Did Tyson come back markedly a different fighter after prison?

Again wrong. There is this little thing called time which sort of kills that logic of yours. The range of ability of ANY athlete varies greatly depending on when in their career you take a snapshot. While you may not get a good indication of pure ability looking at an unknown 0-0-0 Ali, neither can the record and performance of his last few fights be used to judge his ability in his prime in any way, shape, or form. You are trying to bend and spin numbers to your opinion when any intelligent fan of the sport can look at actual fights and SEE the difference. Its not about what Mikes later opponents did differently, its about what he didn't or couldn't do.

Records tell you more than somebody's opinion? Sure sometimes. But sometimes they are also misleading. And actual tapes of fights will always tell a hundred times more than some W or L on a sheet of paper.

 

He did come back to win titles. Over Bruno and Seldon.

 

Prison Hurt Tyson alot, when he first came out you could see he lost his technical skills, timing and was very rusty and looked raw in all his fights from 96-97 after the suspension he lost a step but was still decent up until he fought Neilson in which you could see after 16 yrs he was finally old.

 

Neither man could deal with Tyson's physical gifts, mainly his speed but he would not have beat the Tucker he fought in the 80s IMO.

 

A record of 58 fights is pretty representative thus hardly misleading. It's rather that fixed opinions are misleading when they are not supported by the record.

I know how Tyson fought and I stand by my opinion which _IS_ supported by his RECORD: That Tyson didn't change as much as his opponents changed. And that Tyson was in the middle of his prime after jail.

Fans of this "jail broke him" theory forget that
BEFORE jail

• he got KOed by Douglas
• went 12 round with Ruddock (24-1 and 24-2 at that point) (rematch because the prior TKO was controversial)
• went 12 rounds with Tucker (35-0 at that point)
• went 12 rounds with James Smith (fantastic defense, similar to that of Wladimir Klitschko)
• went full 10 rounds with Mitch Green (16-1 at that point)
• went full 10 rounds with bummy chinachin Tillis (42-22 now)
• needed 7 rounds to TKO Biggs (15-0 at that point)

That was ALL BEFORE jail and shows that he had difficulties with better and/or taller opponents. He did not have such problems AFTER JAIL. He was KOing opponents FASTER THAN BEFORE JAIL.

BUT:
AFTER jail he ran into ATG Holyfield.... AND LOST
Ran into ATG Lennox .... AND LOST
Ran into a 265lbs guy (Danny Williams)... AND LOST
Ran into a 271lbs guy (Kevin McBride)... AND LOST

Other than that he won all his other fights AFTER JAIL.

Thus:
The less likely conclusion (your conclusion) is that "Jail changed him".
The more likely conclusion (my conclusion) is that ATGs and superheavy guys were simply too much for Mike. After all he was just 5'10''.

 

Tyson's last 3 losses came after he was old and washed up he wanted to retire after the Golota fight, but he was too broke, anyone who thinks Tyson wasn't shot after watching the Nielson fight in 01 is delusional, it was plain to see he just didn't have it anymore.
If you think McBride and Williams would beat a young Tyson then you have problems, it's like saying Larry Donald would beat a young Holyfield.

 

Tyson was much better off with Rooney and camp but still has got to be the most overrated fighter ever. I just think that after prison he was more exposed.

 

By Mcbride and Williams people werent afraid of Tyson. **** Tillis went the distance, any type of movement frustrates Tyson. Bottom line if his opponent doenst stand there like a zombie in fear of a myth they are givin Tyson trouble.

 

tyson had a coke habit when he met his last 3 or 4 fights!!

 

:nut

Ever see the Holmes, Berbick fights?

 

Mike was done since he signed with Don King and left Rooney, after prison he was just FAR worse. The marketing of Tyson was to be expected, people awaited his arrival to boxing desperately at that point.

 

Yeah, Ruddock a natural Cruiserweight

 

atsch I guess Ruddick, Bruno, and Tucker, just stood there afraid huh? you're full of ****, Williams and McBride beat an old man.