As long as you stand up to Mike Tyson you can beat him

This is a very good complete post.
I only disagree that Douglas had a mediocre record.
He was 29-4-1 when he fought Tyson. That is quite good; you cannot have everyone either having a great record, or if they have even a few losses, only fair.
That is like when many folks absurdly dismiss flawed but still World Class fighters as "bums".

 

Then why were the odds 42-1? His best wins were Cobb, Page (lost 3 of his last 4), a fairly old battle worn Berbick, and McCall. There's a difference between beating a name opponent, and beating a name opponent in their prime and having won decent fights recently. Page and Berbick were not at their peaks and Cobb was not that good.

I wasn't calling Douglas a bum btw. Just saying Douglas did not have a jaw dropping or remarkable resume in the slightest.

 

If a 5 yr old brat stood up to the average adult male, what are his chances of winning?
It's not just about "Standing Up" to Tyson , it's also about having the ability to make him respect you.
Fighters like Berbick, Biggs, Thomas, Ruddock etc were no real threat to beat Tyson.
Their "standing up" was more of the Custers last stand variety than anything really brave.
They didn't have a chance against Tyson because they didn't have the mental or physical skills to challenge him. Or to put a little fear or self doubt in him.
But what if it's was Charles ""Sonny" Liston around 1962?
What if it was " Big" George Foreman around 72-73?
Ali from 1965 to about 73?
Those men not only would've "stood up" to Tyson, but have the real possibility to beat him.
How would prime Tyson have responded to a real serious threat?
Based on some of his actions in the ring when he was slightly past prime against some average competition, and his actions against Holyfield when he purposely forced the ref to disqualify him. Not well in my opinion.
Very few fighters even past prime ones responded to adversity as poorly as Tyson did. Most took their beating, and had to be carried out on their shield.
What we saw with Tyson, that psychological weakness he demonstrated the latter parts of his career was always there. Even in his prime. Their just wasn't anyone in his prime to make him self doubt.
He was supremely confident against the opponents you named .
But certain actions he did in the ring can only be explained by he really couldn't control his fear.
It took over him multiple times.
It's all on film. That's my reason for him though he had ATG ability, really G.O.A.T ability having him between 8-12 of the greatest heavyweights in history.

 

That , or you could wait till he's past prime and spent 5 years in prison

 

It's a myth that so called "boxing experts" still spout.

 

At the time, i always thought Tyson kinda gave Mercer a swerve. Not saying he avoided him, but his name never came up too many times when it came to calling out future opponents

 

Popular opinion is like that.
Before the fight many thought Holyfield would be hurt badly. After the fight they overcorrected, and so this myth was born.

 

I think this belief comes mostly from the second Holy fight. That's one fight and we can only speculate what went through his mind, so I think way too much is made of it.

No one says that about Duran despite No Mas, for example. And that was a more obvious quit job.

 

Were you around in the 80s? They said it a lot.

 

Because Mercer called Tyson out... not once. Ever.
He was too busy losing to Larry and Jessie Ferguson.
Just in case rumours spread that Tyson was ducking Mercer too.

 

I`m talking nowadays. Quite a bit of time has passed in both cases.

 

Why would it? He held no belt and even though he looked good against Holy and Lewis he did lose.