Can we still talk about Tyson or is it old news? Question:

Be nice fellows. Answer the questions try not to turn your noses too high.

 

When he got with Don King, sacked Rooney probably.
But more than likely it would have started going wrong with even, no king and Rooney still there.
He was young, immature, short attention span and quick to lose his temper.
He had the potential imo to be one of the greatest ever.
But life would always get in the way.

 

He was slipping bit by bit prior to Douglas. basically lack of discipline outside the ring. I think he was a fair bit worse when he came out of jail. Lest we forget he very nearly got spanked by Botha, who I would have fancied a more prime version of Tyson against. Tyson fell in love with his power.

 

I don't favor a single reason story for why Tyson lost motivation. I think it was a combination of factors as well as some personality stuff. Tyson is a giant narcissist and also very insecure. He's done a lot of work on himself over the years but even now the man is clearly always looking for attention and validation.

Imagine having those personality traits and being told at 20 that you're the greatest hw of all time. Now top that with a long string of pretty easy wins against legends like Holmes and spinks. of course that goes to your head and you stop listening to your trainers and start surrounding yourself with people who will feed your ego. Add on a toxic marriage that falls apart publicly and embarrassingly. And of course, feeling financially set for life can rob a fighter of motivation. Hard to get out of silk sheets to run etc

 

If I remember correctly, in the early 2000s Tyson had his own dedicated forum here in addition to General, Classic, etc

 

I think all this plus the Robin Givens debacle, general overdose of celebrity and tons of cash, believing his own hype.

That said, no doubt he was easily top 10 ATG material imo.

 

He probably had a drop of dedication and motivation, as many who reach that level of fame and wealth will have. Overconfidence is another factor when you keep winning as easily as he did. But except for the Douglas and Holy fights he was still a formidable force until the ban after the Holy rematch. He blew through good fighters like Williams, Stewart and Bruno like they were nothing, and the first Ruddock fight was also basically a beat down except for a short spell of success for Razor just before the end.

The Ruddock rematch was his only win that was competitive during this time. So except for Douglas and Holy he still did very well for a long time post Rooney, so we should look at his losses against Duglas and Holy as something they did that others couldn't.

 

I think that first loss to Holyfield was the real end of 'Iron Mike' and was the one which really wiped away his aura. He was an embarrassing caricature of himself after that point for the rest of his career, both in and outside the ring.

The line could just about hold after Douglas. It couldn't after Holyfield. No more excuses, no more 'it can happen on any given night' stuff, no more feel of invincibility. I think after Holyfield even Tyson's biggest admirers had to start contemplating the possibility that, while he was still undoubtedly a great fighter, he maybe wasn't quite what they'd painted him as before.

 

His life was turning in to a right car crash by 1988. But yes he could have been right up there top five

 

After he took complete control of Tyson's career, Don King fired everyone who had essentially worked with Tyson from the time he was a teenager, including his trainer, cornerman, and manager. Bill Cayton, Kevin Rooney and everyone else was either terminated or had died by that point.
Hired in their stead, were three nobodies, mainly Rory Holloway, Aran Snowel, and Jay Bright. These were the men who worked with Tyson following the dissolving of the original team Tyson.
IMO that is the moment his skillset started to deteriorate.
The problems in his personal life only added fuel to the fire.
His marriage to Robin Givens was a complete failure, she was just a gold digger.
He lost his sister Denise Tyson, would died tragically in her late 20's.
With his personal life going to pieces (none of those around cared about him), his former team dispatched and working with incompetent management for over a year, Tyson entered the ring against James Douglas on February 12th 1990. We all know how that turned out.
So I'd say he started to fall off immediately after he fired Rooney and it culminated with him fighting Douglas, although it's worth mentioning Douglas was a great boxer when he actually gave it his all.

 

It bears mentioning that the breakdown of Tyson's training regime under Rooney was just insane. Probably exaggerated, but still... Anything close to what they claimed should make you break down to some degree physically and mentally at some point.

 

“No matter what anyone says, no matter the excuse or explanation, whatever a person does, in the end, is what he intended to do all along.”-Cus