Would Tyrell Biggs have been more successful if he had more power in his punches?

All respect to you too you are a gentleman and a fine member but you've had a lot to say about Tyson "fanboyism" and the like recently and then you post something up like that.

Anyone can have a good first round particularly when they are tall, fast and mobile. Despite this Tyson won the round on all three cards from memory. He kept after Biggs and caught him up with good shots a couple of times. A couple of bombs didn't miss by a great deal either. Tyson only got more effective from there on. Biggs just wasn't good enough it's that simple. Tubbs had a really nice 1st round against Tyson but again he simply wasn't good enough to keep it going.

As you say it's all good until you get hit. No-one 6' 5 is going to stay perfectly mobile for too long either.

 

This.

Biggs potential went down the drain when he did enough cocaine to kill a small horse.

 

It wasn’t ability that held Biggs back, since he had more than enough talent to become a world champion as a pro, but instead his drug habit. Biggs even by his 1st pro fight had a very bad cocaine habit. By the time of the Tyson fight Biggs was already a lost cause and was basically cashed out by his team, since years of cocaine abuse already ruined him as a fighter.

Audley Harrison is another guy that should’ve been a world champion, but also destroyed himself with a cocaine habit.

Here is Biggs talking about his habit in 1985.

“'Before I started training, I stopped everything,'' he said. ''But I was winning my fights so easily, I began to think that if, say, I had a fight in a week, I could use marijuana tonight, then in a couple of days go into training camp.''

''It got so I couldn't wait to be through with my boxing so I could get back to the cocaine,'' he said.

After his pro debut, Biggs had both time and money for cocaine. His second fight was not scheduled until Jan. 20. He went to the apartment he had rented in Colorado Springs, where he trained for the 1984 Olympics.

Cocaine, he discovered, was easy to obtain, and he began using it more and more. More and more, it was tearing him down. He would punch furniture, fight with his wife and scream at his 2-year-old son, Tyrell Jr. Guilt, More Drugs He would wake up in the mornings, according to his brother Xavier, ''feel guilty about what he had done, and the only thing to make him feel better was doing more drugs.''

''I wanted to stop,'' said the fighter. ''But when I got in my car, it was like automatic pilot and I'd go get some more.''

He tried alcohol, saying ''every time I had an urge for coke, I had a drink.'' It was no help.
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/17/sports/for-biggs-durgs-were-the-toughest-fight.html

 

Yes.

 

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to say Biggs destroyed himself with drugs. He became an ATG am while using coke. As a pro, he went to rehab after a fight or two and didn't use again as far as I know. He just wasn't well suited for a heavyweight division with Mike Tyson at the top.

 

Your points are valid. I went back and watched, and I think I was a bit too enthused about Biggs' performance in the first round. He only had flashes of looking like he was on top of things, Mike proceeded with his usual 80s supreme confidence throughout.

I was too hasty and ultimately wrong. That you for being kind about it.

 

Biggs unfortunately never stopped using throughout his entire pro career, since even after going to rehab he would still disappear for days, skip training sessions, and come back looking rough and exhausted.

This is why Duva and Finkel practically begged Jacobs and Cayton for the Tyson fight, since Biggs still had an undefeated record and a name, so they wanted to hurry up and cash him out because Biggs was already damaged goods.

Also, as an amateur he could only afford so much, so despite his cocaine usage he was still a functioning addict. However, once he went pro he was able to buy as much as he wanted, which is his pro career was such a bust.

“At that point, Biggs said, he had spent $30,000 on a cocaine habit that had been recreational when he was an amateur and became obsessive as soon as he began earning big money as a professional.”

This was also the case with Leon Spinks, who used drugs all through his amateur career, but as an amateur he had a limited budget, so he was still able to win. However, after beating Ali he got paid a ton of money and started splurging on cocaine and everybody got to see how Spink’s pro career turned out.

 

Can you give a source that says he continued using after rehab right at the start of his pro career? Biggs earned a lot money right when he turned pro because of the gold medal.

 

Don't stress mate it's all good. The main thing is don't let the place or opinions get to you - it's only a message board.

You inspired me to go back and re-watch the first few rounds of Tyson - Biggs!!

 

ali only did it cause his movement dropped the best moving ali wouldnt had to do that George was slow

 

yeah but more power means more committing and less speed.

 

I believe Biggs under performed as a pro.
He had the height and reach with a good jab to go along with it, at heavyweight a recipe to be sucessful.
But like so many others with skillset like Biggs, it really becomes a mindset with fighters to reach the level of upper echelon. With that mindset comes dedicating yourself mentally and physically to your craft, without that a fighter never hones his skillset to reach the upper echelon and are usually beat by lesser skilled fighters who dedicate and work harder than they do.
Power was not the reason Biggs did'nt reach the next level.

 

Tyrell stood in against Tyson... he had some guts... best of luck to him....