Doesn't seem so he weighed 236lbs i think, does anyone have any knowledge if he trained properly? You would think he would it was a massive fight.
well remmebr he was almost 40. he was defintly training but conditioning was not what he was looking for he was looking for the sleeper:dead remember he was only a puncher by then and was not going to out box his way. he was going to look for the one shot knock out and adding wieght to compensate for his slightness at for only being 5'11 would of been a ideal statadgy to be as heavy as you can while not losing speed or mobility
Bulking up to deliver a knockout punch is NO STRATEGY AT ALL. You have to be in good condition if you're serious about fighting for the championship. This aint a tough man contest, or a bouncer brawl. You need some degree of speed to deliver that KO punch, you need a ton of stamina to maximize your chances of being around to deliver it.
Apparently he was training so hard that he was puking up in the gym. However, I think he trained all for power, and did it the wrong way as well by just packing on muscle. When it became apparent that Tyson was too short to get leverage against Lewis and lacked the one-punch power to KO him, that was basically it.
i heard that Mike trained extremely hard for Lennox but was by many accounts very intimidated by Lennox, I honestly question him beleiving that he could physically beat Lewis, He had one chance of acheiving that and that was by knocking Lewis out in a war. Lenox was so composed and confident that Mike had to try to ruffle Lewis's feathers every time they met.. (The leg bite.. The wars of words..) Mike was trying to get Lewis to go all toe to toe and fight it out , but a ready Lennox had his well prepared plan in place, safety first overwealming victory by methodically dismantelling Mike. Mike traned hard but never quite had heart and soul into that bout.. His aura was shot and in a way so was Mike.. I thing even if Mike was 215 and motivated he would have still fell in front of Lennox. It was just bad timing.. Lennox was primed on securing his place in history.. It was too important to him..
Tyson was not prepared mentally or physically for Lewis. I remember in 2000, Tyson beat Julius Francis and then said he needed "a few more fights" before thinking about taking on Lennox Lewis, then he beat Lou Savarese in a few seconds and looked in GREAT condition, still he needed more fights, then he fought Andrew Golota, had a tantrum directed at the media before and after the fight and said he'd never fight again, (but he looked decent against Golota). I suppose Tyson at this point was about two or three tune-ups away from being in the best possible PHYSICAL state (at that point is his career) to take on Lewis, but his crazy behaviour and his statement about quitting showed he was mentally unstable for fighting. For all three fights in 2000 he weighed 220-225. Then, after Golota, he put all the ring rust back on, and re-surfaced a whole year later against Brian Nielsen, weighing 239 and looking heavy-handed and slow-footed. Another 8 month layoff and he takes on Lennox Lewis - a fight I'm not sure Tyson even wanted ! He seemed to try to sabotage it. Tyson looked like a sacrificial lamb against Lewis, a has-been with the biggest name in boxing, a 234 plodder who'd lost his love for the game, and blown all his millions, getting another mega-million payday squeezed out of his name. Tyson gave up believing in himself in the 3rd round of the rematch with Holyfield, when he bit the ear. I doubt he ever believed he could really beat Lewis, but Lewis wanted the payday, Tyson wanted the payday, and several other people stood to make a hell of a lot of money from that fight.
