Douglas wasn't a diamond in rough, Tyson always had problems with that style.

I also think he didn't hit hard enough. What allowed Douglas and Lewis to fight that way successfully was their strength and power. Holmes would have needed to be back in his prime and able to stay up on his toes the entire 12 rounds because Tyson was real durable. He had two good rounds against Lewis, and then it took what six rounds of Lewis just teeing off on him to get him out of there?

 

If you like the idea that Douglas didn’t come in at his best for the best performance of his career. Or if you believe that being in form is like an “on” and “off” switch.

 

Well, by definition, your body is not 100% when you're sick and on antibiotics. Just like you're hungover like Tyson was.

 

No one has a problem with that. Its the premise that douglas,s style was what won him the fight. When the reality imo was it was just a crap version of tyson. Untrained. On drugs. In the middle of a divorce.

A lot of them we,re on drugs in the 80,s. But there was little drop off in their performance. They we,re consistant. They,d take drugs and train hard and the results we,re pretty much consistant throughout their careers. Their wasnt that much seperating them all. Then an 18 year old kid turned up that smashed most of them. Years from what should have been his own prime.

The real reason for that is they,d prepared tyson as a pro from about 14 years old with an unbelievably hard training regime. Then he stopped doing what made him great, got lazy and got his just desserts for it. He,d have probably got away with the drugs....wasnt getting away without training properly for too long to boot tho.

The guys on drugs from the 80,s kept up their own consistancy unlike tyson. Thats pretty much the difference. Tyson fell off a cliff and douglas capatalised on it. Tbf to douglas he was actually one of the ones that lacked consistancy. Exactly why people with sound reasoning say he was a good fighter who couldnt control his weight etc.

Like tyson....a terrific fighter who couldnt consistantly train like he once did etc and got beat off a guy he,d comfortably beat because of it. Its on them both tbh douglas and tyson....but the reasonings still pretty sound. Tyson lost to douglas because he stopped training properly and started living like a bad amatuer. Douglas lost far too easily to holyfield because he couldnt control his weight.

 

Douglas style was 100% one of the reasons he won the fight. Untrained Tyson on drugs beat a lot of people, but couldn't beat Douglas. Also, Tyson's divorce was finalized a year before the fight, so you have one excuse less in your pool.

If you think there was just a "little drop off in their performance" check how f.e. Pinklon Thomas looked against Witherspoon and how he looked against Berbick. All of these guys were consistently inconsistent. That was a definition of the 80's heavyweights. The lost generation. Great talents with a lot of potential, but couldn't maximize it due to the drug use. Douglas was also extremely inconsistent, but not due to drugs, but due to food addiction and laziness.

 

Can you give examples of fighters like Douglas that gave Tyson problems before Douglas beat him? As we all know, Tyson was undefeated up until the Douglas and to my knowledge, Tyson never really had a tough fight up until that point.

 

He beat withersoon by makority decision then lost to berbick by 2 points. Its hardly massively inconsistant bearing in mind there was a lot of guys that we,re around the same level. Also add to that they fought non stop back then. It was harder to stay consistant as much as today because they was so many fights. Not comparable to tyson battering the whole division and then getting absolutely battered by douglas.

The problem is your saying in one breath douglas was inconsistant due to food addiction. The rest of them we,re inconsistant due to drugs etc. Which i m in agreement with. But then trying to say tyson lost because of douglas,s style. When really it was his own inconsistancy and in his case his inconsistancy to train. He stopped doing it properly.

 

“After the fight, he admitted he was sick during camp, but by fight night he was able to perform at his peak. Tyson’s camp also underestimated him, expecting an easy fight.”

 

He was able to perform but he was still sick on antibiotics. He was injected with penicillin a day before the fight. Bronchitis, the flu and swollen tonsils

 

Fred Whitaker.

It hasn't been mentioned nearly as much in the years since, but just as Tyson famously had a bad day in the gym in preparation for Tokyo (getting dropped hard by Greg Page) - so too did Buster, quitting in exhaustion after three rounds against Whitaker.

Nonetheless, it was Whitaker - previously a sparring partner for Tyson himself - who correctly predicted Douglas' stoppage victory. Among the very few that went on record doing so - perhaps the only contemporary pro.

 

Tyson was dropped by Greg Page in training. Makes it even worse.

 

He didn't drop Douglas pretty hard??? Tyson looked like garbage the entire fight so just stop with the "style" that gave Tyson problems it was a number of factors combined that brought Mikes downfall.

 

Douglas was down for 10 seconds or so....it doesn,t get any closer imo

 

So what happened in the Ali vs Liston reach then?