Tysons Career Without The Prison Sentence

Although the prison sentence helped the decline in Tysons skill and more importantly, i believe Tyson lost his fighting guts in prison, i do feel the prison sentence also lengthened his career.

Yes he made more money (and blew even more) and he also won 2 belts, but i felt Tyson damaged his legacy after prison. And i feel he was only a belt holder pre prison, the best heavyweights were Bowe, Lewis and Holyfield and Tyson was just living off past glories.

Look at the response of Tyson after the Douglas loss, he got himself into tremendous shape and called out the most feared man in heavyweight boxing at the time in Razor Ruddock. Tyson had been accused of ducking Ruddock for years, before the Douglas loss, Tyson fought Ruddock back to back. How many fighters can say they fought a dangerous fighter in his prime, twice, back to back? Now look at the post prison Tyson, he loses to Holyfield and then goes off on a whinge and takes on **** poor opposition until hes plucked off the sidelines for Lewis to cement his legacy. I think the most vital thing that Tyson lost in prison was desire. I also feel his punch resistance had decreased as well, against Ruddock Tyson hardly flinched, against Holyfield, Tyson was flinching even after Holyfields jabs, now Holyfield is nowhere near the puncher Ruddock was. Flinching to me is normally a sign of decrease in punch resistance and/or lack of quality sparring.

Most of his post prison fights were a circus act. The only fights where i give Tyson credit were his losses to Holyfield 1/Lewis, those were probably the only fights where Tyson put in any genuine effort.

The Mcneely fight was a farce, Mathis made Tyson look silly, Bruno didnt even do anything except grab, Seldon fell down from a none existent punch.
Botha made Tyson look like a fool for 5 rounds and even mocked him throughout the fight, Tyson was lucky he wasnt DQd against Norris and even he was outboxing Tyson. Norris a guy Tyson would have normally demolished in 1 round. The Golota fight where Golota just walked out mid fight and Tyson tested positive for drugs, The Holyfield ear bite fight. The Savarese fight where Tyson carried on fighting and even punched the ref and then the Francis fight was probably the first time Tyson had fought that level of opposition since Tillman about a decade earlier.

Seems like each fight rubbed Tysons name in more mud.

Tysons pre prison record was 42-1-0, his post prison record was something like 10-6-2

Had Tyson not gone to prison, i feel he would have been finished by about 1996, with all the wars and rematches.

He would have had at least 2 fights with Holyfield, one with Foreman, two with Bowe, probably Moorer and Mercer and Morrison. I reckon hed have been a complete spent force by 95-96 (which is when Lewis probably gets a hold of him)

I think pre prison Tysons legacy was given genuine appraisal by critics, even after the Douglas loss, pre prison Tyson was genuinely a great fighter. Post prison Tyson was overrated to high heaven which then set him up for a huge fall against Holyfield and Tyson couldnt live up to the hype. Post prison Tyson was a bully, living off his past glories and basically thinking his name would strike fear into hearts.

But by going to prison, i think the boxing public 'forgot' that Tyson was already on the slide pre prison, people were so glad he was back and his easy knockouts over poor competition really fooled people into believing he was back. The irony is that the 'bums' Tyson fought in Mcneeley and Mathis put up much more courageous efforts than the 2 'champs' in Bruno and Seldon.

In 1995, he returned, missed all the fun fare of the early 90's, got some easy quick wins and was undeservedly (imo) catapulted to the top of the division.

He was ranked no2 by the WBC.....after beating Mcneeley.

This then set up him for a big fall against Holyfield.

Had Tysons second career been managed properly ala Foremans, fighting bums, journeymen, guys that will give him rounds and shake off the rust. I think Tyson may have performed better against Holyfield around 98ish. Im not saying he would have won, but hed have done much better.

In their 96 outing Tyson was gassing after about 4 rounds and looking to the ref for help as early as round 3 (normally signs of having no bottle)

Tysons own comments in an SI magazine (on a previous thread) were, "i knew i wasnt ready for the fight, but i needed the money, Don King dangled a large amount in front of me and i took it. I dont care if he was shot (Holyfield), at least he was active and not rotting in prison. Even then i took a 11 round beating before i was stopped. Can you imagine if he fought me at my best, look at what happened to the great Larry Holmes when he fought me after such a long inactivity. I still think i could have beaten Holyfield."

What do you guys think? had Tyson not gone to prison, how would his career have turned out and when would he have been finished? With all due respect im not lookin for 'had Cus lived' stories, but genuine opinions of how things may have played out.

Kevin Rooney apparently did reach out to Tyson to train him after prison, but i think Tyson declined. The irony is that Don Turner (Holyfields trainer) was appraoched to train Tyson in early 2000 to which Turner replied, i wouldnt teach him anything new, i'd revert him to the program set by Kevin Rooney.

 

Beating Morrison, Mercer, Moorer may have looked slightly better than beating Seldon and Bruno and Mathis.

Put in a good losing effort to both Bowe and Holyfield might look better than the poor effort in 96 and the bite fight?

Just something to consider.

 

I reckon Tyson would have beat Holyfield at least in the first fight which would have been tough, then probably Holyfield makes adjustments and beats Tyson in a much easier fight. Tyson blasts Moorer in a couple of rounds Tyson then goes after Bowe and they share 1 a piece. Tyson then begins to look really faded against Mercer, then he blasts Morrison, beats up Mcall and a couple of bums. Post Ruddock i think still had a couple of big fights left in him.

I think Lewis/Tyson would have happened and played out kinda how it played out in real life, Tyson would be finished around 96-97ish and Lewis would be hitting his prime and they feed Tyson to Lewis.

The only guy who poses problems for Tyson is Holyfield, i think the 'Ruddock' Tyson can still handle the rest

A win over Bowe and/or Holyfield and Foreman would have looked good on Tyson and he was more than capable of this

There was a few different versions of post prison Tyson. I think he looked in amazing shape against Bruno, but then got a bit chubby after that until the second Holyfield fight. After that he just literally gave up. Turning up, giving lackluster performances but providing enough controversy to keep people interested in him.

I dont think he cared anymore, he himself admitted after the bite fight, he gave up the thought of ever being champion again.

He was just a fat turd by then, ready for the taking

 

Tyson ****s Mercer up

I dont see how King would set up Tyson vs Tucker 2....

Had Tyson not gone to prison there would be no Bruce Seldon. Especially not WBA champ Bruce Seldon. King would have made sure Tyson was constantly in the limelight.

Look how King got Tyson title shots for beating Mcneely.

 

Tyson wanted his belts back, i think the Douglas loss re-energised him (at least career wise) and he had his focus back.

Compare the 2 Press conferences for the Holyfields fights. In 91, Tyson says 'Holyfield is a great fighter, he has a great coach, im trianing hard for this fight, i know it wont be easy'

Fast forward to 96 'Holyfield is an old man, hes got nothing left, im going to enjoy this'

Totally different attitudes.