How good was Tyson's stamina?

It depends when. As a young fighter and champion, Tyson was in excellent shape. Keep in mind that larger fighters like Tillis, Green, Smith and Tucker survived by hanging on to him for dear life and for the most part the much smaller (shorter) Tyson managed to stay strong and dominate through out .. later, when he did not train with the same pasion he was not longer the same guy ...

 

Yes, there's no real reason to doubt Mike Tyson's stamina in his prime.

I do think he was a little prone to frustration/boredom at times against those few opponents who stood up and lasted past his initial onslaught. They were some rounds or periods in some fights where he seemed to just switch off momentarily, plod in a bit, just looking for one punch. But with Kevin Rooney in his corner this tendency never proved a real distraction from him winning, and the win over Tucker he did well to keep a more disciplined approach. Similarly, even the great Joe Louis needed Jack Blackburn at times to get him to open up and be more creative to get his man out of there. And all the other greats are guilty of coasting or dropping down a gear at times too. Tyson was a KNOCKOUT ARTIST, and an EARLY KO artist at that, so his development as a competent distance boxer/fighter was actually very good seeing as he usually eliminated his own need to show that side of his game.

 

Tyson's physical stamina was good enough but mentally he had one of the poorest staminas... he lost concentration and could be easily discouraged...

 

I think Tyson had decent stamina, it was better than George Foreman's imo. But compare to others it was a level below. He didnt hace the long term stamina as Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, Jim Jeff, Henry Armstrong, Carman, Fullmer, Robinson, Bat Nelson, Joe Gans, Micky Walker(When he shows up in shape) and many others.

Like I said, its decent, you can aruge for good perhaps, but far from great.

 

No, he was clearly out of shape for this fight. You could tell that his punches didn't have the same quick snap to them, and they were getting slower and slower, round by round. Just watch Tyson - Pinklon Thomas to compare:

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At his peak, Tyson was taken the distance by Quick Tillis and Mitch Green for 10 rounds, and by Bonecrusher Smith and Tony Tucker for 12 rounds. He was tremendously focused and condtioned at that stage of his career, and he still was fresh at the end of those fights, so his stamina was fine.

 

Nice. Do you have the punchstats for his opponents?

 

Way off the mark. Tyson's problem was that he wasn't a strategically intelligent fighter. When Holyfield and Douglas were outboxing him - he couldn't think of anything. He couldn't come up with a *consistent* strategy - even something as simple as just body punching for a couple of rounds. He couldn't adjust to deal with those guys who were outboxing him. "Mental stamina" it far too general of a phrase and an incorrect one for describing Tyson's weakness. Heck, even a single fight with Ruddock II where Tyson was sent reeling back with smashes proves that Tyson could handle strong winds. If Ruddock had tried to outbox rather than outslug - it could have been different.

Nevertheless, I don't want to go in a tangent for what seems like an excellent discussion on the particular topic of Tyson's stamina. In another thread I'll elaborate some more later - the one where someone provides an explanation for Tyson's loss to Douglas.

 

Tyson had a fast pace, but even in his prime, I felt he lost some steam around round five. Tyson was not the type to score many late round TKO's.

I'd say Tyson's stamina was good, but not great.

 

Agreed.

Plus, it was when he had to absorb punishment in fights that the stamina factor became much worse. He was never really asked to absorb all that often in his fights and when he was--Holyfield/Douglas/Lewis/perhaps Ruddock but that's open to debate--that stamina wasn't there for very long. 5 rounds was about it & then it was work for about half a round. His stamina was much better in those Tucker and Smith type fights when he wasn't asked to absorb much.

 

Hey, this old thing.

I think the biggest misconception about Tyson is that he was a bell-to-bell monster, throwing shots all the time. In reality, he was very much a flurry fighter. When he got his opening, he was able to bomb away with frightening speed and volume. He didn't just swing away all round. But those finishing flurries were what got all the replay, so often people think he did that all the time.

Pinklon Thomas fight is a good example. The final finish is great. The rounds previous...it's all a bit stop-start-stop for Mike.

One of my favourite quotes for a Tyson fight is from the Bonecrusher one, where some journalist described it "like a Ferarri stuck in the mud". That fits so well.

 

Considering his aggressive style, punching and defensive wise-he had great stamina.

 

Punch stats tell a story of workrate but dont tell how countering/movement/defense reduces punch workrate

High Punch output does not equal high stamina. Stamina is also using movement, headmovement etc alongsider punches, any joe can whale on someone for 12rounds with no movement

 

Excellent post. Agree 100%