people forget when Judging Mike Tyson (for and against) that he was only 14 when he started boxing. It only took him six years to reach the top of boxing from when he started. Most other greats were boxing for at least 10 years (amateur and pro) before they won a title What age was benitez when he started?
Benitez was ranked by the age of 15 or 16 and world champion by the age of 17. Unbelievable. Not exactly sure when he started boxing outside of the pros though. I'd assume quite early.
people talk about mike tysons prime. we never saw Mike tyson reach his Peak. he stopped training properly after seven years as a pro. All experts agree that it takes ten years of proper training and development for a boxer to truly peak
I was under the impression that Cus took him in at age 12 and started training him, in which case he'd have had 10 years of training by the time he did reach his peak. Some boxers peak earlier than others as well, some later. I disagree with that general statement.
I'm impressed by the success given the late starts of other fighters too. Foreman, Marciano, Qawi, Rahman, etc..
All the Tyson biographies that I've read state that Tyson started training in boxing with Bobby Stewart in 1979, when he was either 12 or 13 (seems like it was mid-year, which would have made him closer to 13), and he didn't go and see Cus until the beginning of 1980 when he was still 13.
It's not written in stone. For most boxers it probably holds true, but there are always exceptions and Tyson was one of them. Most people that are extremely good at something also fade away fast, i.e. lack longetivity. I think Tyson was never going to remain being as good as he was in '88, proper mindset or not. The only way in that i see him being an underachiever is because he was locked up in prison during half of the 90's.
Six, seven, or nine years (i.e. I didn't consider Tyson "champ" until the Spinks fight), it really doesn't matter, because winning the heavyweight championship of the world is a phenominal achievement in it's own right no matter how much prior boxing experience one has had.
He might not have fulfilled his potential, but I think he peaked in the 86-88 timeframe. I'm thinking of when he knocked Berbick down 3 times with one punch and of course the destruction of Spinks. It seemed by the time he fought Douglas in '90 he had already lost a lot of technique, such as the rapid side to side head movement he was so good at.
............There is no magic forumla for how long it takes to get to the top, crest, and then slide back down the other side of the hill. The ten year number is completely arbitrary, as is any number anyone wants to put forth. There are simply too many factors involved, and athletes are too individual, each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. For example, in-your-face pressure fighters tend to peak early and burn out sooner, as the more violent, taxing nature of their style would dictate. Boxers are said to mature later. As Chris said, this is not written in stone; there are always exceptions. To start at 14 and win a title at 20 is hardly unheard of, though rare for heavies I suppose. I would actually say that ten years to reach one's peak is a bit long.
Yeah he did but there are others who also started also late and achieved great things. I´m more impressed with fighters who started very late boxing and still were able to become contenders, get a title shot or even won one - a recent example is Tony Thompson who started boxing at 27 and turned pro when he was 28.
