Theres more to it. Even into his 40's Tyson still possessed a lot of speed, more speed than most young heavies. The style is very difficult to master, but its a technique that goes along with that speed. Head and upper body movement, side to side movement and timing. Id say Tyson was very successful after 26, although not as successful as he could have been, and with his lackadaisical approach to boxing and fitness after 89, I would say a lot of it was attributed to that and getting away from the proper techniquie of makingthat style work, more than him slowing down or losing a step.
I dont know Dempsey was fighting exhibitions in 1935, years after his youth and he was the born killer much like Tyson, then again he was of a different time and had a much rougher life than Tyson did...probably. But i think its true the head movement is for the youth of boxing, whne youre older its harder for most.
I do agree with some of what he says, but I also feel that Tyson could have still been a great fighter beyond 26, had he been devoted to training and had his career not been derailed by the jail sentence and a bad change in management.
I agree that his style was not meant for great longevity, but blaming his skills/technique deterioration on "natural regression" due to the aging process seems silly. Really it was down to trainers (mainly incompetent wretches Aaron Snowell (89-90)& Jay Bright(95-96)) - including his preparation for fights and of course his 3.5 years rotting in prison. I still believe that if Tyson had got back with Rooney after prison, he could have restored him to somewhat close to his best.
I would not say that's accurate because Manny describes Tyson's style of fighting as "fighting with your head up front", which is not how a peak Tyson's style was at all. If your fighting with your head up front, that means your chin is sticking out, exposed, & Tyson's wasn't! If Manny felt that Tyson would not be successful past the age of 26, I wonder if he would have trained Tyson had he been offered the job, say, when Tyson got out of prison? Becasue you do not train a fighter if you don't think he can be successful!
I'm not even sure Steward believes all the stuff he comes out with about Tyson and I'm pretty certain he would have gladly accepted the job as his trainer after prison.
I agree that Rooney should never have been terminated, but there's more to Tyson's decline than just personale in his corner. The man was already beginning to show levels of disobedience, even in training for the Spinks fight ( when Rooney was still onboard. ) Regardless of who a man has holding the mits, you still have to show up for training and keep mentally focussed. A trainer is not going to show up at your house, condo, apartment, whatever, and drag your ass out of bed, then march you down to the gym.. Tyson was notorious for making whole crews of training teams wait for him for hours while he was MIA..
Part of the reason that Tyson didnt look back when he fired Rooney was because of the restrictions that he put on Tyson. He made Tyson spar more than he wanted to. He made curfews and stayed with Tyson in the same hotel. Rooney was a control freak which was exactly what Tyson needed. Tyson was like so many fighters in that he lost his discipline when things got comfortable and easy. He thought he was knocking champions out because of him, and not because of the work he put in or the people that guided him. I read an interesting article about Freddie Roach. He said that Manny P's manager Mike Konsz, fired Roach who was training five of Manny P's managed fighters and put Buboy in charge to train them. Those five fighters have all lost their last bouts, five in a row. People think that once fighters become great or reach a certain level, they cant regress, and thats the furthest from the truth.
I agree Tysons style is a young mans style but also think that if he had stayed as dedicated to it and the massive training that the style demands he could have continued longer at the very top. This would have taken a lifestyle change of discpline a very strict change, and he was not capable of that....not many would have been. He got rich, horny and drunk as would have I
Indeed, but that doesn't change the fact that Tyson turned up for the Spinks fight supremely conditioned and fully prepared for whatever happened imo. I think the slight level of disobedience then (which obviously wasn't enough to stop excellent preparation) was linked to the negative influence of Givens who was driving him absolutely crazy in a state of one-sided love (I believe she never loved him, just put on an act to control him) and she must have helped him become sick of the extremely rigorous training. I don't dispute this.
