did tyson lose power with age?

He probably kept his power but everything else diminished. He lost his passion & with it the desire to break a guy down. He had quickie knockouts early in his career but he attacked the body & head. A fighter that survived round 1 had usually taken some serious punishment. Tyson took a piece of his opponent every round the fight lasted. As he lost his love of process of boxing, Tyson became a headhunter & looked to end things quickly. When Tyson couldn't knock out Tucker quickly , he settled in for the long haul. Rooney pushed him to maintain a consistent attack.

Tyson's technique became sloppy & the "moving the head after every punch" thing Rooney preached was gone. He stood up straighter & was easier to hit. Guys could smother him more also. He was off balance a lot too. Young Tyson was a machine. I think his stamina suffered probably because of poor training. Tyson still had enough to drop Ribalta late earlier in his career. I remember watching him in the 80's thinking I'd never seen him breath hard! Tyson in the 90's didn't have much stamina after a few rounds. He could still win against some fighters though.

Lastly, like everyone has stated, as he lost speed, his punches weren't as effective. He used to crouch down & erupt with big shots that came out of nowhere. Combinations of punches. When he started walking in straight, that type of attack was gone. I think Tyson was a great puncher but not someone who could club guys like Foreman. Tyson's speed was what made him special. Great speed, a brutal body attack, & solid defense were what made young Tyson so tough.

Losing the intimidation factor was huge. Fighters just weren't scared anymore.

 

I hate when I come here looking for a discussion about something , find it, and realize I responded already!

 

His speed declining was the 1st noticeable effect of aging. I also believe that in all that time building up to his fight with Lewis he wasn't training as well as he used to and his heart just wasn't in it anymore. He lost his hunger for destruction.

 

Maybe not with a single punch, but a quick explosive boxer throwing combinations will always loose power at these "spurts".