I heard Tucker went into that fight with a broken right hand. If that's true, he did very well just to survive. I had it 117-11 for Tyson. By coincidence, I uploaded a video of the fight to my Daily Motion channel a couple of days ago. Here's a link, if anyone wants to watch it: This content is protected I've sometimes wondered why Tucker didn't build on that performance and get back into title contention. I know he challenged Lennox Lewis, but that was a few years later.
Tucker was good enough to last the fight. Tucker was good enough to show the cracks in Tyson's defense. Tucker was good enough to win a few rounds. Tucker was good enough to play along in certain moments (tap dancing). Tucker wasn't scared. Tucker simply lost to a better man.
Tucker angered boxing powers that be at the time....you will notice how well conditioned he was up to Tyson...after that he was kind of shut out in a way a promoter does to put the blame on the fighter but it is equally unethical......he started getting "short notice opportunities" which is a way to squeeze mileage out of his name while only offering it when it is known he wasn't conditioned to fight....fight or no opportunity.
That blade cuts both ways. On his way up, Tucker was the A side. So naturally he knew when he was fighting and probably had a pretty good idea of who the promoters were targeting even if they were holding off on the offer to make sure the other guy wasn’t in prime shape. So I’m sure he fought his share of less-than-perfectly-prepared opponents. When you’re on the B side, whether that’s at the top or in preliminary fights, you have to be in the gym and be in shape so you’re prepared when that call comes. Then you put together what sparring you can that might somewhat resemble the guy you’re fighting in two weeks and hope for the best.
Of course....again it's a promoters tool...either play ball or else... As a heavyweight he could have stayed in shape without making a weight but most of the top fighters are not fitness buffs. The point is to educate a fan on one of the reasons fighters seem to fall off when in reality many times it is an old method used to teach a lesson...sometimes a very good fighter is put into no win situations
I had decided to take a sabbatical from boxing after Leonard-Hagler... Not that i hated that fight's decision but that I had begun going to a church and some of the people in it told me that boxing was ungodly and finally I gave in. For a short time as you can see. I used to go to a Saturday-only High School and you will all laugh but me being trans and all , i was the only "male" student in my class so i swear, like it was only me and 6 other girls, none of which i saw as dating material cause the girl I liked lived at the apartment complex i lived at. There was a TV set at our lunch room so on the day of Tyson-Tucker, August 1, 1987, I was with the rest of the girls there chit-chatting and Im sure we spoke about Menudo, Madonna, Prince, WHAM , Duran Duran, Pretty in Pink, Mannequin and whatnot. The Coreys and Molly Ringwald were probably subjects and Andrew McCartney and Kim Catrall and Tom Cruise and Michael J Fox and Kristie Alley and all that as well. As we walked out, the TV set showed a morning news break on Canal 4 in Puerto Rico and Rafael Bracero came on and spoke about the upcoming telecast that night. In Puerto Rico, fights were always free on TV the day of the fight if it was away from Puerto Rico or free on radio also the day of the fight if it was in Puerto Rico. Well, one of the guys I knew from another class came and asked if i was going to watch it.. I was like aw chucks why not! So I decided to lol I havent looked back ever since. Those three months of non watching i regrettably missed Tyson-Thomas, Tucker-Douglas and Holyfield-Parkey among others. And Spinks-Cooney, I later saw those fights all on you tube. Oh and one Roberto Duran fight or a Thomas Hearns one IIRC. As for Tyson-Tucker, like mostly everyone else I thought, (duh!) Tyson was invincible, it was only gonna last maybe longer than Tyson-Berbick and , at worst, it was not going to be as boring as Tyson-Smith (it wasnt). Tucker made a good effort and gained my respect that night. I think he controlled large parts of the first six rounds, but then Tyson took over It wasnt enough for Tucker to win (I had it 116-112 for Tyson) but I respected Tony ever since as a boxer.
Coke problem. It has been many years since I watched it, but I seem to remember that most of his good stuff was early.
