Which fight showed the decline of Mike Tyson?

I think the bout with that Douglas guy was a bit of a slip up...

 

There wasn't a fight that led to Mike's decline imo, but rather his stint in prison. True, Douglas did beat him, but Tyson was still young, but quickly rebounded with 4 straight wins against Stewart, Tillman, and Ruddock, all of which Mike looked good in. I believe he was truly rebounding, but then went to prison of course, and came back a different fighter and a different person.

 

I can't believe anyone would think that the Bruno fight was the beginning of Mike's decline.

 

Technical decline. Physically he still looked very good up to the disqualification after the Holyfield rematch

 

I'd say first Bruno fight was the beginning of Mike's technical decline, while Botha fight was the first fight in which everybody could see Tyson's physical decline

 

I agree, the power and good shape he was in was still there, but he'd gotten rusty, probably lost some of his best years like Ali did, and lost some of his heart in the process

 

Why not? He was visibly rocked by Bruno. Frank had confidence issues. Although Tyson scored the KO, this was the fight where I saw vulnerabilities.

 

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/tyson-already-on-the-slide-in-bruno-i.569347/

 

Not sure it would really be called a decline as Mike beat Bruno handily in '89, but he was a little wild and undisciplined in there at times imo. He did show some vulnerability as was mentioned in a few quarters at the time, iirc.

The Douglas bout was the real evidence of the decline. Afterwards, Mike imo was never quite seen in the same light as before and later served the prison term.

 

Being rocked by a big puncher doesn't mean you have declined in your abilities.

 

This content is protected

 

He showed technical decline in the Bruno fight, but it was still very fixable. He was young and Athletic. He did rebound pretty well following the Douglas bout. Post Prison he was never close to what he was, his timing was off for both Mcneely and Mathis, understandable, and he gained nothing from the Seldon bout, but false confidence. He was woefully prepared for a fighter like Holyfield.

 

Technical decline=Bruno fight
Physical decline= Botha fight
Heart & Mental decline- prison

The 3rd one was the killer....the death of tysons love of fighting and will to win .....replaced by transformation into someone just fighting just for money...and than after the millenium....worst of all "just to pay my bills" as he said after the Lennox Lewis flagellation.

Tyson 1986-88 may be the defined peak of Mike as a fighter....but that post douglas/pre prison Tyson of the tillman/stewart/ruddock fights was a fight 15 rounds iron chinned warrior who just on power,heart, and chin would imo have beaten the pre 1997 lewis and bowe ....

Tyson had incredible heart during 85-91....the bruno fight was still a v v impressive win..he decinated bruno...the williams and stewart wins...no one did that to those guys in their peak....none of tysons contempories could do that....look how holyfield and foreman did against stewart.....

The clue in 1985-1991 was how whenever tyson was hit with a crippling power shot....eg 1st round bruno....12th round bonecrusher...1st round tucker...tyson immediately fought back furiously...mikes fighting heart was as big a commodity in his arsenal as his speed and power in his pre prison years

 

I actually think Mike had more heart after prison, though his quality overall as a fighter declined noticeably.

He did however show heart against Douglas and Ruddock as well before prison. But his efforts against Holyfield (first fight, where it became pretty obvious he was losing bad around the middle of the fight) and Lewis really did more for him than against in terms of proving his heart. The Lewis fight bordered on torture, Mike was getting badly hurt and risked permanent damage from relatively early on. He kept coming, trying. Until he became understandably overwhelmed with LL's power and precision.