Even though I dont rank him as highly as many on here, What if: Tyson grew up in a well adjusted environment. Was influenced by a younger, healthier Cus who would always be around for him. Along with Atlas, Rooney or any other trainer you can imagine. And kept all the vultures away. Stayed hungry and 100% motivated to be a boxing machine due to the above....?? What else could Tyson have accomplished? How good could he have been with near perfect circumstances? For how long?
Yes, that is possible. But with the right upbringing and people surrounding him, its also possible that his instability is mimimized or even directed as rage toward opponents. I believe that some of his issues had to be due to his childhood neglect from an early age.
Maybe, that is possible. However I think apart of the problem is genetic with the impulsiveness, bipolar/violent personality, low IQ and proclivity to hurting women. Who knows though maybe if he grew up privileged, well balanced, educated and was loved maybe he wouldn't have had the stomach to beat people up for a living.
Also small pressure fighters like Tyson tend to not last as long as boxer punchers like Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis or Lennox Lewis. He had to put so much effort into his style with all the bobbing and weaving to get inside a jab and putting his all into ever punch. That's why Rooney's plan for was for Mike to fight for only 10 years and retire undefeated.
Tyson is pretty smart actually. Don't let his stupid choices, funny voice, personality problems & lack of intellectual pursuits blind you. I do not know if Tyson is diagnosed as bipolar, but even if so this is something that may not always come out or is minimized under more favorable circumstances. How on earth do we have evidence that his problem was not mainly his neglected & traumatic early life & street influences? But yes, under other circumstances he might never crave fighting & have other avenues to well direct his energy. And it would be hard to last as long as bigger guys, but with his chin & strength....Well, speed still goes eaarlier, but he might have remained excellent through ~ 40 w/great training. The question is would he have kept improving & could he have been maybe the greatest ever? We will never know, but he was deeply talented. Great speed, power, defense, boxing smarts, excellent chin...Imagine if he learned to fight well inside & not be passive in clinches too....
I think it's best Cus died when he did. Mike would have still deconstructed and probably soured the relationship like he has with everyone else in his life. Better for Cus to pass while they were on good terms in my opinion. At least that way Tyson has good memories of the relationship to inspire him, even to this day.
I've never known a fighter get so many excuses and reasons of why a fighter failed to live upto expectations. The man was fighting bums in the late 80's and destroyed at 23!!
I will interpret the question as being “what if he had his head screwed on properly”, and be general in my predictions. I think that his physical prime could have been extended by another 4-6 years, and that he would have continued to improve and refine his technique. Obviously we cannot predict in specific terms what this would have amounted to, but given the record that he had already compiled, a few more years might have been enough to build one of the greatest heavyweight resumes of all time.
I think if you put Joe Frazier's or Marciano's personality on Tyson's body, then he would have dominated till the late 90's. Probably loses one of a trilogy to Bowe and loses to Lewis around 2000 much like real life and retires with a great legacy.
Wow the same person talking to himself in different alts in another pointless thread. Tyson wouldn't be Tyson, just like Foreman wouldn't be Foreman, Liston wouldn't be Liston and Bowe wouldn't be Bowe.
So true, in the very beginning of his career, 85-87 and at the very end 2003-2005- he dropped more tomato cans, than a Heinz ketchup factory, and was washed up at only 36, nearly a decade younger than when George Foreman won a World title... Never could understand why so many peope were so stuck on this guy:huh, he pissed away everything in his path, wives, money, ability, his freedom, his stupidity with the drugs, but of course it was never his fault, his goofy fans are always there to make excuses for him...:nut