Did you really think the Tyson/McBride fight was the end of an era?

That's a good point, and you could be right. His best performance post-prison in my opinion was against Golota but Golota was a head-case, I actually thought Golota was starting to get into the fight when he quit.

Prime Tyson never got discouraged if he hadn't KO'd the guy after 4 or 5 rounds he just kept on banging away, winning rounds. Post-prison he was different, and the Holyfield fight was the one that illustrated it best in my opinion, although thinking back the signs were there against Ruddock too.

 

Tyson was out of shape.

 

What difference does that make if he was? That's a weakness in his game if he shows up to a fight in **** poor condition. And McBride sure didn't look like a Ken Norton in there himself. And it wasn't as if McBride was able to put together any kind of winning streak > Tyson.

 

I knew he was a spent force after the Holyfield fight. He was beaten, soundly, no excuses at all. He was still a powerful fighter, but he was NEVER going to be a champion again

The Lewis fight was when I knew he was completely finished as a boxer. Holyfield beat him, but Tyson could still fight. But by the time he got to Lewis he had become a parody of himself. That was a ridiculous mismatch, Mike was just a punching bag for 8 rounds, pointless match up and I really can never credit Lennox for the TKO.

Everything after that was just a joke

 

Yep.

I know one 16 year old boxing fan, who still thinks that Tyson would dominate, if he only trained himself back in shape and got back with Rooney. atsch

 

Tyson was done after the 1st Holyfield fight.

I mean.... after coming out of prison, who did he beat that was decent?

Bruno was mentally retired after accomplishing his dreams and had eye trouble (in addition to being frightened to death).

 

I remember being one of the few who actually picked McBride to win over Tyson that night. Something inside me kept nagging at me that it was over for Mike, and that McBride was going to want it more and despite his lack of skills, he was going to take Tyson's best and was going to prevail.

But for Tyson to quit on his stool like that? I wouldnt have expected it.

I think the 'end of an era' line is more apt to the Tyson/Lewis fight. That first round, Tyson showed us he could still be king of the world for three minutes, but not for any more than that. I remember crying in disbelief when Lewis dismantled him.

Whats crazy, I suppose, is even with that image in my head, I believed this man still had what it took to make a come back from it all. He blew away Ettienne like he was nothing. And when he retired after McBride and he announced he was going to do a world exhibition tour of four rounders, hundreds of them, I thought to myself 'That is one hell of a way to get back into shape for a comeback'.

How naive I was. I'm glad, though, that the tour began and ended in my state (Ohio), and that Mike didnt go through with it. He showed flashes of his former glories against Sanders, but it was apparent to me, when the fans cheered him when he dropped 'T-Rex', he didnt welcome the cheers or wanted any part of it. He didnt love boxing anymore.

I think Tyson said it best, following McBride, when he was asked if his career was over: "Man, my career has been over since 1990 [when Douglas beat me]."

 

Tyson was always trouble with much bigger opponents. McBride lack skills and speed, but was Tyson's tallest opponent.

 

But they really did think Holyfield was so shot that they wouldn't need even that. They were seriously looking at him being no more of a challenge than the likes of the terrified Bruno or Seldon. Like most, they looked upon the Bowe III loss as Holyfield having terminal heart/energy problems and expected him to fade fast. There weren't concerned about what Holy could do early on because they were confident he's had no gas left come the middle rounds.

They probably looked upon potential fights with Bowe, Lewis and Foreman as the only ones to really knuckle down and train for. Completely wrong, as it turned out. The training was in place for the rematch I feel, but there was still no proper gameplan for Mike and Holy had a firm psychological grip and huge self-belief over Tyson now.

I did think it was 'the end' for Tyson after he lost to McBride. It was such an embarrassing loss and his words so final I didn't think he'd be back. Give McBride credit for fighting exactly the fight he needed to with his extremely limited skills - lay all over Mike in the clinch, keep thudding in the uppercut.

For the real 'end of an era' though, I felt that with Lewis-Tyson. With that, the three best heavyweights of the past couple decades had met and fought each other and were all old fighters. The time was right for them to fade away and the hungry youngsters to reach the top. Things didn't quite happen as quickly as expected there...

 

Officially--Yes.................... Actually---NO! Tyson's true era ended with the Holy rematch of '97 when Tyson freaked......... Everything after 1997 was a side-show / hoax to milk him as a cash cow........

MR.BILLbbb:shock:

 

Tyson peaked with Spinx,then turned into a one punch at a time bomber with hardly any head movement and 2 to 3 punch combos occassionally as where he would do up to 5 punch combos and other combos all through a fight....after jail he was on the down slide tremendously,when i saw peter mcNealy bull him into the ropes in his first fight back i said to myself this is some one else that other guy is gone.

 

Tyson looked strong as an Ox against McBride in '05, but his speed and skills were that of a clubfighter from ESPN.......... Tyson's showing was horrid..........

MR.BILL