Tyson vs Tucker segement on ESPN. Did you know.

Tyson didn't struggle, he cruised to an easy decision. Tuckers offensive desire was embarassing (as per usual). He gave up early on and it was one way traffic after the first few rounds. Tucker would've lost decisively in any case broken hand or otherwise, he was lucky to have won two rounds of that fight. Thomas and Tubbs may have been sparked out but at least both of them tried to fight.

 

No, it's a myth that only comes to life because ******s like Bert Sugar want attention by re-writing history in a sensational way.

Holmes' jab said it all. Tucker had great physical talent, but lacked that fire and desire that all champions need. He stunned Tyson with a left uppercut but other than that, he ate more punches than he landed. I didn't see a big decline in his use of the right hand more than his left, Tyson beat him mentally and was even out-jabbing him at times as the fight progressed. Tucker won a few rounds early on, but it was a pretty lopsided 9-3 or 9-2-1 like decision on my card.

I don't really see what's so special about Tucker's effort. The fact that he stunned Tyson is a nice feat, but it happened early (sometimes fighters get shocked early before they set in with it, watch Calzaghe vs Hopkins). Other than that, he wasn't that competitive and fought to survive most of the time. To draw a parallel, i would compare it to the recent Wlad-Thompson fight, except for the KO. Thompson won a few rounds early on but other than that, was outclassed, just like Tucker was.

 

Tucker was hardly in command. I had it all square at 2-2 in rounds after the fourth and couldn't give Tucker a single round after that. From the very start it was clear that he turned up to survive and the hell with taking the fight to Tyson at least a bit.

 

Tucker was a decent contender. He hurt Tyson early and Tyson became much less effective after that. It's one way traffic but Tyson is discouraged. The fight tells us more about Tyson's so-called invincibility than anything Tucker ever was.

 

I agree. He had a good chin too and was an awkward enough opponent, but everything else strikes of mediocrity and "how on earth was he able to get umpteen title shots" :huh

 

The fact people call the first fighter to land a flush punch on mike tyson despite tyson not moving as "tyson getting badly stunned by tucker uppercut" shows you just how invinsible tyson was in his prime, and how good his defense and chin were. before douglas fight, no one ever came close to flooring him.


tyson beat tucker a clear 9-3 decision, it wasnt close and tucker was not ahead on points entering the 5th round, tyson in his prime showed he could put up a strong workrate and outpoint a much taller skilled foe down the strectch 12 hard rounds.

 

I disagree a bit here. What was it, the first round Tucker hurt Tyson in yet he still won this fight absolutely going away and he actually fought pretty well and showed decent patience against a man barely trying to win. Tucker (a big man too) fought a defensive spoiling fight and we can see worse efforts during their peak from the likes of Holmes, Lewis, Holyfield, Foreman and just about any other heavyweight (or most non heavyweights for that matter) one wants to name. If Tucker fought harder i am quite sure he would have perished.

 

A contender like Tucker, a decent one, yes, but that's all he was, goes the distance against a mythical 'prime' invincible Tyson and loses what seems like a consensus 9-3. So how comes most of the greats when pitted in H2H match ups get blown away by the same Tyson?

They've only got to do 3 rounds better than the average Tucker to get a draw?

What the fight shows is that Tyson was never invincible. He was a formidable offensive fighter when the other guy froze, played into his game plan or was not that durable.

 

The prime reason Tucker lasted the duration is cause he had a very good chin around that time of his career (I'll avoid using 'prime' - a misleading term in this case; cause it would suggest he was actually good at some stage. Which he wasn't).

An intesrting thing is that Smith: a better fighter than Tucker was even more cautious. Perhaps Tyson deserves at least a wee bit of credit for outpsyched some of his opponents. Of course Tyson wasn't unbeatable, but he comprehensively defeated all opponents in his first title run, until the Douglas derailment. It was pretty good opposition too for the most part.

 

I dont think Tyson was hurt at all by the uppercut. Tucker actually lifted Tyson off his feet with that punch and Tyson kept coming forward. He wasnt discouraged or anything. He won that fight easily. Everyone has an excuse for losing when the bottom line is he LOST and not by a close margin either.

 

I have it on tape and recently watched it. I didn't see Tucker having a real lead going into the 4th/5th, maybe by a round but Tucker was using up a lot of energy dancing from Tyson and fighting Tyson breaks you down. If he didn't break his hand he probably would of won a couple more rounds but still would of lost. This wasn't Tysons best fight, not making excuses but he admitted to taking Tucker light and not training as intensly as he did against say Berbick or Spinks.

Tucker was a real good fighter though. He fell to drugs and poor management but he could of been the clear number 2 behind Tyson for the era had he kept his head straight. He was super durable, going the distance with Lewis years later when he was well past his best and had all of the tools.

 

Yeah, it was a monster uppercut that sent him back and up but he wasn't stunned or hurt.

It showed how freakishly good Tyson was at taking big punches.

 

I think you're overreacting a bit. Marciano lost at least 3 rounds to LaStarza. Lewis lost 4 rounds to Mercer. Holmes lost 5 rounds to Witherspoon and Weaver.Louis lost some rounds to Farr. All of these men were good contenders and i don't see how losing a hand ful or rounds to them is somehow a black mark on their career.

A guy fighting to survive as Tucker did, who also has a great chin, is capable of lasting the distance. That doesn't take anything away from Tyson. Only in movies does boxer go 50-0 with 50 KO's. No matter how good a puncher you are, there's always someone out there who has a great chin and wants to last the full 12 or 15. And they don't have to be greats; top contenders are a tough cookie for anyone, all time great or not. Bonavena went the distance with Frazier, Young with Foreman, Gibbons went 15 with Dempsey, etc etc.