The myth of Tysons post prison skills...

The head movement that made him as great as his power was going away before prison. Look at the first Bruno fight as well as the Douglas fight. As well as the Ruddock fights. At hi best he's the best short heavyweight of all time, but he was going to be beaten by someone at some time. I belive he would have beaten Holyfield when they were soposud to fight, but had he not gone to prison. Tyson would have had to face tougher oppoents than he had hand feed to him after he got out.

 

I think so too.
There are none so blind as those who will not see though.

 

It was a combination of a lot of things. He lost a half step of foot speed that prevented Tyson beating taller men to the punch. Getting inside a second later prevented him from attempting a combination. Suddenly one punch would do. Slowly Tysons opponents grew with confidence and less of them were frozen before the first bell. Tyson was always good in spurts or if the other fellow was intimidated but losing that step started much earlier than people think. Tyson did not adapt. he always thought he was a teenager, often ran out of ideas. I think it began as early as the Thomas fight. His power and aura and inactive, intimidated chalengers prevented much of it being exploited straight away. It did not prevent Tyson from still being good enough to be great though.

 

Fixed.

 

I'd go with that. However I think it had everything to do with not having D'Amato. I believe he gained the upper hand with Rooney , and showed an attitude of " I'll train as and when I want to, and how I want to, and if you don't like it, take a walk. I can get anyone to train me. "

Whereas old man Cus would force him to train as if every bout was a definite 12 rounder.

I think the deterioration started slowly but surely when D' Amato died.

If you look at the 3 years prior to the Douglas fight, the kid had 9 fights, and they only totalled 50 rounds.

Then when you consider Smith and Tucker account for 24 of them, with Smith just clinching and surviving at all costs, not even remotely looking to win, that leaves 7 fights consisting of 26 rounds.

It is hardly rocket science to work out that without his Svengali, he simply isn't going to be as dedicated as he was when the man was alive.

 

What are you, 12 years old?

Every observer from the era, every guy who saw him train and fight live (including myself) noticed a dramatic decline. It wasn't even that close. He could mimic some of the earlier form but not entirely and not for very long.

Go look at Tyson v Holy I, round 3 or so. Tyson's already slowed to a one punch home run hitter. Compare to later rounds, 9 or 10, against Tucker when Tony is running and trying his best Ali impersonation. Tyson is crowding, jabbing, using great footwork, landing body shots... much more intense...

Seriously, you are probably trolling but if you are not and can't see this stuff you might want to try following a different sport.

 

I realised this ages ago, hence, why theres no point replying to him

 

So are the so called " experts " trying to claim that Tyson was still crowding, jabbing well and working the body as early as the Douglas fight? Because if they are they're wrong, and if they are not, wtf has the jail sentence got to do with anything regarding his pronounced decline?

The prison sentence was just another marketing tool. He was nothing like the 87 fighter long before the ****, and its consequences.

 

The difference is in '89, Tyson was coming off his longest layoff at the time (8-9 months after the Spinks fight). It was the craziest period of Tysons life at the time, the transtion between Rooney/Cayton to the Givens family to King. Divorce, attempted suicide etc and Bruno was pumped for this fight. Thats why at the staredown, it was Tyson who looked away, i doubt hed been training hard and Bruno came to fight

Fast forward to '96, Bruno isnt what he once was, he was already mind****ed by their previous outing and he came in offering very little resistance at all. Tyson also trained hard for this fight for 2 reasons
a) he had a chance to get his belts back
b) he remembered how tough Bruno was in their first fight.

2 different Tysons, 2 different Brunos, 2 different fights.

You asked this questuion before, when you were posting under the name of Foreman Hook. dont lie because you used the exact same wording and reasoning

 

A fighter who is in decline, then goes to prison for 4-5 years, will come back much worse than before, however with the right kind of matchmaking, he can look like hes just as good as ever.

what part of that is too complicated for you?

 

SImples:

Less head movement
Less jabbing
Less combination punching

 

If I were you I'd learn some maths before you talk about things being complicated.

The nonce case served 3, not 4 or 5 years. If you believe that Tyson was as intensive, and dedicated in 88 - 90 as he was in 87 when he fought Tucker, you know less about the fight game than you do about arithmetic.

 

You completely misread his post.