What did you think of Tysons performance vs Bonecrusher smith?

Quite good, but im damn drunk and not sure.

 

Tyson won 9 rds with ease as Smith hugged and held Tyson like a bee-yatch..... I taped this live off HBO in '87...... I rarely ever do a review anymore...... The fight was a huge letdown, considering, Tyson had waxed Berbick and Smith had just waxed Tim Spoon beforehand......

MR.BILL

 

Bonecrusher was an absolute dangerman but that night he **** himself and hung on for dear life.

Mike never came close to losing rounds let alone losing. And Smith wasn't World class but every so often he could spring a World class upset.

It showed just how intimidating Tyson was and how he could go the distance even with a bigger guy hugging him.

 

so-so. The biggest plus is came out with the W.

I thought he should have changed something in his attack and got the guy out of there. Smith was known for horrible stamina and a bad gastank and Tyson just kept doing the same thing the same way. Throw 12 punches a round Bonecrusher and telegraph everything. So either Tyson was not listening to his corner/they were not giving good advice between rounds/or Mike needed more seasoning to learn how to break a guy down and get the late stoppage.

Bonecrusher Smith and that defense was a silver platter to the youthful reflexes of Tyson at the time and about all he did was to grab hold of Tyson and tie him up. Time and time again. And Tyson could not or would not change tactics to render that ineffective.

 

Pretty typical performance from Tyson opponents who couldnt win. They looked to survive. Tyson made guys pay when they threw punches by countering them and hurting them. He frustrated guys into not throwing and either survivng by trying to run or hold. The guys who stood with him got stopped. Not a great performance by Tyson because he should have found a way hit the mark but I think he learned from that performance.
The Tucker fight was the other way opponents looked to survive. Tucker was very mobile and tall and he used his height and movement to survive and stay away from Tyson.

 

Wasnt that the one where the main talking point was them sticking their tongues out at eachother?

 

Well Bonecrusher made the fight boring. He had the reputation of a guy who liked to engage and had good power, but he fought like a ***** to survive because he knew he was outclassed.

 

It didn't show much. Even Frank Bruno was able to pitch a shutout over Bonecrusher Smith, he just didn't have the chin of Tyson in order to take Smith's usual last round effort.

Smith fought lazy and had no real intentions to put an effort in order to win the fight. Hoping to catch the opponent with a haymaker while sustaining as little damage as possible is what a journeyman does, not a world champion.

Tyson also got frustrated in there and at one point tried to punch Smith after the bell, which could've led to a DQ or a point deduction.

 

Tyson won it all the way. The only thing that prevented him stopping Smith was that he was n't too good at infighting. Joe Frazier,for one,would have had Smith out of there,at some point.

 

He proved he could absolutely dominate a larger, stronger heavyweight.

 

I tend to agree with this line of analysis.

This fight showcases a young Mike Tyson's biggest strengths and most glaring flaws all at once. He dominates so thoroughly, but a big part of that one-sidedness was Smith's fear and lack of punch output.

Tyson's footwork is absolutely onpoint, his punching precise and crisp, his hands blazing, his cuts immaculate; But he is, as he always proved to be, a one trick pony on the inside. One big uppercut or hook, maybe an elbow, and hold or be held. His speed is confirmed as his greatest asset, his power shown to have lesser importance. Flashes of his fragile mindset are displayed, as well as flashes of the animal intensity he could fight with.

If Tyson had the inside game he is oftened held up as having, he'd have beaten Smith inside the distance. Then again, this fight does demonstrate how good at closing distance and maximizing space(when an opponent doesn't take it away) Tyson was.

 

It is an interesting dichotomy, because these fights show how good and how beatable Tyson at his best was all at once.

He's an interesting fighter that way.

 

Lets get something straight though Tyson was not the defensive fighter he was in the late 80's when he was fighting Ruddock. Thats what made the fight exciting.
Tyson was great because of his defense not because of his punching power. The reason guys went into those shells or ran like Tucker and Smith was because they just couldnt hit him and were getting countered when they tried. Ruddock would have been knocked out before the 5th round had he faced Tyson in 88-89.