Did people think Mike Tyson would beat Rocky Marciano's record?

Tokyo Douglas didn’t.

 

Most thought so. In context, no one thought that cruiser Holyfield or old George were going to beat him, and they were the big challenges on the horizon. He never made it, of course.

I actually didn't. Some writers did note his decline in technique, starting in the Bruno fight, and I was smart enough even at 14 to know that a 5'10" fighter was not going to go undefeated if he abandoned the defense and combos that got him there...

But I did NOT think Douglas was going to do it. I swear to you that days before the fight I said to my buddy's dad: "Somebody is going to beat him...it won't me James Buster Dougals, though." I was thinking maybe Tim Witherspoon or Foreman, so I really got things wrong.

 

Yes I thought he would. Over the horizon before Douglas I could only see Ruddock and Holyfield as the dangers to him.

It has to be remembered this was in real time, not with the benefit of hindsight. Tyson was seen as a machine that could steamroller everybody around then, with hardly anybody around to seriously trouble him.

Yes I saw him rocked by Bruno, but I put that as a minor blip. And the fact that he didn’t go down just added to his aura. Not only could he throw a punch but he could take one too. Nobody was gonna beat this monster!

Until someone did…

 

Yes and we thought, without a doubt.
He was young, no one really on the horizon to challenge him (apart from Holyfield, but he was still seen as a big underdog).
He was the youngest and he was gonna be the oldest (his words)

 

Not if they listened to Emanuel Steward....
He basically said Tyson's hyper-active
fight style would be very hard for him
to sustain as he aged.
And as early as 1988-89 he began to
show signs of slippage.
Steward's opinion proved to be
prophetic.
If not Douglas, someone else
would've beaten him before he
reached 49-0......

 

There was talk of it among boxing journalists, for the reasons already mentioned.

 

Could? Yes, he had the talent and ability.

Would? Probably not. He was going to implode at some point whether it was legal trouble, drugs, falling out with a trainer, slacking off in training, women, etc. I think Cus was probably the only guy who could have helped prevent the inevitable derailing of his career, and even then Tyson had so many issues Cus might have a hard time keeping him focused until he got to 50-0.

Some people did think he might have pulled it off since he showed so much promise, but I remember Holmes accurately predicted Tyson would end up in prison way back in the 80's. I guess for the people who weren't blinded by the highlight reel KOs and marketing, they knew it was just a matter of time.

 

He went 24-0 in 2 years. If he went another 2.5 years at the same pace againat the same level of opposition, he would most likely have beaten it.

 

Yes,I genuinely thought Tyson would not only reach 50 fights undefeated but
he was going to establish himself as a top 2/3 all-time heavyweight great.
His career has been very,very disappointing.

 

I thought he was invincible and would go down as the greatest of all-time. I was telling people even at 42-1 odds to bet the house on Tyson against Douglas.

 

I felt that he was well on the way to Marciano's record. I had to be somewhere else on the night of the Tyson-Douglas fight and didn't even bother to put in a tape to record the bout. Not because I forgot but I didn't figure the fight to last more than a round or two. When I saw the headline the following morning, I was stunned. All of a sudden he appeared vulnerable and beatable.

 

Not only was he going to beat Marciano's record, but cure cancer and solve world hunger while doing so.

 

Everyone thought he was going to break Marciano's record. And as others mentioned above there wasn't a threat on the horizon. Not even a blip on the radar.

Youngest heavyweight champion ever, most title defenses ever, break Marciano's undefeated streak AND oldest heavyweight champion ever. I guess 1 out of 4 ain't bad!!

 

A helluva lot thought he was going to go undefeated for a long long time indeed. Once he nailed Spinks in the fashion he did the sky was the limit.

I can never find it but there was a real precautionary article at one point documenting his out of the ring struggles and from memory changes to his style including head movement etc.