What else was Tyson going to do? Dance around him jabbing utilizing his superior reach? Tyson only knew one way. Getting inside his reach and blazing was actually the safer tactical ploy. Smother the power, use offense as part of your defense. You can't get hit by someone you've stopped. Tyson had by far the superior handspeed and combination punching, as if he wasn't going to beat Frank on the draw most of the night.
What's that got to do with the price of bacon? Anyone with eyes and a brain can see Tyson throwing combinations. I suggest you go watch the fight ending and get back to me......
Anyone with half a brain can see that Tyson walks in with very little head movement throughout the fight and often leads with very wide, head-hunting punches. Mostly threw single power punches at a time, and not combinations. Terrible, dangerous technique against a strong, powerful opponent like Bruno.
Anyone with half a brain can see Tyson throwing plenty of combinations in the fight, only a numpty would say otherwise. Tell me again how did Tyson finish Bruno......
Tyson was better than you give him credit for. His usual tactics versus taller fighters was to draw the jab, weave under it and attack from the blind side with fast bursts. He would position himself really quickly at an angle where the other man was facing the wrong way. Apart from the first round, Tyson actually outjabbed Tyrell Biggs. He could do that! At his best Tyson had excellent feet. The tactics Tyson used with Bruno was to meet him head on and just beat him to the draw. He was not looking so much to leap around to the side and use his angles so much this time. He went for the macho shoot out. It was the start of his arrogant phase. A couple of times when he had Frank hurt Tyson did position himself at the side of Frank to beat on him out of habit but mostly Tyson opted to meet Frank head on and use hand speed to beat him. I think you are being a John Thomas again. Tyson didn't "smother the power". He rested inside. Tyson was more a midrange outside fighter not a grinder or a swarmer.
I had the same impression,watching it late that night I thought Tyson was sloppy and impatient, head movement almost non -existant and lazily relying on big single shots far too much.
He didn't throw combinations? Go take that ugly mug and watch Tyson finish Bruno with one of the best combinations he ever threw. Another nuthugger sorted, "Who Necks?"
I rewatched that fight pretty recently and saw little wrong with Tyson. The only thing really is that he got careless after flooring Bruno. He just seemed to assume that Bruno would fold over after that, and therefor walked into some good shots. After a while Mike seemed to realize he needed to get his act together and promptly took over the fight again. A couple of rounds later he got the KO despite Bruno's holding and spoiling tactics. Not much more to it than that, I'd say.
Watch the first 5 rounds of Tyson-Tucker. He looks no better there than he does in the 5 rounds against Bruno.
Or rds 2-5 against Thomas. Or rds 4-10 against Tillis (he was still developing then, though). Many seem not to acknowledge that Tyson always was a fighter that mainly fought in spurts after the opening rds (if the fight lasted that long). These spurts were often tremendous, but he could look more ordinary in between them. The Bruno fight wasn't the first example of this.
Yes. It's easy for them to focus on his 90 second fights or highlight moments and ignore the rest until it becomes the post-Rooney era, then every little flaw and mistake is detected and picked up on. The number of basic punches Tyson fails to slip and fails to even attempt to slip in the early rounds against Tucker is significant, and Tucker wasn't even throwing loads. Tyson was moving his head kind of okay in round 1, then just bores in along a straight line with his head down for much of the next 4 rounds. I don't think anyone can watch it properly then honestly say he was worse against Bruno.
He was still very dangerous but looked sloppy, was missing shots and getting hit. It was still prime Tyson but rusty in my eyes. The combinations were still there but maybe not as frequent. Other stuff was on the wane but he wasnt quite gone yet. If he brought Rooney back he would have regrouped quickly. Bruno doesn't get enough credit for being a decent challenge either, he was a big powerful guy so Tyson had trouble walking right through the man. Still, Frank ended up having a horrible time, I mean some of those punches he took... Tyson in the second Bruno fight wasn't near as good in my view. This 86' Tyson would have beaten Holyfield of 96, he still had the youthful energy and relentlessness. by 96' he was like a Ferrari with no engine.
He would have done well to be rusty with the frequency of his fights back then, a HW these days wouldn't dream of fighting so often.