Comparing Tysons performance in Bruno 1 vs the Ruddock fights. Tyson was not declining

Giachetti got Tyson back to doing things more properly, I guess.

 

To say Tyson had not declined or put in a poor performance in both the Ruddock fights especially the rematch would be biased and looking objectivity. In the rematch he threw very few combinations, he was very weak and couldn't finish Ruddock off and this had to do with him being 250 lbs a month before the rematch and being on a crash diet to get down to 216 lbs in a month.

The amount of times he gets hit with punches in both the fights is incredible, there were never any question marks over his chin but why get hit when you can avoid getting hit, had this been a 1987-88 Tyson, Ruddock would not have lasted 4-5 rounds.

Plus Tyson's technique, foot placement is extremely poor, at times he lacks leverage in his punches because of his poor technique, his legs are gone and he no longer bounced left and right and attacked in angles, he stopped jabbing to hit the opponent, he stopped jabbing to get inside and is just walking inside to get his shots off, he is throwing punches now. By round 3 he looked out of gas, weak and relying on single shots. A better boxer that night i.e. a Lewis or even Bowe would have given him even more trouble, he stopped moving his head to get away from jabs and is now willing to take jabs to the face to get hit.

Overall he made an easy fight much harder than it should have been. No doubt Ruddock was finished after these 2 fights but Lewis showed how to finish him off.

 

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Watch the second video above from 2:50:50 especially from 2:52:48 to 2:55:30, just look at how he moves his body, how he moves his feet to different positions to get more leverage and power in his punches. People focus on his head movement being gone after Rooney but his whole technique suffered after Rooney, he just started throwing punches naturally relying on his natural power and stopped focusing and practicing on the technique which got him there from 1985-88 and not having someone in the gym constantly being on his behind on these things and surrounding himself with yes men, trainers who were just interested in a pay day hurt him badly.

Rooney also talks about wanting Tyson to improve in the clinches

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http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/13/sports/tyson-failed-to-make-adjustments.html

So overall yes pressure fighters decline much earlier than patient boxer type fighters but Tyson declined much earlier simply due to a poor work ethic and no longer practicing the skills that he was taught by the Catskill team from 1985-88.

 

The thing with Tyson was the less resistance he got the better he looked. And that’s the same with everyone.

Spinks great. Williams great. Berbick great. Tubs great. Is there any coincidence about these fights? They didn’t last long enough to see if Tyson could be that good longer than two rounds.

I thought he was a great fighter right from the Tillis fight to the Holyfeild fight. He looked less good, less spontaneous when ever the other guy was fighting him back. Just like everyone else.

People just expect too much from Tyson. Even when he was fighting, if he took one punch the commentary would wonder how far he had slipped. They wanted fireworks all the time. Expectation was just too high.

 

This about sums up my take.

 

If you think Tyson looked better against Douglas compared to Bruno then this conversation is over.

 

You need to watch the British commentary of the Ruddock rematch. Throughout the whole fight, they kept criticizing Tyson's lackluster performance, whether his indisciplined lifestyle outside the ring was now catching up with him, that he is perhaps the oldest 24-25 year old in the sport, that Holyfield will be licking his lips looking at this performance from Tyson

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Case in point: https://streamable.com/54ozl

https://streamable.com/zjs4f

https://streamable.com/g4fba

 

I don’t know if that true. If you isolate some sequences in his comeback he still looked good up to a few rounds. Beating golota so easy was certainly a good win.

I think we have to give credit to the guys who fought him back. Between the first and last round TYson didn’t look so special against Thomas. Bruno was a live opponent. Douglas was a live opponent. Ruddock was a live opponent. Biggs was a live opponent. Botha was a live opponent. Holyfeild was a live opponent, Lewis was a live opponent. Some good wins there actually. I don’t think there is a coincidence that some of the guys who stood up to Tyson made him look less good.

 

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/i-before-e-except-after-c

HOLYFIELD

 

Of course. This declining **** was just an excuse for his loss to Douglas by his fanboys.

 

As usual the truth is somewhere in between.

I myself used to fall for the hype regarding Rooney Tyson and the like.

I don't doubt he lost a little post Rooney but it's become way overstated.

We have to balance Tyson's effectiveness vs his opponent.

His bobbing and weaving has become overstated.

Go and watch utter peak Tyson vs Thomas and then Tyson - Ruddock 1. Consider that Ruddock was a much bigger man with a lot more power and he was a lot more willing to throw caution to the wind. He was throwing punches designed to knock Tyson out. even if they were predictable. Yes he hit Tyson more than people had but he got in there and threw caution to the wind and was a big dangerous guy. Others weren't as big and dangerous and didn't go as hard.

There's not as much difference as a lot of Tyson supporters like to make out. Watch the Tucker fight etc.