Did Tysons slide start after the Berbick Fight?

I think Tyson's technique, specifically defensively, was never the same after the Spinks fight. Tyson had the natural ability of speed and power but he definitely didn't approach defense the same way he did under Rooney and Rooney has often commented on that himself. Getting hit keeps you from doing certain things.

 

Funny enough this is from an interview posted TODAY August 1, 2011. Rooney is still talking about and it was the difference in Tyson.


BoxingInsider: What Tyson fight were you most concerned with going in?
Kevin Rooney: ”None. None. When I had Mike we were in training camp for five weeks. Back then I used to run 3-4 miles with him just to make sure he was doing it. And then we’d go to the gym. And then we’d go to a health club at night. Then we’d go do bed. When he was with me there was no partying. There was no, well I worked hard, I’m gonna go have a few drinks and try to pick up a girl. That never happened. Hey Mike, guess what? We got a title to defend and you gotta be in tip-top shape. So that Mike Tyson, if he didn’t cross channels and went with Don King, he would have gone down as the greatest heavyweight in history. Now people are talking, ah, he’s nothing. But that’s not true.”
BoxingInsider: Is he at his best the greatest fighting machine of the ring you ever saw?
Kevin Rooney: ”Yes. I believe that and I stand by that. He was. Because he was elusive. The best thing about it was these guys couldn’t hit him. When you can’t hit somebody, that becomes very frustrating. In boxing, I’m trying to hit you, you’re moving your head and I can’t hit you. And I’m like, what the ****. That’s what happened in a lot of Mike’s fights. They couldn’t hit him. And I could see then, Mike, this guy’s ready to go, get rid of him. He don’t want to hang around no more. And why? Because I could see the frustration in their face. They throw punches and they can’t hit him. Wait. When I throw these punches against Tom Dick I hit him. I throw ‘em against this guy, I can’t hit him [smiles]. That was Cus’ style. Mike could have been 100-0 and made a billion dollars, if he stayed with me.”

 

Can you share the whole interview?

 

Sure, here is the first part.


It’s always a pleasure to listen to Kevin Rooney talk about his old charge Mike Tyson, who in his prime years in the 1980′s, was the most exciting, destructive heavyweight force in boxing history. Check this out…
BoxingInsider: When was Mike at his prime best?
Kevin Rooney: ”When he beat Michael Spinks. He just wiped him out. Before that he beat Tony Tucker and Tyrell Biggs, the main fighters back then. He wiped out Tony Tucker – he won a 12 round decision, I mean, he kicked his ass. Then he knocked out Tyrell Biggs. He knocked out Larry Holmes. Then he fought Tony Tubbs in Japan – he starched him in two rounds. Then he knocked out Michael Spinks in 90 seconds. 90 seconds. It wasn’t a joke. I mean, he knocked him out. So I think that fighter, in my opinion, could have and should have probably beaten anybody that was in his path. Anybody including Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali. Well, I’ll give Muhammad Ali and Rocky – well it could have been different, I mean, Rocky punched like hell. Muhammad punched like hell. Rocky had beat everyone. Muhammad had heart and was hard to hit. The fights would have been interesting. But I believe that Mike would have come out the better. Because he punched very hard [laughs]. Mike…I believe that Mike is one of the hardest punchers in history. He punches harder than Rocky. Punches harder than Joe Louis. Punches harder than George Foreman.”
BoxingInsider: Didn’t sparring guys come to the gym, see Mike punch, then leave the gym?
Kevin Rooney: ”I don’t remember the guy’s name. I believe he was being paid $400 a week. This was in the early 80′s. The guy gets into the ring [laughs]. Bell rings, Mike comes out, bop, bop, bop. Mike throws combinations. He put his hands up, like, Hold it. He steps out of the ring over the top rope – he was big, like 6-4, 6-5 – and walks out of the front door. Didn’t look for his pay, just gone. We’re all like, what’s happening?! He wanted nothing to do with Mike. He just left. It was funny. Cus (D’Amato), Bill (Cayton), Jim (Jacobs) and Steve (Lott) would bring in a lot of fighters, just do one round. James Broad was a tough guy. There was a guy who would stay in there and give Mike the work, but then took a beating. I mean, every day they took a beating every day. That’s the way Mike was. He was strong, determined, and he wanted to hurt you.”
BoxingInsider: When do you believe Ali was at his prime and what would your strategy be for Mike vs. Ali?
Kevin Rooney: ”1966, 67, 68, in that time frame. After he beat Liston he just started annihilating guys that were going for the title. Knockin’ people out cold in tough fights, guys that weren’t pushovers. Muhammad dominated. The Muhammad Ali in 1966-67 and Mike Tyson in 1986-87-88-89 – that would have been an incredible fight. I think Mike would have won. He punched harder than Muhammad. But at that point, Muhammad would have had just a little bit more experience. Mike punched hard. Mike really, really punched hard. You’re talking about a kid, 20, 21, 22, against Ali who was 23, 24. It would have been a helluva fight. I would want Mike to put tremendous pressure on him. Cut him off. Get him on the ropes. Wing body shots and the uppercuts. Step to the side and if you got lucky enough, hit him with the right hand or left hook and he would be gone. But see, Muhammad was a great, great fighter. We call him the greatest fighter ever, he took a helluva shot. He never dogged it, he never quit. But the Mike Tyson that I was training – coming off of Cus D’Amato – I just think that that Mike Tyson would have won. Because he punched fast and hard. That’s a difficult combination to deal with. A guy that punches fast and hard, you got a guy that punches hard, well you’re a tough guy all right, well, so what? But when you got a kid that punches hard AND fast. Then all the sudden you’re like, who, who, damn, wait a minute. Right away your hands are gonna go up. You’re gonna be on the move. You’re gonna do this and you’re gonna wanna do that. You’re not gonna stand there and say, hit me again. So Mike had that.”

