BEST I FACED: TYRELL BIGGS

Briggs mentioned the Sims fight when he fought with a broken collarbone. I had a broken collarbone and I assure you it couldn't have been fun in there with a guy trying to knock you out.
Amazing performance by Biggs.

 

Yeah so according to Biggs, Tyson wasn’t the smartest, wasn’t the strongest, wasn’t the best puncher, wasn’t the most skilled, didn’t have the best defence, didn’t have the best chin or the best footwork but somehow he’s still the best fighter he ever fought overall?

 

Just let him give a little credit to some of the others.

 

Very interesting from Tyrell Biggs who I think would have won a world title had he not had to fight Tyson.

 

He was breaking down who was the best at certain things. Tyson was very good at everything and was pretty complete in the 80s.

 

Coetzee, Page, Tubbs and you can throw in Witherspoon and Thomas after the WBC stripped Holmes. He did only say "could". He probably wouldn't have but the point is he was never ever beating a Tyson.

 

Completely believable to me as those others were pretty much spread around to different fighters.

If Tyson (in this case) rates as second or third or very highly in ever category without being first, he can be the best fighter he ever fought. Just because Tyson didn’t hit as hard as Sims (or hit him as hard) doesn’t mean Sims was better than Tyson in any other category … and so on.

It’s like finishing second or third in every race in NASCAR or F1 and taking the points title and being the driver of the year without winning a race. It happens.

 

Depends really.

 

Biggs showed heart during his career. I wished he had not taken the Tyson fight until he had more seasoning... but he lacked power and without power you are not going to last in that era for very long..

 

It’s a tricky thing. I’ve seen some say he was mismanaged by putting him in with Tyson — but is it?

You’ve got a guy who is going on drug binges and simply not dependable — shirks training camps to disappear and go get high, etc.

Now if you turn down the title fight, that’s taking a pretty big chance that he ever straightens himself out and gets everything together. Let’s say instead you go ‘we’ll not take the big fight until he solves his drug problem’ and then he shows up a complete wreck against some lower-level opponent and gets beat … and never gets himself together enough to get back in the title picture again.

If you take the title fight, *maybe* he realizes this is the biggest opportunity of his life and he lays off the bottle and the pipe and the powder and win or lose he’s at least on the right track. Worst-case he doesn’t and he’s a million dollars or so richer. And afterward you try to pick up the pieces and see if he can turn it around.

(And if you’re the Duvas, you’ve invested a lot into this guy — signing bonus, footing the bill for expensive training camps, probably some kind of living expense stipend … that he’s spending on drugs.)

It’s a no-win situation. If you’ve ever been around an addict — and I have, in my family and otherwise — the thought that you can manage someone’s addiction is a complete joke. A thousand people can say ‘hey man you need to go to rehab, we’re here to help’ and they nod their head and then go back out and get high again.You can’t help someone until they want help and are willing to actually do what it takes — go to rehab, drop bad friends, change everything about their life.

Odds are pretty good that as bad as his problem apparently was, if he doesn’t fight Tyson pretty soon he loses to someone else and then you can say he was mismanaged because you had a title shot contract right there on the table and you didn’t let him take his shot.

The one to blame for Biggs’ drug problems is Biggs. That’s the simple truth.

 

Yeah that left me befuddled as well.