If legendary trainer Cus D'Amato didn’t pass away when Mike Tyson was only 18...

This. Even Cus wouldn’t have been able to save Tyson from crashing and burning. Considering how bad Tyson’s ego got after being champ for a couple of years he likely would’ve fired Cus like he did Rooney. By 88-89 Tyson wasn’t too interested to listening to anyone or being criticized.

 

I think Cus would have kept him from the clutches of Don King and the gold digger Robin Givens giving him a few more years . But as others have so accurately pointed out his fall was inevitable due to his mental makeup. But I think had Tyson fought Holyfield back then he'd have had a decent chance to beat him, that version of Buster was a better boxer than Evander and Holy could be rocked , see Bert Cooper. I think Cus would have ducked George Foreman like a fastball though.

 

He wasn't mentally wired for longevity no matter who was around him. In fact he probably would've walked away from D'mato eventually. Loyalty wasn't his strong point.

 

Well, when he was till this 1988 th ofc he had proper matchmaking with 0 doubts.

Stuff that had get my attention was not his KO wins or power.
Mike then was able to be patient and most interesting for me moment was not his punches at all or opponent falling down.
He very carefully watched, damn, and might had been damn very patient, even defensive and then explode.
These small timeframes might tell a lot: patience in depth and how carefully he watched, this was real talent here around.

Then he looks that had get yes sir around him and everything had changed there.
He had good technical base and lived on this further.

Damn, if he had continued the same way of life at least during next 2 years till 1990 th?

 

Mike Tyson would have done better for longer in the squared circle, and would have not got self in as many bad out of the ring activities as he did if Cus was still around.

However Cus had Tyson under his wing, direction and 'control' when Tyson did not have to dimes in his pocket, the big money he got later would have made him independent, a virile wayward youth with a wallet full of cash is a tough prospect to control for Cus.

That said i think Tyson would have screwed lot of things up, but he i do believe would have sought Cus at those times, so compounding of the damage caused by screw ups would be minimised to a degree.

Would Tyson have become the greatest ever with Cus around, i have my doubts, he was a fragile individual and think that fragility would have been exposed, however there sure was more chance he would have been greatest if Cus was around, when compared to Cus not being there.

 

Think tyson was always going to crash and burn regardless. He just didnt have the discipline and was too troubled to keep it up. Tbf i m not sure anyone would have because the regime was brutal. For me cus was a genius...he didnt really foresee the problems that lay ahead tho. Or maybe he did but it was pretty much inevitable that mike would pull away at some point.

The regime needed 100 percent focus which was fine for mike growing up because he didnt really have another focus of any kind. But at some point mike had to become a man....and from there the regime wouldnt be his 100 percent focus.

I think he could have been the goat...what they achieved was exceptional considering mike was a small heavyweight but he needed to work harder to achieve that because of it. When the regime slipped as he grew up and his focus changed...he,d have levelled out.

I reckon he could have went on to beat holyfield and lewis....and the rest even if that happened. What we got tho was a guy that began training like an amatuer with drink and drug problems who was still capable to be competetive. Says a lot about the job cus done with mike.

Could have and probably should have been goat for me barring probably ali...but the kid was too troubled to see it through. He done exceptionally well when alls said and done tho considering.

 

Do you enjoy making threads of topics that have been discussed to death already?

 

Exactly. Going on about mental issues. Didn't he talk abot suicide. Pillar of mental strength.

 

Once Mike got rich he was going to do what he was going to do. There is a quote from Cus along the lines of what a man does he intended to do all along.
The only difference would be that Mike would be having to deal with the guilt of telling Cus to kick rocks.

 

I believe Mike Tyson would've gone down as the greatest heavyweight of all time. Large shoes to fill, sure, but Iron Mike has big feet to walk the walk. He also could possibly slip up as his focus could wander but not the way it happened in the Buster Douglas scenario. And he wouldn't be in Don King's clutches or dealing with Robin Givens and her psycho mother and quack doctor.

Cus lives another 10 years and I'm betting 60/40 that Tyson goes undefeated. He'd have to briskly stroll through hell to do it though.

 

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So Mark, you start a thread asking for people’s opinions and when someone gives one you don’t agree with you go straight down their throat.
Get a grip.

 

Mark, I hate to break it to you but Tyson was always going to get out of their (D'Amato, Jacobs, Cayton etc) manipulative clutches. If he wasn't strong enough to or couldn't find strong people to bust him out (Givens family, King), he'd have been one very unhappy young man - worse than we actually did see at the time.

Given Tyson's flight was (imo) inevitable, if Cus had lived, all you would have seen was a more powerful counter narrative (i.e. a false one) than that which Cayton was running in the late 80's - 90's. I suspect D'Amato (a known control freak) would definitely have been a 'if I can't have you no-one will' type. He's have been feeding stories about Tyson through press friends, especially the NY boxing press who had parasitically had come to love Cus again, and he'd have made some pretty nasty attacks on whoever Tyson sought sanctuary with.

He may have even attacked Tyson's character.... I think Cus dying when he did was for the best.

 

Yes, he'd retired undefeated circa 1995-1996, with around 50 wins, breaking Marciano's record.