Tyson- What if?

What if Buster Douglas had taken all of his fights seriously?

Really the only what ifs worth discussing for anything mroe than a bit of fun are the ones like "What if Sanchez had never had the accident?"

 

Although maybe not as much as before, he did throw combinations. You seem to throw the fact that Douglas was a great ring general and didn't allow Tyson to get his combinations off. In the rounds he lost against Tubbs and Tucker for instance (at his peak), he also didn't seem to throw many combinations. Sometimes an opponent just doesn't allow you to, by keeping range or tying you up, which Douglas did to near perfection that night.

 

atsch

Look at this flabby man!

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And because of him having "no stamina" either, he wasn't capable of hurting Douglas in the late rounds.... i guess?

 

Yes, Chris - Josak is a Tyson dick-rider. The ultimate Tyson hunging on to the indomitable and invincible man that he was from that split second of time in 1987-1988. Anything after is some clear slippage.

Let's get real, M2Sense is completely owning it in this thread.

I know Chris has said Tyson's prime consisted of 86-96. And I agree. There is no way Tyson didn't look good in 96. Was at his peak, no? But physically he was still in his prime and had a lot more than most 30 year olds. Holy was seen as particularly faded and old coming into the Tyson fight. He was probably more faded than Tyson. So the excuses run dry and get overplayed.

McGrain really set it straight with his post. That sums and nails it perfectly.

 

Tubbs went a round in a half. Tucker held with little effect, and Tyson threw many more effective punches against Tucker than Douglas.

 

To be honest, his conditioning looked fine. I can't see him taking those shots without being at least 80-85%% in shape.
(And I think most of you know how I feel about Mike.)

 

This coming from another guy who dislikes Tyson as much as My2sense does. :happy
What difference does it make if your physically in your prime but technically you cant do the things you used to do?

 

You seem to be interpreting my post as if i was implying that Tubbs and Tucker did well. I didn't. My point was that whenever a guy is effectively stopping Tyson from doing what he does best, you might say "see, Tyson's not in shape, he's not doing what he normally does", but how about "His opponent is not allowing him to do what he wants to do" ?

The point of those fights is that if you ONLY look at the rounds where they had success, you could conclude just the same "Tyson's out of shape, onfocused, etc", when really it was just his opponent doing the right stuff.


Now, let me state that i very much like Tyson and rank him in my top10. I do think he was on a negative slope, going into the Douglas fight. But it was just as much Douglas' GREAT performance as it was Tyson's bad one. Being ill-prepared is the worst excuse. As if being ill prepared enhances his legacy?

 

Touche' and good points, but I believe Tyson had a style that was very unique to himself. It was a one dimensional style with certain attributes that made it so effective. Head movement, speed, combination punching, and an amazing ability to counterpunch coming forward. Thats what made him so effective while having a huge height and reach disadvantage over all those men you listed above. The more Tyson got away from certain things, the more ordinary and one dimensional his style became, thus leaving him more vulnerable to likes of Buster Douglas.

 

And this is coming from the guy that said Buster Douglas was thinking about quitting when he got knocked down by Tyson. LOL

I don't hate Tyson, I'm actually big Tyson fan. I'm just a realist about things.

There's two things in this world you can't change.

A leopard's spots' and the opinion of a Tyson-atic

And of course technically Tyson could do a lot of the things he did in the 80's. His handspeed wasn't going to be at his peak, of course. But he hadn't eroded much to all. In fact, he was more rusty than past it. He just needed discipline, focus, and mental strength to prepare and improve. Of course, he got more ****ed up after prison. Doesn't mean he wasn't capable. It's ring wars that deteriorate fighters. Tyson was still relatively young, durable, and at least fresh from the years off. But he threw it all away and thought he was a God still after beating Seldon/Bruno of all people. His combinations and hand-speed were still better than anyone in the HW scene.

 

Not even Tyson, who is held to the highest scrutiny on every message board, can win every round in a fight. There was times that he had to make adjustments and he did, but in this fight, it was just as much Tyson allowing Douglas to do certain things that Tyson didnt allow comparable fighters to do in the past, that made it possible for Douglas to fight the great fight he did.
I study fighters from a technical point of view. Im not trying to make excuses for Tyson being ill prepared, Im just adament in my belief that when Tyson got away from certain things from a technical standpoint, he could never be the fighter he once was, that style was just too unique to a guy of Tyson's physical stature, and very difficult to defend or have a good offensive against. Spinks was the pinnacle of his career as far as Im concerned, everything after that was not the same, regardless of who he knocked out and how quickly he did it.

 

Buster Douglas of the Tokyo Japan fight beats Tyson of 1988. Deal with it.

The only way he loses is by the biggest robbery in boxing. You think there's night and day difference between that Tyson. Either way, Douglas dominated and took it Tyson all night long. A peaked version in a fight would only mean Tyson goes the distance, in all likelihood.

 

You'll find me argueing in favor of many of the fighters that arent the most "popular" on these boards. Thats not because Im Tyson/addict as you think, its because I dont judge a fighter because of my dislike of his character, but more on the technical aspect of their game at its best and the timing of certain fights.
You cant compare the Tyson that fought in the late 80's to the the Tyson of the mid 90's, and it had nothing really to do with his physical state, and everything to do with his timing and technique, and the general opinion that a fighter can be in his physical prime and not lose a step technically, is ridiculous.