A lot of people say after Douglas or prison but it was Spinks. He let go of Kevin Rooney and the Catskill team and it went downhill from there.
This is a fact. Etched in stone in the pantheon of boxing history. It's common knowledge and quite obvious...unless someone happens to be a Tyson hater, that is.
Yeah he was sloppy against Bruno his next fight. He never was the machine he’d been pre Spinks. Still good but not the same.
Yep it never really hit the high it did after the Spinks fight .Carl Williams went out in one but that wasn't on the same scale as the M Spinks massacre .Hard to believe a talent like that was basically past his best at that age .
There was nothjng wrong with his actual physical body. Mentally he wasnt quite there and didnt have the same burning desire. After prison he was going through the motions to get paid since thats what he had been training to do for over a decade and didnt know anything else other than being a hoodlum. But in terms of boxing ability? No he wasn't "past his prime" he was smack dab in the middle of it and no longer took advantage of it. I see no evidence of extreme wear and tear from injuries, damage from bouts, or over training, it was all in his head.
Mike Tyson stopped doing roadwork after the Spinks fight........he effectively stopped being a dedicated fighter....... he pondered retirement ......translation he was done. Professional Boxing on the highest level is 80% mental and 20% physical ...........and Mike Tyson's mental state completely eroded after Spinks.
I wouldn't go quite that far. But, I would say that was his peak or absolute prime. The reasons for his decline from this peak were mounting personal problems, surrounding himself with yes men, ditching his D'Amato disciple trainer, and relative inactivity.
It was after Spinks - because at that point, the the whole I am a star thing went to his head and he skipped corners and for a guy who depended on being in shape and concentrating on defense bobbing and weaving and stepping inside, which then led to him getting to the body and then come up to the head, it was crucial he always be in shape and focused-since he was always smaller in stature to most heavyweights. I remember he said something about this might be my last fight at the press conference after the fight where Givens was there and I remember Roberto Duran showed up also and Spinks was there in a big white hat. And I think Mike said this might be my last fight-I could be wrong but that is just on memory. And that told me he thought he was a pretty big deal. Then he took time off and the whole Givens thing transpired which distracted him. He went away from what got him to the top.. And with Bruno which was his first fight back he was not the same. He was rusty and sloppy and got hit with a nice left hook from Bruno in round one.
I think it was more symbolic and mental than anything Rooney helped. Rooney was a loud mouthed guy who followed the Cus style and those numbers I remember. They would mention numbers as in punches and combinations. What Rooney provided was stability and someone to follow. Mike needed to defer to someone to be successful. And he knew it. He was programmed with this information, and he still feel for Don King's influence and being distracted. And the guys he had in his corner. Jay Bright and others. What a disaster. They put some sort of balloon type thing with water on his swollen eye..
Interestingly enough Spinks probably was his last great effort, after that as has been pointed out he was declining mentally, one thing is I think he fell in love with his power, just go in there and blast the guy out. He forgot about all the hard work in style and technique he used to set up his punches. I've said it before, success can be harder to handle than failure
