then would would never have got the "cocoon of horror" quote. the man was a character if nothing else.
McNeeley was a soft touch but then you got to remember this was his first fight for over 4 years. You can't really have expected him to meet a rated contender for his first fight after years in jail. He did meet step it up a bit in his next fight against Buster Mathis Jr. and then challenged Frank Bruno for his WBC title a few months after that followed by a fight for the WBA title against Bruce Seldon so I don't think you can't really find that much fault with the comeback scheduling.
I dont think you could do much to better what they did. Easy couple of fights after coming out of prison against McNeely and Mathis Jr just to get him shake of the ring rust, target the easier World Champions of Bruno and Seldon first to let the world know he's back, pick up some titles and hype the mega-fight with Holyfield. The one potential way they could have bettered it was to have him fight Lennox Lewis before Holyfield and come into the fight with the WBC and WBA Titles, but the risk would be that Lennox would beat him thus taking away the world titles, but Holyfield/Tyson would sell on it's own merit so it wouldn't take too much away and it could be used to set up a shot at Lewis or Moorer for the IBF belt.
I would have let him get the feel of the ring back with a couple of easy fights. Then I would have signed him to face Ray Mercer. I think Ray would have been able to take Tyson`s punch enough to last the distance. It would have been a tough grueling fight for Tyson. If Mike came through that I think he could have had more confidence going the distance.
It would been a risk taking on Lewis in 1996 but he would have had a far better chance of winning than he did when they eventually did meet in 2002.
Great thread. The 1995 tyson was beset internally by doubts. He had no desire to fight and his skills,reflexes and ability to take a shot 4 years out was greatly diminished.....it showed in his quiet,meek public persona for the first 18 months out. So all things said...don king steered him masterfully to wba/wbc titles..in a heavyweight landscape that had ,bowe,lewis , mercer and Witherspoon in the background to the paper titlists mccall/bruno,hide and seldon. And the linear champ foreman. The problem is a rusty tyson could lose to anyone good So id have still gone for bruno and seldons titles.but the first fight out shoulda been herbie hide than tommy morrison.so: Hide Morrison Bruno wbc Seldon wba Foreman linear Jorge luis gonzalez Golota Than early retirement in early 98 having avoided holyfield who was considered damaged anyway so no one would have even considered it avoidance! Same goes for lewis...and bowe due to the stigma of mccall and golota...it wouldnt be called avoidance....and mike retires totally redeemed considered a top 4 atg hw but only if he wins them all which i think he can
Tyson was quoted as saying he wanted close to 10-15 fights like he did first coming up. Unfortunately the $30 million wouldn't be there. His team took on Holyfield between title efforts because Tyson was superstitious and wanted a faded former champ (like Pinklon Thomas during his first go) to fill in before unifying. Foreman would've been a better choice in replacement of Holyfield. People wanted to see that almost as much but Foreman messed it all up with his performance against Axel Schulz. McNeeley Mathis Jr. Orlin Norris Lou Savarese Bruno(WBC) Seldon(WBA) Foreman Moorer(IBF) Akinwande(WBO) Holyfield Morrison Schulz Bowe Mercer Botha Lewis McCall
