I agree, buster whooped him. But if the world was so black and white then Larry Holmes would be better than Ali.
Seldon - whether he was paid to take a dive or just plain scared - is the obvious opponent that clearly dived
While I agree he fight wasn't fixed by any means, I'm in the minority in thinking Douglas received an unfair advantage that night. Pugguy actually made a very good point regarding the matter.
Tyson encountered his fair share of paycheck collectors. But, as to whether his fights were actually fixed or not, I do doubt it. He probably did get away with a fair bit more than most, though - and that was because Mike was the Money.
He should have never been given a license after the second Holyfield fight, and honestly his career standing would have benefitted from it. Without his post-bite career, we don't see him get school-boyed by Lennox, or finish his career with losses to Williams and McBride. He retires at 45-3 and his fanbois get to claim that Lennox is lucky he's gone.
There's something to be said for that alternative history. But, as with any unanswered question, there would have likely been just as many arguing that Tyson retired to avoid Lewis. Finishing on a shocking DQ wouldn't have done Tyson's legacy any favors, either. Plus, he was making money (for everyone) each time he got in the ring. And the Lewis Tyson fight became the highest grossing pay-per-view sporting event to happen at the time. So, there was definitely a market for the fight and people got rich - and a quasi-answer to the question emerged.
Bad refereeing or someone quiting isn't the same as a fix. A fix would imply someone was paid to lose and I doubt there's any proof of that in any of Mike's fights except for WWE.
A fight can be fixed without a participant being paid to lose. You get the judges and/or ref in your pocket and they can dictate the outcome to a large degree. But this isn’t me alleging it. It’s Mike Tyson himself admitting it and saying he had specific awareness that the ref(s) in certain fights were going to let him get away with whatever he wanted, so he could foul with impunity and this was arranged beforehand. That’s not “bad refereeing.” That’s CROOKED officiating. And Mike is implicit in it since he admits he was aware of the situation and KNEW when he had this advantage.
Apparently Cus was in fact "mobbed up", how much that played into any of Tyson's early fights being rigged who knows, I don't think any of his opposition really stood much of a chance either way, but maybe some insiders were able to be more confident with larger bets
Once again I have to question your rationality. How can you compare Tyson-Douglas, a match between two fighters in their prime years, with Ali-Holmes? Come on, now! Think!