Why did Tucker keep dancing away?

I never saw the big deal with this guy..

Won a vacant title when Buster Douglas quit and … went the distance with Mike Tyson playing ‘Safety Dance’ in his head.

We knew already that Mike would gear down after a few rounds and was willing to go along to get along — with Bonecrusher, Mitch Green … Jose Ribalta came within about 90 seconds of it. Heck, James Tillis did it better, albeit with a slightly younger/less experienced Tyson.

I mean, it’s not like Tucker almost beat him or was ahead late in the fight. He kinda/sorta wobbled Mike once, I think … but so did Bonecrusher.

Apart from that, there’s precious little in his record that really stands out. Beat a lot of B-level ‘usual suspect’ types for the most part. Very carefully matched and managed but never won a big one unless you count Douglas.

 

He rocked Tyson early with an uppercut and got his respect.

He won three or four rounds

This was by far the toughest fight Tyson had as champion until he faced Douglas.

 

Mostly agree with this. He did manage to rock Tyson back with that left uppercut, and took whatever shots Tyson was able to land without any problems. He was Tyson's most difficult fight at that point aside from Tillis, but not much to shout about after that. SD wins over McCall & Norris seem to be the best wins post-Tyson for him.

FWIW, his TKO of Douglas landed him a belt, so I'd call it a big win. I mean, it wasn't Ali over Foreman, but it was pretty big at the time.

Also, I've heard other people say that Douglas vs. Tucker, but it didn't look that way to me. He just got nailed with a couple of right hands that got him in trouble, was tired and dazed, and Tucker followed up with several good shots to end it.

You're right though, very thin resume for Tucker outside of the Douglas victory. Very similar to Shannon Briggs' resume.

 

Injured his right hand.

 

Wouldn't you dance away from Mike Tyson...?

 

He knew he would get knocked out if he tried to load up on his punches. Tyson had much quicker hands. How do you fight a guy who not only hits much harder than you but has faster hands?

imagine if Foreman had quicker hands than Ali. Would Ali have landed all those hard right hand leads and combos on Foreman? No. He would have tried to escape until Foreman got tired. Unfortunately for Tucker, Tyson has solid stamina and wasn’t going to get too tired.

Tucker did not win 3 or 4 rounds.

 

Well Evander Holyfield showed you how. It’s timing that’s important, you should know what they’re going to do because you’re getting them to do it.

 

Evander didn't fight '87 Mike tho.

 

Yes but Holyfield had freakish physical strength which Tucker didn't. Holyfield could bully Tyson physically which the somewhat skinny Tucker couldn't. Not to mention Holyfield's repeated headbutts. And of course while Tyson still had fast hands, he wasn't as fast as he had been 8 years earlier, not to mention younger Tyson had better stamina.

 

Timing a faster handed harder hitting guy is extremely difficult. There is very little or no margin for error and you have to have an outstanding chin to survive since you will get hit. Holyfield (with assistance from Evan Fields) had abnormal levels of physical strength to bully Tyson in clinches and wear him down and take away his power by zapping his endurance. Its true Holyfield timed him beautifully but if he didn't have the shocking levels of physical strength, he wouldn't have been able to zap Tyson's endurance in order to give him a sustained beating. Tucker couldn't pull it off because he didn't have that level of physical strength. No matter how well Tucker timed him, sooner or later he was going to get hit with big counters and he would have ended up getting stopped. He couldn't zap Tyson's endurance the way Holyfield's pushing, shoving and yes, headbutting could.

 

If you're mentioning Holyfield's headbutts, you got to mention Tyson's headbutts too, as Mike admitted he was doind it intentionally as well.

 

I never felt he ‘rocked’ Tyson. He caught him with his feet square on and took his balance from under him but there was no stagger or wobble. Not sure Tyson blinked.

 

Post Tyson he laid off for two years, gained weight and had a huge coke problem. His movement post Tyson was limited.

He was at the peak of his abilities when he fought Douglas and Tyson.

 

Tucker looks better in the highlights from the Lewis fight.