Carl Williams

Biggs was already declining before the Tyson fight.

 

He was very talented and put up a terrific show against an old Holmes .. really he was not that active a fighter .. in the years following Holmes he got caught and flattened by Weaver in a careless moment when he was on the verge of a big win .. then lost to prime Tyson .. somewhere along the line lost a very close one to Witherspoon and kind of dropped out .. clearly his chin was his weak point ..

 

Yes, he did sell himself as a dinner guest.

 

I haven't heard that before, but thanks for getting me thinking.

 

I'll never forget the first round, where Biggs really did look like he knew what he was doing. I thought he looked more impressive in that round that Tillis did in his whole fight with Mike. I shared Leonard's disappointment when he abandoned everything.

To me, at that point in time only a young Holmes, Ali, Foreman, FOTC Frazier, Holyfield, or Louis could have beaten Mike. Too bad it didn't stay that way long with Mike, after the Douglas fight (which I believe was not long before Rooney got the boot) Mike never had the same qualities he did before. He never just up and TOOK a fight the way he did, in fact he became markedly less driven. Just my opinion.

 

Biggs peaked against Tillis in early 86. He looked better than Tyson did against Tillis.

Then, he struggled with Jeff Sims and broke his collarbone. At the end of 86, he,fought a way past his best Snipes and struggled greatly. His defense looked much degraded against Snipes. KO quipped that Snipes was landing telegraphed right hands that should not have landed on anything but a heavybag - Not a recipe for success against a peaking Tyson. " Biggs beat Snipes about 6-4 in rounds. In 87, he fought an on the skids David Bey. Bey landed a ton of leather and appeared ahead on points. But, he got cut badly and Biggs was able to stop a blinded Bey. At that level of performance, Biggs would not have beaten any of the Alphabet guys of the time. Yes, he would have had a shot against a coked out of his mind 1986 version of Dokes, but not the Dokes who held the WBA title. Yes, he could have beaten the faded 1986 version of Page, too. But, so what...

Biggs was not redicously matched after Tyson, he was just faded and could not beat anyone decent. Damiani was no ball of fire. On paper, that should have been a good matchup. But, Biggs had begun to diminish throughout 1986 and 1987 and Tyson ended what was left of his prime.

The consensus of the experts at the time was that Biggs was not progressing by the time he fought Tyson. I'm not trying to take anything away from Tyson, he would have beaten Biggs even if he was on the rise, it just may have been a bit more competitive.

I don't have to look this stuff up because I remember it clear as day from intimately following the heavyweight scene at that time.