Tyson was even with Douglas on the cards, going into the 10th...

2 words.

DON KING. Had Tyson went the 12 rounds, Tyson would have retain his title.

 

it has been a while since i saw the fight but didn't tyson land a terrific left hook to the body in round 3 that slowed down douglas? i gave that round to tyson. to give the benefit of the doubt to iron mike, based on original post i'll give round 6 too (i don't remember it myself). so for me it is: rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 are 10-9 douglas ; rounds 3 & 6 are 10-9 tyson; round 8 is 10-8 tyson. total tallies are 87 douglas, 84 tyson as my score card. douglas was clearly outclassing mike tyson - but it was still competitive. competitive in the sense a snake and mongoose fight - mongoose usually wins but til the second the snake is dead, it is always something to be dealt with utmost caution & skill by the opponent. otherwise, we all saw round 8.

it's damn near impossible to overestimate don king, but sometimes people overdramatize him. RELATIVELY it had less to do with don king (of course he had a part in it - we'll discuss that later) and more with the public perception of mike tyson. it was impossible to see him lose a fight, it was almost the same to see him lose a round! so the judges watched these rounds on the spot (hindsight is 20/20 - haven't you scored a fight while watching it in the heat of the moment and then rewatch later to wonder what you were smoking on a particular round? this especially happens with the sensation of pre-fights with tyson). the judges were probably psychologically affected by the tyson persona in the early rounds. as the midrounds came they couldn't help but notice reality -they shifted towards douglas, but was in the late rounds, close to end of fight - that persona of tyson unable to lose made them "rectify" their score cards before the final bell that was never to be.

the human mind is easy to manipulate. an average joe tells a good joke and then then something lame is told by david letterman and everyone thinks its funny (nevermind the people in the audience - they abide by the laugh / applause button). right now i'm sitting on a sealy-serta chair - thinking it would be super comfortable thanks to the sealy name. it fooled me until my back ached so bad after a day's use that i'll return this junk tomorrow. you see a tv ad for a brand name product and all of a sudden it is "better" than the generic, less familiar product. mike tyson was obviously that brand name product.

of course don king had a role in training the judges, doing the best he could to pick the right ones lol, and try to get sanctioning bodies to recognize tyson was winner after the fight. i'm not denying this. but the public persona of tyson was an even bigger factor. why else, was tyson rated 3-1 favorite in holyfield 2, despite clearly being outclassed by holyfield? i look back 10 yrs ago to the many excuses made for tyson (hell, i made excuses for him too) and see how ridiculous they were. it could be that i was 13 back then and 22 now ( a little older) and so this was not the cause for mature adults back then, but it could also be that the tyson mystique was strong in 1998 and has finally waned as he is inactive and i haven't seen a clip of him in action in years. lame excuses today appeared very reasonable back in the day (why else were these arguments like the head butts, not being ready, dirty tactics by holyfield, etc - such a big deal and yet outboxing, beating to the punch were not as important?). tyson was sensational and really got into the minds of the public. and the same will be said of future people 30 yrs from now who watch his tapes.

 

The judges may have been day dreaming at times. I don't know which rounds they gave to Tyson. Douglas should have been winning by a couple of rounds at least, but it doesn't matter. Douglas didn't have to wait for the score cards.

 

He "brought his own judge" so to speak

 

Exactly.

 

interestingly enough, I believe one judge had Julio Cesar Chavez ahead on the cards in his fight with Meldrick Taylor. Taylor was beating Chavez more handedly than Douglas was Tyson, and keep in mind the scoring was such even in the 12th round of the Chavez fight.

 

He did have to wait for his WIN though to be declear. King was in the back room with the judges trying to get the win overturn for a victory to Tyson. It took a LONG time for the time of the ko.

 

Even?? This is madness!

 

Tyson mystique or not... the judges are paid, professionals because they judge on performance (merit), not on their perceptions (or who which fighter they think is better). Its obvious that Morita was being paid off by king (or threatened in some way). Maybe the first round or two could have been scored even (or even for tyson.... while the judges were adjusting to how good Douglas was), but to have tyson ahead at the end of 9 rounds is absolutely ridiculous.

 

Tyson didn't do that bad in the fight. He got his butt whooped, but he did catch Douglas with some nice shots, a few left hooks to the head, some body shots, right hands, and of course the monstrous uppercut in the 8th round. It was a competitive fight, not close, but not a complete shutout either.

 

I'm surprise you didn't knw that Chris. I always thought it was widely known as more King shananigans. Whenever I watch one of his bull**** cards I seldom enjoy it, as I constantly think the non-Don fighter will be shafted unless he wins by KO...or if he's King finally realises he can't make much dough with him anyway (e.g. Ruiz-Valuev).

I agree that the judges in question should be banned but King would still find them work regardless. Remember when a ban was administered to Marcos Torres after his terrible scoring of Lockridge-Gomez? Still, a year later he was granted his licence back. His first big fight? Witherspoon-Bruno of course. Good old bog-brush head, always looks after his pals. :good

 

It was the WBC, Jose Sulaiman's band of CROOKS, and Sulaiman in particular.
The alphabet organizations are the scum of boxing because they put on a facade of legitimacy.

The judges who judged Tyson to be winning were obviously being directly paid to do so, or were lowlife career opportunitists doing it to "get ahead", or were men who had money on Tyson.
They must have been doing it for some sort of PERSONAL GAIN, I dont buy that they were seduced by Tyson's reputation - we all were, but we could all see Tyson was losing big. The TV announcers had no trouble seeing what was happening either.