Did anyone pick Tyrell Biggs to beat Mike Tyson in 1987?

I did think Biggs won the first round, but it was very much a Tyson biding his time. Biggs's jab disappeared when Tyson started putting the pressure on in the second round.

 

No they said if his legs are gone to fight him inside. At a point in the fight Biggs could no longer move from the pounding Tyson gave him, so they told him to fight him inside.

 

Like I said earlier,

Tyrell Biggs wasn't ready for that fight, at that time.
It was Shelley Finkel and Lou Duva, in their quest to have a Heavyweight Champion.
And goal, to be in control of the really 'big bucks' not just 'second banane stuff'.

Biggs was getting whacked around in the New Jersey sparring sessions before that fight.
He still had that 3-Round Amateur mentallity.

 

He would have never been ready for Tyson or Bowe or Lewis.

 

lefthook31,

Agree, Tyrell was clearly over-rated.
Because of his good performances against Teofilo Stevenson in the amateurs,
that got Tyrell a lot of traction.

Never thought he was that good. Thats why he should have had more fights under his belt.
There was no immediate rush to throw him in there, other than Finkel and Duva in
their blind ambition at the Heavyweight Throne.

 

I think more was expected of Biggs than what he actually delivered! However, credit must be given to Tyson, who targeted Biggs body from the first round & sustained that body attack until the end of the fight!

Even Tyson's jab was hurting Biggs, something which Barry Tompkins noted. Tyson wasn't just flicking the jab or using it as just a set up punch, he was landing it with force & on target. However, it was the body attack which hurt Biggs.

In the first round for the first 2-2.30mins, Biggs was giving lateral movement, sticking out the jab, not being a stationery target. Then, he got hit with body shots & that's when his game plan went out the window, from that point on, which suggests those body shots hurt him badly, slowed him right down, to the point where he could not give a lot of lateral movement, or give angles!

Even when Biggs was cut, Tyson still maintained the Body attack. Ray Leonard, who was commentating for HBO, said "To be at Ringside watching & hearing Mike Tyson's body shots is a thing of beauty. It makes you appreciate them body shots!"

Tyson got to Biggs earlier than nearly everyone thought!

 

Smith was fighting apprehensively, no doubt about it. He was more than nervous! I remember he was holding Tyson so tightly & so much that on one occasion when the ref broke them up, Tyson hit Biggs with a jab on the break, out of frustration!

As Tyson put it when Harry Carpenter interviewed him a couple of years later: "Smith was terrified when he fought me!"

 

AND the WBA belt :good

 

i know, but im 100% sure his coach also says to him, "come on your a better fighter than him...."

 

Yes Duva said that. Whether he really believed that was another question. Benton is the one who said if your legs are gone fight him inside.

 

Have you ever noticed how a lot of Lennox Lewis opponents tended to be Tyson leftovers?

 

This will sound a bit contradictory but Im not overly impressed with Lennox Lewis to be honest but I still believe he was a great fighter. He was clumbsy and unbalanced even when his balance and technique were vastly improved.

 

yes and they were all finished by the time lewis beat them .:good