For me it has to be Mike Tyson - his prime era was so short For me 86-89 were his best years, particulary 88-89 where he was unstoppable. But thats it really, he was a shadow of his former self in the 90s after jail He still had that presense and a great punch but all his head moving, jabbing and speed had gone. Im struggling to think of dominant fighters who had such short primes
It has to be Tyson ooooooorrrrrrrrr Tyson just wasn't that good in the first place, as soon as he was found out he was shot according to his fanboys
Zab Judah is a good call. Can't really point my finger on why he never fulfilled his potential. He was awesome at his peak but his peak didn;t last very long either. I think Zab has the skills but his boxing brain/heart is very immature
'89 was the tail-end of Tyson's prime. Bruno hurt him and he was clearly becoming a headhunter, which signified that things had changed. That being said, Tyson did go 2-0 that year scoring stoppages over Bruno and Carl Williams so you have to lump it into his prime and what a prime it was.
Ye I agree. Prison definately changed Tyson, and the fact he got rid of his trainer controbuted a lot I think, plus Don King and his people around Tyson. Early Tyson was a machine, but he was always well mannered and well spoken It seems when he got the wrong people round him and filled his head with how good he was and how bad he was that he started to beleive his own hype and cracked. He started being arrogant, disrespectful and nasty. Whetehr jail did this to him who knows.... Edit - I think it was before jail, there were signs in the Bruno fight (first), plus his head was clearly going as he was convicted of ****!
Or he just looked good against limited opposition, and as soon as someone found out how to box him (Douglas) he was suddenly shot !! Sorry but I have never bought the Tyson myth
There have been so many reasons given to explain Tyson's career trajectory but the truth is that he just didn't care about the sport anymore after the original Team Tyson fell apart. Yeah, the Robin Givens and Don King circus didn't help but Tyson started to have a love/hate relationship with the sport after he beat Spinks and a lot of that was due to his out-of-the-ring problems. Bruno and Williams just weren't good enough to expose it. The wins over Ruddock in '91 were solid but even still, Tyson looked like a guy who was just doing a job. If there was fire, it came in short bursts. Ruddock was crude and his punches can be seen from a mile away. Even still, he was able to land many of them. Tyson was just mystique by that point. The wins over Tillman, Stewart, McNeely, Mathis, and the others were all to preserve the mystique, which boxing insiders had known for years was gone.
He probably could have done what he did to Berbick in November of '86 earlier in the year. He had a meaningless fight right before it. Just a tune-up I guess. Since he won the title in '86 you gotta count it. Most do.