Was Tyson Mentally Weak?

even with cus in the picture, tyson had little discipline. he was never repermanded when he got in trouble in school. tyson always did what he wanted to do and it later got him into more trouble then he could have ever imagined

 

IMO if cus had got Tyson instead of Patterson, in other words when cus was young

Tyson would be consensus ATG as he would have discipline

teddy atlas said cus let tyson of the hook as cus didnt have alot of time left and wanted tyson to acheive things fast and didnt think he ould need discipline to achieve it quick

but imagine if cus had disicplined him with tyson going inot all fights at a peak he would have been an ATG

 

If we study his earlier fights such as Trevor Berbick, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tubbs, etc. We see a guy who's doing a lot more bobbing, weaving, jabbing, throwing combos etc. By the first Bruno fight, there seemed to be a lot more holding back and waiting for open opportunities. Frankly, I think that Jay Bright and Aron Snowel took a very " if it ain't broke, don't fix it, " type of approach and resulted in his skills diminishing. Rooney and D'amato were true students and believers of the old school. A tradesman keeps various tools in his tool box for a reason, and if you don't use em' you lose em'.

 

i have heard taht afew times and i can see where your coming from

i dont personally think that i just think he never grew up and didnt have discpline

but you could easy be right

btw tyson is supposed to be a real nice guy if you meet him so that could explain if he had a dual personality or sudden mood swings

 

Amen. What a disconnect, right? Like the Woody Allen movie "Sleeper" where he wakes up and has no idea how to live in the world.

So with Mike you got a guy (boy), who never grew up, and what's more the butt naked emperor was constantly being complimented on his high fashion wardrobe. Happens everywhere I guess. But in America, in the worlds of sports and entertainment, it's rampant.

 

look at all the young champions they always all go off the road at one point

wilfred benitez
aaron pryor
etc...

 

incidentally, the first bruno fight is the first time you saw vulnerability in tyson as bruno rocked but again, its an example of a man who no longer was concerned with head movemant and haveing a balanced attack tot eh body and head. tyson really relied on good trainiers like rooney and cus because he was too young and simple to understand that ko power along was going to sustain his championship reign.

 

Yeah he was. He was spoon fed opponents to build his confidence, much like Patterson was. And as time wore on, he believed in his own press and did okay, until Douglas. After that I dont think he ever quite believed in himself again. After his retirement following his loss to McBride, I remember him saying "My career was over in 1990". I think its an accurate statement.

 

yeah, because tyson had the gifts to bea able to fight, he used that to do what he felt like. cus pampered to an extent and it resulted in a completely meltdown for tyson later on. its truly a shame.

 

Guys with deep, unaddressed psychological issues will sooner or later unravel. It's in its way, healthy. It's part of the natural healing process. It happens in every walk of life, but when it happens to a fighter, while he's in the ring, it can be a big problem.

 

he got too arrogant because of his knockout power. cus always taught him let the knockout happen naturally, not to chase after it. pateitn agressiveness. by 89' tyson had abandoned all of that.

 

In 1985-1986, men like Jesse Ferguson, Jose Ribalta, Marvis Frazier, James Tillis and Mitch Green were not exactly hand picked opponents for an 18-19 year old kid who only stood 5'11". Those guys are hardly what I would have called cherry picking.

 

at his best, tyson can give any atg a run for their money, at his worst, well you saw him at his worse in tokyo 1990

 

they were hard opponents

fighting them at such a young age led him to his metoric rise

 

Tyson had the confidence of a bully and a front runner who knew in his heart that he was better than everyone else. However, when he met opposition that could really stand up to him, take it and give it right back, his confidence got shattered, and you saw his weak inner mind come out, particularly via fouls.

That said, I don't want to totally get in on the anti-Tyson bandwagon. Although I think Holyfield had a better mind and always believed that he could win a fight, even when he was losing, no matter what the odds or punishment, I think that was only WHILE HE WAS FIGHTING IN THE RING AT THE TIME OF THE FIGHT.

OUTSIDE THE RING, I too think Evander had a weakness that not many address enough. He had a weak mind in that he didn't really believe that he could win without the help of steroids and human growth hormone. Therefore, he did not have the great mind or confidence of guys of yesteryear who fought and won without cheating.