Thats the point ive always made about TT....i think he was very competent.His father loused up his career to a large degree.. selling bits of him for upfront cash...until TT owned nothing of himself .Tony was paid just under a million dollars for the Tyson fight....he saw 28 grand !
Just a whole load of lost potential, he had the size, skill, chin i think what was missing was the desire/balls....
Always interested in Tony as a fighter from way back, Markclitheroe, very underrated yet somewhat an enigma.There was an interview with Emanuel Stewart, on here or another site, where he was talking about how the US Olympic Team in 1984 would have done well against the Cubans since many of them were in Kronk sparring, among them Biggs against Tony and Pernell Whitaker sparring with Hector Camacho, which was another story altogether.He didn't say how the spar between Tyrell and Tony went, but I would like to know myself.:good
FranknFrank, your post was comprehedable this time! Though you regressed a bit at the end. So you CAN write in a way where the vast majority of us do not miss everything you say, because it is either impossible or prohibitively difficult for us to discern. And you had a very good analysis. Keep making the effort, if you care that others know what you are writing!
Tucker is the guy whose abilities were much, much better than his resume shows. He never went down against prime Tyson and won few rounds. Past prime drug-addicted Tucker wend distance vs Lewis and won 4 rounds I believe. Tucker had chin, skills, size and stamina. He was very good HW. However, his list of quality wins is very short. It's Buster Douglas, Oliver McCall, Orlin Norris, James Broad and completely shot Young who lost 4 fights in a row. Tucker's management matched him extremely carefully till title shot. And he missed most of prime years because of drugs. So he's one of 80's HW's who didn't reach their potential.
Don't be idiota! Tyson was only a 21 years old (inexperienced young fighter) aginst Tucker.(Bad excuse). Show me other good 21 year old fighter nowadays ! This very young age was a big disadvantage for Tyson. Tucker was 28 years old against Tyson.He wasn't old.28 years is ideal age for a heavyweight fighter. Obviously Tyson fought older fighters again and again in his prime because he's the youngest heavyweight champion ever. What do you expect? Prime Tyson vs. 3 years old kids? Tucker was a reigning IBF champion this fight was a logical thing. Lewis,Holyfield or Holmes and Tucker were crap very young fighters but this their faults. - Tucker landed punches , it's true.I think this was the HBO punchstat. Landed punches:216-174 for Tyson (Comparsion: landed punches: Lewis- Mercer 235-223 for Lewis, Mercer was fat and 35 years old, beaten 3 times before the Lewis fight. - for example the 42 years old Holmes beat the unbeaten Mercer. ) -All in all your stupid Tyson-Tucker age blah-blah sucks.
Tony had hurt his hand, but still had to take the fight.He had strong boxing ability, and in the right situation, could've beaten Tyson.
Good fighter. Good contender. Perhaps a top 5 heavyweight (potentially) if you round up all the 80's guys...certainly top 10. Tall, mobile, durable...unambitious. He gave a career-best performance against Tyson and that is the Tucker that most remember, but he was often not nearly as good as he was that night. Even so, I was quite impressed with his resillience against Lennox, where he fought back after being dropped and made Lennox look rather ordinary, while being past his best himself. For me, he was extremely fortunate to get the nod over the much smaller Orlin Norris when they fought the first time. But yeah, good fighter. Another 80's guy that could have been better than he ultimately was.
Tyson Tucker would of beaten 93' Lewis imo. The washed up version still moved well enough to make Lewis cross over his own feet a few times. That was a good win for Tyson. It takes a lot of skill and talent to come forward as a small guy and beat a big man like that.