I see a lot of people talk about his prime from 85-90 or 86-89. I believe Tyson was always incredibly conditioned and in the best fight shape in his time with Kevin Rooney. After the Spinks fight, there was a clear visual deterioration of his skills which was easy to see in his fight with Frank Bruno in early 1989. He looked pretty bad in this fight and it was clear to see that he was not training in the same fashion - head movement that made him so evasive and hard to hit was gone. His combinations weren't there and he didn't seem to utilize the same speed but instead threw big punches instead of the punches in bunches that made him deadly with Rooney. The Williams fight was too short to really see anything but in the fight with Douglas he acted as if he didn't want to be there and he looked awful. This may have been a wakeup call for Mike. His only significant fight that went more than a round he looked bad in against Bruno. Then in his next fight that didn't end early, he took the worst one side beatdown in heavyweight boxing history. So some say he was prime from 85 til his fight with Douglas, but I think the decline started before that. It must have been a wakeup call because he did look really strong and well conditioned for his next fight with Tillman and Alex Stewart. When he came in to fight Donovan Ruddock he appeared to be in extremely wonderful conditioning, although his head movement that helped him avoid punishment seemed to be lacking a little bit. He wasn't the same fighter post Rooney that he was with Rooney, and the Rooney fighter was clearly the best, but I think post Douglas we saw a rebirth of Tyson and he appeared to come into the ring hungry and well trained and conditioned. From post Douglas up until prison he looked awesome. I too used to think that he was past it after he ditched Rooney but thinking about it more, while he was a different fighter, post Douglas he went back into a "prime" state and looked great in his two fights with Ruddock. Thoughts on Tyson's prime?:think
His prime IMO was from '86-'88 but his prime ended when he fired Rooney. He obviously looked like the same guy against Bruno, Williams and Ruddock but he wasn't as sharp, as focused(Jacobs' death contributed heavily to this), or as disciplined. Rooney commanded Tyson's respect and made sure that he trained when he was supposed to....once that training structure and accountability was gone, a good bit of Tyson's effectiveness went with it.
I think Tyson was determined to win again after the Douglas fight, but he wasnt practicing the same technique that made him great. To me there is no comparison to the Tyson of 85-88. Different mindset different fighter.
I agree. Do you think he looked better in his fight against Ruddock than he did in his fights with Bruno and Williams?
Well tyson was at his absolute peak from 86-88. His prime years probably would have gone into about 95 but we'll never know because of prison.
You're posting this as if it were some new opinion; there are many people who think Tyson's prime suddenly ended after the Spinks fight or when he cut ties with Rooney. Tyson looked about as great in the first Ruddock fight as he ever did when he was with Rooney.A controversial stoppage overshadowed what was a dominant and impressive performance over a dangerous contender.
Mike Tyson always stated that he felt his best form was, just after he was beaten by Buster Douglas. In the particularly the Alex Stewart fight... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQFOkRTa3-k[/ame]
Tyson knew he blew it when he parted ways with Rooney. Saying stupid **** like getting his ass kicked by Douglas was his best performance was his way of justifying being a complete moron and making a huge mistake. His whole style was modeled around not getting hit, so to say getting hit and taking a lot of punishment shows how good he was is a joke. His fights with Stewart and specifically Tillman, were sloppy as hell too.
I'm sure deep down he knows that. I remember in an interview Kevin Rooney mentioned that Mike hasn't talked to him since the split. It must have been an ugly split but I can't understand why.
Tyson was a fantastic fighter. He was so good that he could take good fighters out as easily as bad. He bypassed a real seasoning process because the fighters who were supposed to push him often crumbled too quickly so he got too used to one way traffic. He never quite learned to keep the focus required for a two way street. he got frustrated far too easily in difficult fights because he was not so used to difficulty. As soon as he became frustrated all that programming that should respond like second nature was not as instinctive. Tyson had not lost his mojo he would go into confused mode. Fighters began to learn his style and Tyson did not adapt. He was always great when he was winning.