A good question about Tyson/Douglas

Tyson took care of alot of tall fighters with good jobs, what bothered him was the movement.

 

yea but Tucker just didnt have the tools, and Bonecrusher just held on....and they both had different styles than Douglas.

To be honest....I think Tyson was already on the pychological mental decline by around Tucker with all the turmoil. I fact guys like Spinks and Williams went easy was just a testament to Tysons power and aura of invincibility.
It took a motivated guy with Douglas's skills to expose Tyson.

I will say though looking back at the first round Tyson just didnt seem to have the chaotic aggression, speed, ability to throw combos like he had in the past. He stood right in front of Douglas..didn't jab on his way in and there was no head movement.
he wasnt in bad shape...he just wasnt the same guy anymore. I dont think he ever really got it back.

 

yup.

 

Under Tommy Brooks in the golota fight, Tyson was raw BUT he was bobing and weaving, moving his head & & upper body, even though he had lost a step, he looked pretty decent, the next fight with Neilson he looked like he aged 10 yrs inside of a 1 yr period. He looked like complete **** I'm surprised he lasted 8 rds with Lewis.

 

Tyson was also overweight for the Nielsen and Lewis fights.

I remember his team claiming that he put on the weight intentionally because of Nielsen's size but I think he was just lazy, not training right, and eating too much.

He even managed after that to be in a good fighting weight for Etienne, while going to strip clubs and getting tattoos in his face.

Not that it would've mattered anyway, but it would've been nice if Tyson was
around the low 220s against Lewis.

 

I had this documentary which came on before the Lewis fight on tv

in that his former manager, Bill Cayton stated the "i believe he starved himself into weakness for that fight (Douglas fight), because Cus used to talk about how heavyweights became gross and overweight because they didnt have to make weight and mike didnt want to come into the ring looking like that"

ive lost the documentary because i had it on video, its very hard to find now, but had an awesome soundtrack

It was called The Baddest Man On The Planet

 

you can still not train properly and get to a resonable wieght. james toney made a career of it.

 

no rooney + crazy lifestyle = perfect negative combination

 

The point is that even if you give Tyson a pass on not training properly for a fight, it's still a weakness in his game. Being unprepared is a negative and hardly a non-issue in a fight.

It is also possible to be less than 100% and still finding a way to win. Fighter A is less than 100% and Fighter B was looked at as a soft and easy opponent that never in his career even knocked down another top 10 rated opponent. If Fighter A is considered a great, why shouldn't they be expected to overcome adversity and win the bout?

 

behind every great boxer there's always a guy who can give him serious trouble no matter what. had tyson fought douglas in 88 he probably would have given him similar trouble, even if douglas lost.

 

The no training argument/excuse would hold a lot more water if Tyson had started gassing in the mid to late rounds..its easy to look lethargic when you're getting hit with the stick, round after round. It takes a lot of heart to get beat up like that, and continue pushing forward, and Tyson didn't have the mental toughness for that.So he stopped throwing as many punches and got the **** beat out of him for ten rounds.

 

The question being posed shouldn't be "What if Tyson had trained better for the Douglas fight?".. It should be "What if Buster had always trained like he did for the Tyson fight?"

 

+1

 

The only people who think Tyson was in any shape to fight after being in Tokyo at that point in time? ...are people who have never been to Tokyo! :yep