If this was the one where he had a broken collar bone, then this is it...that took a helluva lot of character.
I'd say the James Tillis fight. He beat Tillis easier than Tyson did. He boxed well, didn't get hit much, controlled the action. Even by the time he faced Tyson, there were serious questions about him because he looked bad against David Bey and Renaldo Snipes after the Tillis fight.
Tillis was as good as anyone back then, he was not getting the decisions but he was giving everyone life and death losing. He was robbed of a knockout against marvis Frazier. Fights are stopped for less. Biggs brought the best out of the fighters he fought. He seemed to get everyone on a good night. Simms, Snipes, Bey, Tillis, Tyson, Damiani, Bowe all looked worse against other fighters before Biggs fought them.
Choklab..you are spot on.I remember you saying this once before. Everyone he fought seemed to be either 'peak' 'unbeaten' or failing that ,certainly 'up for it'. Tillis was a good win...in his next fight he became the first to take Tyson the distance,with some people feeling it was a very close fight. Ty had real quality opposition in his first 14 fights...astonishing really...Tillis ,Sims, Snipes ,Bey. He lacked power at the highest level. In many ways i thought his defeat at the hands of Bowe was one his best efforts. That defeat though signified the end of him as a serious contender. His one armed win over Sims was amazing. Funnily enough the injury he suffered early in that bout made him concentrate on what he was good at and he made the job look relatively straight forward. In too many fights,he tried to brawl,which was not his game.
Why do you think he went to pieces after the first round against Tyson?? Maybe the bodyshots got to him early on and he shut up shop??
Hi Wass....funnily enough i watched that fight yet again yesterday and was looking out for that specific question....ie..at what point did the fight start to go wrong.? You have to remember he was an olympic gold medalist who had sparred with Tyson with no issues ,he was unbeaten and had no inferiority complex with Mike like other guys had.I genuinely think he came to win. In round 1 he danced and moved which was back to his amateur style (Duva and co had tried to turn him into more of a fighter as a pro...which i think was a mistake)... Towards the end of round 1 Tyson landed a double left elbow which bust the inside of Ty's bottom lip ...this knocked Biggs' confidence immediately. Ty himself still says it wasn't Mikes power ("i've been hit harder,it was his speed")...from round 2 Tyrell just couldnt keep him off...Tyrell's style needed the jab to be dominant and to keep some distance between him and the opponent,but Tyson kept getting inside the jab with good movement and he kind of 'swarmed' Biggs...giving him no space and no time, to work or think.Tyrell described fighting Tyson as 'exhausting'. By round 3 Ty almost gave up the jab and started trying to catch Tyson on his way in with uppercuts and crosses but they just bounced off Mike. All the elbows and butts plus late blows (one blatant one out of a 'clinch/break' in round 5 didnt help. Amazingly not a single one of these was spotted by the ref (if you were being pedantic there were enough fouls to have Tyson thrown out).Check out the double elbow at the start of round 7. In the end Biggsy was exhausted. A good corner wouldve pulled him out at the end of round 6. The advice he was given by his corner throughout the fight was poor. In summary it was Tysons intensity that took his game plan away and yes some good body shots generally slow a fellow down. If i had a criticism of Biggs it was that he shouldve thrown more straight rights after the jab...it was there to be done especially early but he didnt do it.That was a fault through his career. Not many people know but Ty was a converted southpaw and is very left handed/left sided naturally. Later... Buster D managed to put the whole jigsaw together. Good movement,strong upright stance (too many fighters including Tyrell 'leaned into' Tyson thus giving up their physical advantage) strong jab with plenty of sharp straight rights.These things combined stopped Tyson 'closing the space' and made him look exactly what he was....a small heavyweight. Tyrell knew what he had to do,sadly he just couldn't do it.Tyson was at his peak and motivated that night and was a virtually impossible man to keep at bay.
I think Biggs really used up a lot of energy in the first two minutes of the first round, he was practically jogging but towards the last minute Tyson was beginning to cut him off. I think Mike spotted some sign to detect what direction Biggs was going to move in before he did it. From then on Tyson seemed to have a punch ready to meet him with either way Biggs moved. Contending with that and having to slow down some as Tyson stepped up gave the impression Biggs shut down. Tyson was shutting him down! but that first round Tyrell showed something ..but it was only until Mike worked him out.
