Ty Biggs.11 Aug 1984 and setting the record straight.

Biggs' chapter in the Facing Tyson book was one of my favourites. I especially liked the bit where he was sitting at a table drawing (apparently pretty good) sketches for the author.
He may not have much now and may live in modest surroundings, but .00001 % of the population on this planet have ever achieved something as significant as winning a gold medal at the Olympics.

No matter what happens to him in life, whatever failings he may have had in the pro ring, he can always be proud of that. And it wasn't by luck or fluke; it earned with hard work, talent, sweat and probably a few tears.

 

Well, going by Deontay Wilder's schedule, quite a few years.

In fairness though, Tyson was at his peak here and Biggs probably never would have been ready enough. Who was back then?

I'll say this though: if heart and guts won titles, Biggs would have been a world champion. Fighting with a broken collar bone? Gawd almighty. The pain must have been unimaginable.

 

From which horse's mouth?

Mike Tyson didn't fight as a super heavyweight when he was an amateur. He fought in the national golden gloves in 1983 and 1984, and competed in the Trials and the Box-offs as a heavyweight, not a super heavyweight.

At the Trials, Tyson beat three guys (including Henry Milligan) before losing to Henry Tillman in the final. Then he was invited to compete in the box-offs, WHICH TOOK PLACE A MONTH LATER, where he had one more shot at Tillman. If Tyson won, he and Tillman would've fought a third time to decide who went to the Olympics. But he lost to Tillman in their second fight, so Henry got the call to go to the Olympics.

That's how it was done.

And Tyson didn't look "weight-drained" for the Golden Gloves, the Trials or the Box-offs. He made weight for all his fights. If you are weight drained in the amateur ranks, you can usually make weight once, but you can't do it for a two-week tournament.

You also don't qualify for the Olympics by boxing someone in a different weight class in a private box-off.

Biggs qualified for the Olympics by winning in the Trials and winning the Box-offs. Tyson wasn't involved in anything that had to do with Tyrell Biggs.

And I also don't know what you mean by Phoenix. The Olympic training camp for boxers was in Colorado Springs, not Phoenix. The Trials were in Fort Worth, Texas. The Box-Offs were in Las Vegas.

And Tyson's anger for Biggs was fueled by the fact that Biggs was a jerk who treated a lot of people badly. He was the best American Super Heavyweight. He won the World Championships in 1982 and Olympic Gold in 1984 at Super Heavyweight. He thought he was going to be great. He insulted Larry Holmes in the gym to Holmes' face when Holmes was training Bonecrusher Smith. He made fun of Tyson for not making the Olympic Team, when Tyson was congratulating some other fighters who he got along with.

Biggs wasn't a very popular guy at all and wasn't afraid of anybody, probably because he was coked out of his head a lot of times. But Biggs didn't make Tyson lose weight and fight at heavyweight. That was where Tyson always fought.

 

:good