Tysons Legacy Defining Fight

Doubt it.

Yes, Spinks was cashing in on the hoopla just like he did with Cooney. But he beat Holmes twice, embarrassed Cooney and in his own career defining fight destroyed the underrated Steffan Tangstad...

...:deal



Many important people in the game were picking Spinks to win. Tyson was at the height of his career in 1988. It was his peak performance and there was nothing on the horizon as the division got stale.

 

Ruddock would probably lose to Spinks. I dont know where your coming from, Ive never said it was a worthless win, but even Ruddock himself has admitted the Tyson fights took everything out of him if you want to talk about it. Obviously Lewis wasnt on the level of Mike Tyson when he beat Ruddock, he went on to struggle with Bruno and get knocked out by Mcall so whats your point?

 

That Spinks wouldnt of even beat Bruno - There is a reason that Spinks performed the worst out of all of Tysons opponents - the same reason he never fought again - He was washed up and pressured out of retirement.

That is your blinkered opinion about Tyson being a level above Lewis - common opponents prove otherwise - Tyson struggled [and got a gift stoppage] against Ruddock, Lewis oblitorated him.
...........and here is where you use your biased conjectured spin, predictably claiming Ruddock was damaged goods, but using the double standard claiming Spinks was quality opposition even though he clearly wasnt and never fought again...

 

I would say Tyson was equally weary of Holyfield with his implications of Holyfield being on steroids and wanting him to take a drug test.

Holyfield danced his way into the ring against many opponents. Against Bowe, and I believe against Foreman. Was he scared against them?

The staredown of that first fight shows me there's nothing quite comparable to Holyfield's reaction to Tyson than Spink's.

 

Talk about double standards. Lewis struggled with Bruno and Tyson blew him out. :nut I dont know why you think I hate Lewis, I liked Lennox Lewis, but I dont think he was as good as Tyson was at his best thats all.

 

Scared was probably the wrong word, "doubt" is probably the correct one. I think both had it in the second fight, Holyfield because he knew and even stated Tyson would be better prepared, and Tyson I think was already full of doubt. Hold your ears.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6AWf1gChdA[/ame]

 

Yeah, I've never seen that. Although, I haven't seen Holyfield in all his fights before in the locker room. They say he did it in the 1st fight, and I saw his face in that staredown. So something switched if he ever had doubt in those moments. I wouldn't look too much into it, but that's a fair assessment I guess.

 

Chiming in...Tyson-Holyfield I in 1996, Holyfield was the one who lost the staredown. It was the reverse in the rematch.

 

Tyson was "scared" of a lot of guys too.
Foreman was "scared" of Frazier, and Dempsey was "scared" of Willard.
It's how you fight that counts, not how we describe the inner feelings.

Cus D'amato was one of those who has explained it best. Teddy Atlas understands it and has talked and written about it rather well too.

 

i agree if anything the fact spinks was scared of tyson shows that at that time tyson was some force !

 

Man, I gotta say that the spirit was with Holyfield that night. Tyson bit his ears and he didn't try to kill him.

But back to the original question, I think Lennox Lewis was Tyson's biggest fight. If he had won that fight and won the belts back, the losses to Holyfield and Douglas wouldn't matter. Everyone would say that "Iron Mike is back and focused." "Tyson is the The Best Ever." That kind of thing. The Lewis-Tyson fight was career-defining for both men.

 

Buster Douglas

Tyson was exposed, this was his career defining fight.

 

The Holyfield fights define Tyson

The brooding bully outbullied in the first then mentally broken in the second.

It was the moment when all the questions about how he would cope against another ATG - someone who wouldnt be kO'd in the first couple of rounds or be afraid.

I always remember Evander laughing and singing on his way to the ring - He knew that no one would beat him by bullying him.

Tyson would always lose when against a truly world class opponent - sadly his legacy is knocking down journeymen in spectacular fashion - which has led fanboy boxing fans to think he would get the same results agaisnt ATG opposition - which he clearly didnt

 

exactly

 

No, no, no......How can these fights define Tyson? He wasn't in his prime.

What Tyson's biggest fans need to realise, he would have been on the road to at least becoming an elite heavyweight if he pulled out the win against Douglas, whether he was out of shape or not. And after he came out of prison and got beat by Holyfield twice, winning the rematch would have significantly risen his legacy. Thats actually what being an elite great involves - coming back to beat fighters when out of shape or pulling off big wins when slightly past your best.

Ali would have had many excuses during the 1970's if he lost against Foreman, Frazier in their 3rd fight, and also the likes of Shavers when he was in his late 30's. Also, Ali had more rounds under his belt than Tyson coming into his early 30's, and was in far more 'life and death' struggles with the likes of Frazier, Norton, and later against the likes of Young and Shavers. Both questionable decisions in 1976 and 1977 against Young and Shavers, with Ali's chin holding up to at least get him to the scorecards when he was a shell. Not crumbling to the floor.

People go on about Tyson sleeping with hookers before the Douglas fight. Hell, Ali had sex with lots of women in training camp. When Holmes was Ali's sparring partner he clearly stated that Ali couldn't keep his snake in his underwear. Holmes also said that Ali hardly trained for the Foreman fight. Not sure if thats true. However, Ali slept with lots of women in his training camps for fights. Thats pretty much common knowledge if you know much about Ali.