Say Tyson got a lucky Break against Douglas and Moran waived it off in the 8th...

Probably furthers his belief that he's totally invincible.

REASON: Because Tyson didn't train for Douglas as hard as he would against a title holder, or anyone (if he was with Cus). He would have said to himself "Wow, I barley trained and I STILL beat this guy" Then he would have proceeded to do his half ass trainings until he'd get a wake up call later on in his career.

 

Hed have been upset by somebody else , he was still on a destruct and destroy mission ,unfortuanately of himself,a car crash waiting to happen,surrounded by sycophants telling him how great he looked.

 

It would be one of the most controversial stoppages of all time, and people would argue bitterly to this day that Douglas was robbed of the title. They would probably have had a rematch, and if Douglas took enough inspiration from the first fight and prepared like a champion again, he'd probably win. If not, Holyfield/Tyson after a Douglas rematch may be somewhat even odds, depending on whether or not Tyson buckled down on his training. I'd lean towards Holyfield.

 

tyson was arguably robbed i mean i count to 12 everytime i see buster take that uppercut. I dont think you can make a reasonable arguement that buster beat the count, cuz he really didnt.

 

I think Holy would've taken him.

If anything, a Tyson come-from-behind KO might have motivated Evander to train harder than he might have already.

 

I see your point.

But I think Buster could've beaten the count even if it was the 10 seconds AND survived the round. He didn't seem that hurt.

 

Douglas listened to the ref, and rightly so. If the ref bungled (and he did) it's immaterial. Douglas just took advantage of a slip up.

I chose option #1.

Tyson was slipping at this point. Even in the Bruno and Williams fights there were signs (small ones) that all was not well.
When I say slipping, I don't mean physically. His head just wasn't screwed on right anymore. He didn't have the focus or the drive of the Rooney era Tyson. Tyson was essentially directionless at this point, even though his talent was still covering up the cracks.
His corner for the Doulgas fight was pathetic to say the least, and chances are he would have kept them for the Holyfield fight as well.

I don't think the Douglas fight would have been a wake-up call either. Tyson probably would have seen the fight as something of a freak, and believed in his power all the more because of the KO. (Which is what he did post prison, which largely led to his ultimate downfall.)
He would, in my mind, have merrily carried on to self-destruction.

 

Interesting topic. I reckon he'd probably continue to believe that he was unbeatable. If his next title defence against Holyfield had gone ahead, Evander would've beaten him at that stage regardless.

 

I would guess that he'd go into a fight with Holyfield or Ruddock with massive confidence, doesn't bother training again and continues his bad habits, and promptly gets pounded to a loss.

 

If Tyson got a break and won the fight against Douglas, he probably would have fought, Holyfield, Bowe and possibly Razor Rudduck. Tyson was actually supposed to fight Rudduck in Edmonton before the Douglas fight but that was called off because Tyson was complaining of chest pain and bronchitis. It would have been a bit premature for Lennox to get a shot a Tyson, but definitely Holyfield and Ruddock would have been good fights after beating Douglas.

 

I agree with you 100% in that if/when someone got to Tyson when he was at/near his heyday, they would have had to put in what would most probably be a career-best performance.

Despite some people's view, Mike is more intelligent than he's given credit for, especially when it comes to boxing. If Douglas-Tyson was stopped in the eighth, then I feel Mike would have knuckled down & trained accordingly thereafter.

Dare I say it, if the fight would have been stopped in round 8, Tyson, coming so near to defeat, may have took the hurdle of having Kevin Rooney back as trainer. For me, because Tyson actually lost, rather than coming very close to losing, I think that took something away from him & he was never ever, the same again.

In my view, Tyson either does things 100% or he doesn't do them at all. He's a person of extemes. I don't think there any in between with Mike's personality.

BTW, I think there's definately merit that the fight should have been halted in round 8. Douglas was definately down for more than ten seconds & the referee & timekeeper's counts were different.