Whenever I see these threads I wonder one thing. What if Buster would have been counted to 10 after that knockdown and Mike would have been declared winner by TKO. Just hypothetically. Nobody here would even dare to think Mike wasn't at his best that night. But Buster didn't stay down. He got up and gave Tyson some of his own medicine and then some. And Mike couldn't take it. And then people argue "Oh look Tyson wasn't at his best". I call BS on that. This is not about prime or not prime. This is about being beaten by man who happened to be better that specific night. Period.
I think the question is intended as, if Mike's head was in the right place, and he wasn't complacent, or distracted And under those circusmtances, I think he wipes Douglas out.
He might of been in his prime but he wasn't prime for that fight, he took training camp easy thinkning it would be an easy win. A real prime Tyson would of beaten Douglas.
An 85-88 Tyson was superb at slipping taller fighters jabs...& i think a motivated properly trained tyson could have finished buster, but mike said himself he was out with hookers n partying while in japan instead of training, so he paid the price....All credit to buster!
No, it ended after Spinks. Tyson didn't fight any better against Bruno than he did with Douglas. He started ballooning up to 280 lbs. between fights. Sooner or later, someone was going to get him.
Tyson was obviously not in his prime. Carl The Truth put him through Hell and ruined him prior to Douglas, even though Mike got the W. He was bailed out by an early stoppage.
this can only say peoply who never busy with Tyson. Tyson trained two weeks for this fight and had many, many life problems with woman etc.. at this point at his career he underrated his oppenents and overratet him self! Rooney said Tyson was feted in Tokjo and trained barely.. a week bevor the Fight Tyson was 10 KG to heavy Yes he was 24 years old and in his prime with his Bodypysic but his head was far away from primetime!
You've just massively contradicted yourself there. I'm sorry, but with people saying he was past prime at 23 (or 22 if you read some other posts), to me, that shows a complete and utter lack of focus and dedication. This thread is littered with "his head wasn't right", "he was blowing up between fights", "he wasn't that good v Bruno". He was 23 years old. 23 FFS. Absolutely he lost focus. Without doubt, and I agree with your reasoning on why. But that doesn't mean he had focus. It means just that he crammed a lot of fights into a short time frame, before he lost it.
to me "Prime Mike" and "Prime Years" are 2 separate entities. Prime Mike was the guy who had something to prove, the Mike who was hungry to be the GOAT, the Mike who KO'd Spinks in the 1st round, the Mike with no mental obstacles and in top physical condition. Prime Years is an era in his career where Prime Mike dwelled even thoe Prime Mike wasn't always there. Just my 0.02