[url]http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/im-pretty-embarrassed-that-i-beat-mike-tyson/[/url] ‘I’m pretty embarrassed that I beat Mike Tyson’ Danny Williams explains how he beat a man whom he thought was invincible, Mike Tyson [url]MIKE TYSON [/url]was old at the time and I’m pretty embarrassed that I beat such a great fighter. It’s crazy. I always say to people that if he’d have been the best Tyson, I wouldn’t have lasted a round. Like everyone else I thought he was invincible back then. I remember there was a time when we didn’t even see him have a nosebleed. It was amazing. I thought he was made out of metal. But it started to go wrong for him: the money; the wrong people around him; too many girls; too much partying. There’s so many different factors. If he’d have gone on properly, with his old people around him, he could have beaten Rocky Marciano’s [49-0] unbeaten record and gone down in history as the greatest, but with all the people around him, it went wrong. I’m not being disrespectful but Mike Tyson is not the most handsome-looking man, and with all that money, women he would only [previously] dream of having coming to him came to him. What was he going to do? One hundred per cent I believed I’d win. I had a dream a few weeks before the fight was announced that I knocked him out. He went crashing over into the ropes in my dream, just like he did in the fight. So when the fight was announced I thought, ‘This is it.’ The key was to jab. But when I got into the fight I couldn’t get him with a jab because his head movement was so good. It was the second or third round when I just thought, ‘Forget it, I’m going to war with you.’ You see at that point I go to war with him. His punching is crazy. I can’t even explain it. It’s the speed as well and the sharpness. You don’t even see the punches coming. In the fourth round we had a little trade-up and he hit me with a massive right hand, absolutely massive, and when that had no effect, and I held on, and then started to push him back, I felt him get weaker. The crowd were chanting his name and they could feel him get weaker too. They could feel the fight coming out of him. About 30 seconds later I put the big barrage of punches on him. He was the type of fighter who was great when he was winning but he could never come back from the brink – like Evander Holyfield – and win. With Tyson, if he was winning he’d won, but if he was losing he’d lose. It’s sad to say but that attitude was in him. Me and [trainer] Jimmy [McDonnell] stayed up all night [after the win] talking, talking, talking. I don’t think I slept – I was just buzzing. The phone didn’t stop ringing. It was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had.
Comes off pretty level-headed, and some great insights into his mental make-up. All things considering, I think Tyson was strong mentally when compared to all fighters in general, but when compared to the top 1% (those monsters of men) it was lacking when taking punishment. And there's a good reason for it -- he was run so hard in training by D'Amato and started so fast in matches coming up that he rarely took much punishment. Insanely fast starter, but like against a young big George, if you can hang tough, return some licks, the storm will subside and whatever is left of you will get a chance to get back in the match. This and his small size would hurt his chances against the other monsters in the division, imo. I think Ali, a young big George, Holyfield and Lennox Lewis should be favored. I think he should be favored against Louis, Holmes, Marciano, Liston, both Klitschko's, Bowe, Jack Johnson, Dempsey and Norton. Bowe and Vitali would probably last the distance, while Liston and Louis have the best chance of upsetting my odds imo.
Danny Williams is one of the nicest, self-deprecating guys who ever fought as a professional. Compare this to the way Lewis and Mcbride reacted to beating up the Tyson shell. Tells you a bit about what Williams is like.
Just don't show this objective article to obsessed Tyson hater "Wass 1985". He will come back and say that Williams was paid to say this, and that Williams would have always knocked out The "overrated" and "weak willed" Tyson.
Nice article. Thanks for sharing. Interesting that Danny mentioned Tyson's inability to come from behind and win - something that's been debated on this site many times... Danny's finishing combination in that match was a thing of beauty.
