Mike Tyson and adversity

My answer to this long rant, if a fighter is so great that 99.9 percent of the time he is always winning a fight instead of losing, it should add to his legendary appeal and legacy rather than the other way around. If an opponent fighter is shitting himself based on the mere thought of facing a small 5'11, 70 inc guy then it should add to the small guys legendary appeal. If a fighter terrifies and scares the hell out of an opponent by not doing Ali like antics in press conferences and just says a few words or gives them that staredown and that predictable beating in the ring, it should add to the fighter's legendary appeal. If 99.9 % of very good to extremely talent fighters can't do **** about it and can't beat this guy, then it should to this legendary fighter's appeal and legacy. The likes of Lewis and Holyfield have 1-2 youtube videos, Tyson has a million plus Youtube videos, that speaks for itself. When a fighter does not have to defend his history, his record, his defeats, does not have to constantly talk about his fights and make excuses 24/7 for fights he has won controversially all the time aka Lewis vs Vitali, it should then add to the fighter's legendary appeal and legacy.

Enough said

 

Okay UFC2015.

 

You’re using YouTube to defend Tyson. That’s hilarious, but I’ll play your game. Rakim’s hip hop classic video for Paid in Full has 14 million YouTube views. Meanwhile, Macklemore’s thrift shop video has over 1 Billion views. Does this mean Macklemore is a better rapper? No!

I’m sure Tyson would rather defend a controversial victory than he does having to defend biting Holyfield’s ear.

Tyson is a bad@55, no disputing that. My point is that he was all bully and all dog, incapable of EVER snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Tyson’s one of the best boxing historians alive and I’m sure he wishes he could look back on his career and see a Conn to his Louis, a Walcott to his Marciano, a Frazier to his Ali, a Norton to his Holmes, a Vitali to his Lewis, or a Wlad to his AJ.

 

Great posts and analysis man. Welcome. You nailed it.

 

You're knocking the shat out of the Tysonites. Keep it up

 

Tyson like Jeff Fenech was the ultimate bully before they lost.
However both in defeat were no quitters. Fenech took great pride
in that in his 3 losses he was ko and Tyson was great friends with
Fenech and Tyson in his losses was also ko.
Both never lost their fights by dec.

 

Thanks.

 

Believe it or not, I am a Tyson fan. I just think he comes up short against the likes of the ATGs I mentioned based on his inability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

 

I think this is another myth about Tyson. I don't see any fight when he was still the least relevant that his psyche let him down, except for the Holy rematch of course. Don't know what happened there. If he was looking for a way out or just went bonkers.

But in the first Holy fight he just got outthought, outmuscled and outworked imo. He tried his best, but his stamina failed him. Of course, it is always hard to know exactly which is which, but he just plain looked more tired than Holy down the stretch and that isn't really surprising considering his prison inactivity and lack of anything close to competitive action since the Ruddock rematch five years earlier.

Douglas just had the better of him from start to finish. Tyson went out on his shield in that one as far as I'm concerned. Same with Lewis, really, even though Tyson could have gotten up in that one. But what was the use? Being realistic is the not the same as being weak.

He failed in these fights because the opponent was the better man on the night - tactically and physically. I don't see where Tyson let himself down mentally in an otherwise winnable fight. The fights just wasn't winnable, at least not on those particular nights.

But, yes, the Holy rematch was uphill but not a lost cause when Tyson fouled himself out. But the same can be said of "No Mas" and I don't hear Duran being called a mental midget.

 

The Tyson haters have arrived!

I'll say this: If Octavio Meyran had a clue in that 8th round in Tokyo, Tyson would be considered the poster boy for a huge heart/incredible comebacks.

 

I also have a feeling that Mike never was confident in his stamina. When his initial bursts didn't do the job he clearly seemed to be pacing himself. Either he'd eventually find an opening, like he did against Thomas and Ruddock, or he'd be happy to go the distance and win a clear decision, like he did against Smith, Tucker and the Ruddock rematch.

 

Good point too.

 

Tyson should get full marks for giving it his all in all his defeats and not lacking heart. That no one can accuse him off.

 

While I don't think the ref's performance had anything to do with it since Douglas was clearly following the count from early on and waiting to get up at nine, which he did, I do agree that Tyson's show of heart in this fight gets severely underrated. He was taking a pasting but never gave up. Not much more you can ask for in terms of courage.

 

Tyson doesn't have to talk about his career, the interviewers and fan will just ask him questions and he will answer. Lewis on the other hand has to promote his fights, defend critics about fighting his main competitors when they were over the hill, the controversial fight vs Vitali and why did he not give the rematch, not fighting Bowe for the rest of his life.

At the end of the day people are coming to Tyson for movies, documentaries, interviews, mobbing him in arcades, sporting events whereas Lewis is like an irrelevant Klitishko of that era.