If you stood up to Tyson you could beat him!!!

You are right, James J. Braddock feared The Great Depression and the horrors of it for his family, being homeless, starvation. I think a fighter who appeared a little to have slipped off of his cracker could intimidate Mike Tyson. Bullies are afraid of those that appear mentally ill. Remember the Feb 25 1964 weigh in between Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and Sonny Liston. The Big Ugly Bear was a mean spitited bully in the ring, a menace like Tyson would be later on. Liston looked freaked out by young Clay's behavior. Prime George Foreman suffered the same fate as Liston ten years later in Zaire, Ali appeared a little loopy towards Foreman, even firing at him a wad of paper from a homemade sling shot. Style wise in the ring, it is not advisable to stand straight up, flatfooted against Tyson, he would be like a hungry shark in deep waters, smelling blood from his victim. You do need some good lateral movement ala James Buster Douglas who was not intimidated, he had nothing to lose, he had more serious personal issues prior to their fight in Feb 1990.

 

Correct, Berbick, Thomas, Ruddock, and Tillis had absolutely no fear of Tyson and they all lost. Ruddock even stared him down eye to eye not phased by his Liston impression.

This myth became a thing because 1) Douglas was one of the first guys to successfully bring the fight to Tyson with a competent game plan and even got off the floor to win. By round 5 or so Tyson was just following Douglas around looking to land 1 big punch and the wind was knocked out of his sails when Douglas got back up. However, Tyson didn't quit he was brutally KOd and was trying to put his mouth piece back in while the ref counted.

2) the Holyfield fights didn't do Tyson any favors (especially the 2nd one). Once again Tyson loses against a guy who fearlessly brought the fight to him without backing off and had success. Tyson responding but flagrantly fouling and getting DQd made some people conclude Tyson was just an unhinged bully who crumbled when dealing with adversity looking for an easy out to avoid losing again. This isn't entirely true as Tyson did get hurt badly in other fights and didn't quit. In addition, Tyson claims he was retaliating due to Holyfield's head butts. Honestly it's amazing how Tyson was demonized when both of them were being dirty and should've gotten points deducted.

 

I think that a little bit of fear was probably useful against Tyson.

 

If I stood up to Tyson I could beat him.

 

It's been overstated to the point of 'fact'. Hell, even Donnie Long showed zero fear of Tyson and did his best.
Alfonso Ratliffe boasted that he was going to treat Tyson like 'a government mule.'
Obviously intimidation was part of his game but it doesn't mean you had his number by not being scared of him.

 

Even if that were true I’d still never have the guts to stand up to him. Running and hiding is better

 

Standing up to him is important, obviously, but you need some skills as well to actually compete with the man. He was still one of the most talented heavyweights ever in his prime, that's not someone you beat just by overcoming fear.

 

Holyfield is the only guy that it actually worked for and look at his skill level, Douglas got lucky and Tyson wasn't all there when he fought Lewis, as far as the 88 Tyson mythology goes I think Holyfield by far has the best chance

 

Teddy Atlas is the person most responsible for this myth ….There was a period of about 6 years …where Teddy Atlas basically made a living bad mouthing Mike Tyson….he turned it into a lucrative career

 

Serious question…Does anyone think Peter Mcneely was afraid of Mike Tyson?

 

Oddly that was a odd one. I think McNeely could of gone on lol. He was bringing it to Tyson even with the knockdowns. And than the fight just stop.

 

I think the part of McNeely's brain responsible for producing fear was already scrambled eggs

 

Stare off and all that bull intimidation are nonsense. Dempsey was frightened of Willard wasn’t he? To quote I forget who and only paraphrasing but they fought Hearns. “I did my best not to laugh, what’s he gonna do hit me?”

 

I’ve always felt that it has been a question of semantics.

“Standing up to Tyson” doesn’t simply mean not being afraid - though not being afraid is a must ingredient.

The fighter in question also requires the skills and the 100% desire and will to win. So, standing up to Tyson calls ALL of these attributes in.

“Standing up to Tyson” I think is really about hypothetically placing Mike into a fight that is competitive, in which Mike has been neutralised or perhaps even being eclipsed.

So it’s a focus in on the integrity of Tyson’s mindset, desire and will in a fight that is more than competitive, a fight that Mike is not running away with against an opponent (subject to their own capabilities) who is pushing back in equal and opposite fashion at the least.

So, perhaps re-worded, it is actually just questioning Mike’s chances and potential to prevail in extremely tough fights - whatever the combination of attributes the opponent brought to the table to make the fight so tough.