 

I've just phoned my Brother and he says he knows nothing of this, he doesnt follow boxing at all. In fact I havent got a brother.

 

he started to slide in 1st bruno fight......somewhat got it back together with giagetti for tillman/stewart/ruddock 1 and 2............. was never the same after that FACT

 

IDIOT:huh

 

Tyson was at his Peak, in terms of being at his best in physical, mental & technical terms from '86 Ribalta to '88 Spinks. That's a 10 fight Peak, not shabby at all. You could see in the '89 Bruno fight, Tyson was well conditioned, but didn't give a crap about defense, his defense was just ragged in there, where was his elusive headmovement? Watch how many clean powerpunches Bruno landed on Tyson, & i mean powerpunches. Plus Mike was just loading-up with singular telegraphed headhunting bombs, for practically all of that fight. The Carl Williams fight doesn't prove anything, it was half a round long, & Mike just waited for his sparring partner to drop his right, then tagged him with the lefthook he was always allergic & open to. What it does show though, is other than having a 1min 33sec bout landing a KO lefthook on his long-term sparring partner who was very susceptible to them... Tyson hadn't really fought for 12 months when he faced Buster. Unless KO'ing your King-handpicked sparring partner in under 2mins counts as "experience".

 

Thanks for posting that interview :good

Why was Giachetti picked as Tyson's new trainer and not someone like Futch or even Rooney returning? Wasn't Rooney punished for the Bruno fight and coming back for Williams?

 

Because King employed Giachetti to train his fighters that he managed under his management company. He didn't have to pay a percentage of Tysons purse to richie even though he charged it to Tyson. For instance, if Tysons purse was 10 million the trainer would make a 1 million. King probably paid Giachetti 50 grand while still charging Tyson the million. So he kept 950k for himself. Rooney wasn't going to go along with Kings BS and King knew it so he got rid of him. Remember King controlled Tyson 100%. The company was Mike Tyson Enterprises but everyone answered and was controlled by King.

 

Tyson looked bad in the first Bruno fight, compared to his previous fights.

 

You obviously didn't read the threadstarter's opening post.

You'll find plenty of people who'll say he looked lazy and/or sloppy in all three fights.

The same way you compared a 5-round fight to one that lasted 90 seconds.

Which shows that your hypocrisy is so blatant, even something you consider "moronic" can expose it.

 

I've said the same thing on the issue. As I know you have. This is a point that often gets ignored. There's a tad bit of selective reasoning when it comes to Tyson fans. Just like how the Williams fights gets ignored as a performance, even though it's the fight before Douglas. It makes the decline look more spotty & more exaggerated. The way some people talk about it, not just casuals but hardcore fans you would think Tyson's skills were shot by the time of Douglas. Some would argue he was more past it than Frazier vs Foreman, Ali vs Frazier, and Holmes vs Spinks.

 

The ironic thing was Tyson seriously started to slide while in training for his biggest win, Michael Spinks .. King was major messing with his mind ..Givens and Roper were all over him .. the media attention was overwhelming, Cus was long gone as was Johnson ... if Spinks was not so made for Tyson he could have been a bit exposed in that fight ... without question post Spinks his unraveling began ...

 

This is a great point because the Spinks fight is used as some barometer as his peak. I don't see it truthfully, but maybe it makes more sense to be used as a barometer of decline, rather than a peak. I don't know really know.