Did Bruce Seldon have the ability to give Tyson a good fight?

Totally agree :good
That would have been interesting, if Tyson HAD gone back to Rooney post prison.
Who the hell managed Tysons career after Holyfield 2????
Botha, Norris, Savarese, Francis, Nielson???? garbage cans?

Tyson was originally the poor boy who was fighting back against bullys, once he left Cayton etc he became a spoilt badboy wananbe hanging around with Thugs. Ive met people like that, all they do is cheer u on when your on top and when your down, they act like they dont know you anymore

 

Tyson was managed by Shelly Finkel after he left King, who was worse than King.

 

I do wonder, for comparison, how well Ali would've done under the same circumstances...

Being trained by Aaron Snowell for final 7 fights before layoff.

In a tough prison for about 4 years, rather than exiled for 3 years but allowed to roam free & live as he liked.

Then returning to be trained by Jay Bright & being surrounded by a circus of thugs, leaches & scumbags.

Something tells me Ali wouldn't have done quite as well with Bright in his comeback, instead of Dundee...

 

How close was a Tyson-Rooney reunion? Have they even talked to each other since 1988? I have a Los Angeles Times newspaper clipping somewhere that stated Rooney tried to contact Tyson after the first Holyfield loss. Wish I could find it.

 

Tyson "said" he was going to hire Rooney back after prison, but I dont believe it. Rooney waited for Tyson to make his move, because he was in dire straits financially. When Tyson didnt contact him he sued him and won some money to pay off bad debts. Rooney was in bad shape around this time himself. He went to jail for alcohol abuse and had a very bad gambling problem.
Tyson **** on all those people after the Spinks fight, and he was never man enough to admit and go back to them. He never talked to Rooney or Lott again. Rooney constantly reached out to Tyson in the media saying he was always welcome back but Tyson never did anything. Finkel was a fool for not trying to reunite those guys, but then again maybe he knew Rooney would never put up with the way Tyson had become, he was no longer a hard working serious fighter.

 

not with that glass chin. seldon's chin is so bad, it looks like he takes dives.

 

:deal

At one point, we had Fat George Foreman, Bruce Seldon, Oliver McCall, Francois Botha (!) and Herbie Hide all claiming to be heavyweight champion of the world. A prime Ali could beat all of them in one night. From 1993-1995, we also saw Michael Bentt and Frank Bruno claim to be champion. It made the mid-1980s look like a golden age.

 

Agreed. I thought that Herbie Hide took a dive against Vitali Klitschko, until I saw all his other title fights and realised that a stiff wind tends to knock Hide over.

 

I think he did try but the Tyson intimidation game scared him from the opening bell and the end came soon after.

 

Wow. What a shame. I wonder if Tyson gets pissed if you ask him about Rooney.

 

Tyson basically acts like Rooney never existed. And deep down, he knows he was in the wrong, but he doesnt want to admit it.

The original plan was to let Rooney miss out the Bruno fight and then bring him back on board, as a "punishment" for Rooney "getting involved in Tysons personal life"

 

If that whole post-prison run was about anything apart from collecting up belts and making as much dollar as possible, a promoter truly with Mike's interests at heart could've done a lot better for him with opponents and training.

 

Can't blame the promoter for Tyson's training.
Tyson had a bad attitude towards trainers, and resented them taking their cut. Cus was the only trainer he respected.

The opponents were softies and set-ups, but two of them had "world titles" ... that's pretty good matchmaking really.
McNeeley was a joke, but if they public were willing to buy, who can argue ?
Let's not forget, Jacobs and Cayton brought Tyson into the public eye first time around with the same type of fights ...... Jesse Ferguson, Reggie Gross, Marvis Frazier, Jose Ribalta, Alfonso Ratliff etc.

Holyfield by 1996 was a fairly easy fight in theory. He was old and war torn.
Tyson failed himself - it wasn't the promoter failing him.

 

King and Tyson thought they were fooling the public by making the Holyfield fight. It was a huge money fight that they thought Tyson was just going to mow Holyfield down in and make a fortune.

 

King had made an airtight deal with HBO (or Showtime?) Something to the tune of $120 million advanced payments for about 5 Tyson fights. This si why when Tyson was released from prison King was all over him.

Tyson was an a$$hole when it came to trainers. He only listened to trainers when they gave him an earful like Giachetti against Ruddock and Rooney.