Did Tyson ruin Tyrell Biggs?

I think a little. Tyson was fighting every two months .. It was Berbick in Nov,, for the title, Bonecrusher in March, Pinklon in May, Tucker in August,, and then Biggs in October. They needed opponents for Mike and rushed guy in a little quick, even though he would have probably beaten all those guys anyway. Had Mike fought every 6 months like they do today, the opponents would have been more seasoned especially guys like Biggs. As it turned out they rushed Biggs in to fight Mike and Mike did great with his body punching. Sort of a sad fight and maybe Duva should have stopped it earlier.

 

I think Duva knew they had little time to cash in on Biggs with Biggs' lifestyle. The timing was as good as it was going to get. Blow and booze do not a great fighter make.

 

I think the Duvas saw their investment in Biggs going down the drain with his drug use and decided to cash him in while they still could before he completely crashed and burned. He was destined for self-destruction anyway.

 

that is true, although Biggs was in over his head and it was evident early. I remember in round one (I have the memory even though I have not seen the fight in 20 years) Mike was hitting Biggs with these big thudding body punches and Biggs was sagging a little. Had Biggs had experience maybe he could have thrown come punches like the uppercut when he was against the ropes to get Mike to think twice about walking in and landing on Biggs like that. But Mike at that point was the best he could have been.

 

Tyrell Biggs is one of the reasons I hate, truly HATE Lou Duva. In my opinion Lou Duva stands for everything vile about the sport of boxing.

Yes its true that Biggs' personal life was a mess, because Biggs was showing all the earmarks of clinical depression, which he was later diagnosed with at the very in of his career. None of the Duvas did anything to help Tyrell address his mental illness, or later his drug problems.

Instead they steered him straight to the biggest money fight available and then watched passively as Biggs got beaten half to death before they essentially kicked him to the curb.

I read a very sad article about Biggs in Ring Magazine a few years after he'd hung up the gloves. He spoke candidly about his strugglesand he discusse the callous way he was treated by Lou. He said that after his career started stalling following several injuries during his early fights Lou realized Biggs wasn't a future champion so he started making Tyrell pick up the check whenever they went out to eat. Fortunately, Biggs seemed to have a hande on life, and no bitterness over his career.

Tyrell wasn't the only one to get screwed by the Duva clan, who also showed no love for Mark Breland or Meldrick Taylor, after both had earned the family millions with gargantuan television contracts early in their career. And Lou's meltdown to the boxing press after he split with Holyfield was madness. Lou called Holyfield 'disloyal', a 'bum' and, of all things 'lazy.'

In my opinion Lou Duva is as morally reprehensible as Don King or Jose Suliaman, and I think mismanagement and greed ruined Biggs more than Mike Tyson.

 

Tyson beat him bad, but Biggs still had some stuff left, he troubled
Bowe years later. I felt Biggs had a really cool style, that tricky Philly
style. He had ghe size, skill, and experience to be a champ. Personal
Problems and coke are career killers. I guess Duvas are scumbags,
wouldnt suprise me. Magna should have some inside info. Also
Perhaps Biggs was better suited for the amateur style.

 

Biggs fought a nice round one, outboxing Mike smoothly. Things fell apart shortly after. I think Biggs had the potential to be the second best guy during Tyson's reign. The problem was that there was no way in hell he was gonna beat Mike.

 

Tyson vs Biggs is one of the dirtiest displays I've seen. Tyson didn't need all of that to beat Biggs.......I don't think it ruined Biggs. I think he ascended as high as he was going to go with or without the Tyson fight.

 

I wouldnt hold Tyson responsible, Biggs crashed and burned on his own but fighting Tyson never helped..

 

Nice to see someone else who shares a similar view of the Duva clan as I do.

Add Fernando Vargas to the list of fighters that the Duvas threw to the wolves.

Throwing Holyfield in with Dwight Qawi after only a handful of fights was total madness IMO, even if Holy still managed to pull it out.

Lou Duva also shamelessly lies about the instructions he gave Taylor before the final round vs. Chavez - he claims he told him to "stay away, be careful," when he actually yelled at him to "go knock him out."


As far as Biggs goes, he wasn't that big of a puncher IMO, and I believe that may have always been a fatal flaw for him as he stepped up against increasingly bigger and better HWs. Still, had he come around a few years earlier, he may have fit in with the other so-so titleholders of the late '70s/early '80s (i.e: Page, Tubbs, etc.).

 

Nosecandy ruined Biggs.

 

In one word, YES!

Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump can both attest to that theory after all Mike Tyson did drop Tyrell Biggs through the ropes and almost on to both of their laps in the seventh round of their contest, the round in which Tyson finished Biggs off in.

Never mind for a moment that even as a 14-year old at the time in watching Biggs come out of the 1984 summer olympics with the gold medal that I was amongst a large majority of fans who didn't think he would win the world heavyweight title with his extra safety cautious style and even with the likes of heavyweights that were around back then like a primed Pinklon Thomas, Tim Witherspoon, Trevor Berbick, a youmg undefeated Mitch "Blood" Green and even a slightly past his prime Larry Holmes, who was still the undefeated world heavyweight champ at the time. And all this before Tyson himself even turned pro.

Two things actually stand out in all this: 1) Mike Tyson vs Tyrell Biggs ended up being the only scheduled 15-round fight that Tyson was ever involved in throughout his entire pro career and 2)Exactly one year after Biggs lost to Tyson former 84' olympic silver medalist Francesco Damiani, the guy whom Biggs beat for the gold, turns around and beats Biggs by a 7th round tko victory to avenge his own olympic loss and a year after that became the WBO's inaugural heavyweight champ!

 

duva is a scum bag