Post Douglas, and aside from his big money fight with Holyfield, did Tyson cherry pick his fights, facing non- puncher types, the older and the softer willed/chined opponents in the 1990's? I'd lean toward yes. The only tough guy he fought in the 1990s in a nontitle fight was Ruddock Tillman and Stewart, soft chined. Ruddock, a legit top ten contender McNeeley, a joke Mathis jr, a very light puncher Bruno, older this was his last fight. Tyson already beat him in the 1980's. Seldon glass chined with zero nerve Botha, a fringe contender type without power, with Tyson fouling trying to break his arm Francis. A UK based journeyman. I don't see Bowe, Moorer, McCall, Rahman, Morrison, Sanders, Foreman, Hide, Tua, Ike, Briggs, or anyone else who was who could punch being invited as Tyson's opponent in the 1990's. So I would say he cherry picked his share and steered away from anyone dangerous unless it was a title fight.
After losing the rematch to Holyfield he definitely cherry picked. He was fighting name opponents but SAFE opponents. Botha, Golota, Savarese, Norris, are all examples.
a little bit. He was not in the 1980s and he fought the best then. He was not like Floyd who made his whole career about being undefeated.
Ridiculous thread. I would lean towards George Foreman being a cherry picker in the 90's, but he did some incredible things at the time. To answer the silly question, no. Tyson faced who King wanted him to. You had to go through Don King to get to Mike Tyson. You should know this, Mendoza.
After Jail? Yeah kind of a cherry picking fraud. Left all of his fighting heart in jail. Before prison? No. He ducked Ruddock and fought Douglas instead, and made it up by fighting (and destroying) Ruddock just a year after being smashed up by Douglas. Yes Tilman was a bad fight but it was his first fight back after the loss Steward at that point had only lost one fight, a war against reigning champ Holyfield, where he had acquitted himself well Ruddock was a top contender, widely feared, athletic tall puncher and Tyson fought him twice back to back in brutal wars in 3 months.
Ruddock Bowe, George Foreman were MUCH bigger cherry pickers. GAPING holes in their resumes, Where all the tall boxer types on George's resumee? Tucker? Tubbs, biggs, Carl Williams, lennox Lewis? Even Larry Donald would have fit the bill. I get why he didn't fight them given his age and style. Where are the really dangerous punching guys like Morrison,mercer, ruddock, tyson, foreman, Lewis on Bowes resumee? Best he has is a crack addicted Bert cooper who didn't put up much of a fight vs Foreman either and Herbie hide(who hurt him) Lewis is the one with the supposed glass chin but take the average punching power of his top 5-10 opponents and it's much harder than Bowes best opponents
Alex Stewart,going into the Tyson fight, had 27 fights with 26 wins all by stoppage his only loss being to Holyfield.He was a very good puncher.Ruddock was a monster puncher too. After losing to Tyson Bruno had 9 fights winning 8 ,7 by ko winning the WBC title from McCall and losing only to Lennox Lewis after putting up a good fight. Bruno was a big banger, whatever stage of his career he was at. Seldon had 48 fights kos ,including stoppages over Tucker,Bey,Ribalta,Ferguson,Page and Hipp Previous to meetingTyson his last 2 fights were stoppage wins over Tucker and Hipp. On paper he was a very tough and legitimate opponent and the reigning WBA Champion.Tyson can't be held responsibe for Seldon underperforming can he? Both Bruno and Seldon held versions of the title when Tyson fought them,if Tyson wanted to win titles he had to fight them,how on earth can that be called cherry picking? In the 90's Tyson had13 fights, [from 91 -95 in he was in prison.] In those 13 fights he faced Douglas, Bruno,Ruddock x2,Seldon,Stewart,Holyfield,that's seven fights against excellent opposition, five of them big punchers. I don't see any basis for your conclusion at all.. ps. The Francis fight was in 2000 so it isn't eligible for inclusion in this discussion.
OUCH. Tyson must have eaten more Cherry's than Ms. Pacman. But he picked his share in 1990's for sure.
While I would agree Foreman cherry picked a bit, the man was old. This thread isn't about Foreman Sangria. Tyson could have had a fight with Bowe. He didn't face Mercer either. Are you suggesting Don King couldn't make matches with the other top ten fighters in the 1990's, outside of Ruddock? Or are you saying King didn't want to put Tyson in there with a live body, and was protecting him?
Certainly he was. He sure wasn't signing contracts for anyone anywhere type bouts. Not many on that list were capable of even making him dig deep. And they were against sloppy defense guys. Who would make a better choice as a Tyson opponent than an easy to hit guy? And even worse, no mobility and they had a crap defense and would be right in front of Tyson. There were certainly opponents available that did not fit that criteria. How many of those did matches did we the fans of boxing get? The management did not want another loss and another rebuilding project to deal with. And they could get Showtime to buy whatever they were willing to put in front of him. Showtime could have certainly played hardball themselves and rejected quite a few of those opponent choices. But they wanted ratings and new subscribers. Path of least resistance matchmaking. Not the first guy and certainly not the last.
Tyson fought Douglas in 90 he was number7. Tyson fought twice Ruddock in 91 he was ranked number 3 on both occasions. Tyson fought Bruno in 96 he was the reigning WBC champ, and was number 7. Tyson fought Seldon in 96 he was reigning WBA champ , and was number 6. Tyson fought Holyfield in 96 he was the number 1 contender. Tyson fought Holyfield again in 97, he was still the number one contender. So in his 13 fights of that decade he fought. The number 3 contender twice. The number7 contender twice. The number 6 contender. The number 1 contender twice. That's seven of his 13 fights against top ten ranked guys,4 of them against top3 ranked ones. That's cherry picking? I'm guessing you're not a big fan of Deontay Wilder?lol
Most definitely not. I think there is zero case to be made that he cherry picked beyond what is (alas) perfectly typical in professional boxing, and probably less so than an average champion. Anyone who thinks otherwise must really know something I don't. I have always been utterly baffled by this notion that Tyson fought only tomato cans, and I remember hearing this nonsense as early as when he was still in prison.
