on an even field against taller, heavier men with longer arms. It had nothing to do with not having Kevin Rooney in his corner! He was still trying to step in and beat bigger guys to the punch like he did when he had the speed of a teenager. The guy did not adapt.

 

96 Tyson cleans out todays division.

 

The thread was ended when you started it. Anyone with any association with Tyson or with those times will tell you it was commonly known that Tyson had deteriorated badly. It actually goes back to the second Ruddock fight for me. The prison stint was the nail in the coffin.