Was Tyson Mentally Weak?

thats a common misconception that people get about tyson. if you saw that ruddock fights you saw a guy with ruddock when when toe to toe with tyson trading bombs. and tyson porevialed, twice. so that line "all you had to do what stand up to tyson" is old and tired. and its just not factual. tyson had problems when he was getting outboxed and outmanuvered. he relied on power punching more then anything after the spinks fight so he became a fighter who was easy to figure out.

 

Bingo.

Tony Tubbs, Tony Tucker, Pinklon Thomas, Frank Bruno and Razor Ruddock all stood up to Tyson and were all much bigger men, yet he defeated all of them. Some of those guys were outjabbing him or landing big powerful shots within the opening round(s) of the fight and he found a way to slip the jab and either score a KO or regain control of the match enroute to a decision win. Most of these men were better career fighters than Douglas was as well. This misconception that any tall rangy fighter with halfway decent foot work and a good jab could beat Tyson no matter what his name was, is nonsense.

 

Above all he was a verry damaged individual and will always be so. I have done some work with young ofenders and can see some of the paterns. I think that if you ever tested his IQ it would come out well above average. Inteligent children born into that kind of background find outlets for their inteligence and they are often violent and disruptive.

Chinxkid summed it up better than I can. The guy was born into a background where past a certain age he was always going to be a timebomb waiting to go off.

I would hesitate to say that he was weak mentaly. I think he must have been able to discipline himself and overcome adversity to a substantial extent to get as far as he did. I cant interpret it any other way.

 

I disagree.

Lennox Lewis grew up in extreme poverty like Mike Tyson and so did Joe Louis.

The crucial difference is that they had good families.

Lewis and Louis's mothers put food on the table and brought them up to repect moral values, despite their horiffic suroundings, while Tysons mother brought him up in an abusive environment.

 

Good point. I too very much appreciate his performances against Ruddock, who was one hell of a big puncher, who took it and dished it back. But what I said, or meant, was that when a fighter gave Mike trouble, he couldn't just go about his business and overcome the challenge with hard work. Rather, he felt the need to cheat and foul, which I say displays lack of confidence, character, proper mental attitude.

Ruddock is a bit of a false example because Tyson was never behind in those fights, was the only one scoring the knockdowns, was generally giving Razor a beatdown, and most importantly, even all that said, because Razor fought back hard, Tyson still fouled him several times, including many low blows, for which I recall Mike losing a point or two. So, to a certain degree, I think that the insight into his foul character came out even in that fight.

 

I have never thought Mike Tyson was mentally weak, or was intimidated by any fighter. But he was easily fustrated, even in his Team Tyson days. And when he became fustrated, his sistimatic style would break down alittle bit. Quick Tillis did this to Mike Tyson, and also Bone Crusher Smith. Yes so Mike Tyson was far from Mentally weak, he came to fight. But near the end of his career, i believe anti-despresants had a serious affect on his mental aproach inside the ring. The only time i ever saw fear in Mike Tyson was pre Lennox Lewis, in the changing rooms.."when the ref was giving Mike Tyson the condition or rules or whatever" on the way to the ring you could see that Mike Tyson was trying to act as if, "I am still bad, still from the street" but it was forced body langauge. Also against Evander Holyfield in the rematch, Mike Tyson was fustrated because Evander Holyfield was immune to any kind of intimidation.

Watch his ring walks, against Razor Ruddock, Frank Bruno, Golota....

"That was not acting, that was for real"

Mike Tyson was not stupid and could manipulate fighters and the media. He saw no weakness in Lennnox Lewis's make up, so he decided to use the last resort. At the famous press con, Lennox Lewis made a massive statement. When he did'nt move......

When Mike Tyson came rushing towards him...and Lennox Lewis hit him back.

Massive statement.

The fight was a done deal, as early as that.

 

His mental toughness didn't match his physical toughness. When fighting someone who he couldn't knock out right away he seemed to get discouraged and it showed in the later rounds of some of his fights.

 

mr magoo, i think, just about all your post on this subject, are spot on..

its easy to forget, that a man who seemed invincible in the ring, was living in an emotionel mess.. because the baddest man on the planet, is offcourse indestructable..

by the time tyson was removed from his home and "normal" life, he was allready damaged goods.. these goods could be controlled in a certain amount of time, and perhaps only by very very few people.. those people dissapeared, when tyson might have needed them the most..

under those circumstances, it was inevitable, that some sort of breakdown would occur..

 

I think Tyson's got a bad a rap. While he doesn't compare with the likes of Johnson, Louis and Ali doesn't mean he´s weak. No weak minded minded sod stays in the middle of the ring like he did. Give him some f*cking credit, please.

It's a brutal sport, and while he didn't conduct himself like the true royalty of this sport did, it doesn't make him weak. If anyone has the cause to call him so, please tell my why.

 

Good observation.

No poster here and few fighters would be in a position to call him weak.

 

I think it's true that Tyson gets a bit of a bad rap, and sometimes held up to an extremely high standard where his mental abilities are concerned.

But, I think the reason for this is the desire to understand just what kept him from entering boxing royalty with the likes of Ali and Louis? I mean, the guy had all the tools to do it. SOMETHING held him back.

 

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. But my brother is currently serving time, and it's safe to say that when you've been damaged as a child, it's not as correctable as many may think. I was fortunate in the sense that I had the mechanisms to detail with some of our childhood issues, but it's not a given that two people experiencing the same set of circumstances will handle it in the same manner.

You can't really grow up in a normal environment if you were born under the circumstances Mike was, all you can do is handle it the best way possible. Many males express this in anger and that usually is not the best way but they need to either heal, or age, to understand that. And a certain percentage end up doing neither.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Van.

I will also ad to your points by saying that Mike grew up dealing with a lot more than just poverty and being at the mercy of the streets. He was not always the badass that he came to be known. He was beaten on daily as a young child at school, on the streets and even at home by his older brother Rodney. Studies have shown that bullying can do a lot of psycholigical damage to someone. In addition, he had no father, then lost his mother and sister at a young age. Cus D'Amato who took him in as a teenager and raised him practically as a son died when Mike was around 17 or 18. His long time trusted manager Jim Jacobs died not long after. This guy was orphaned more times than just about anyone I can think of.. Did he receive any counceling for his problem? No. He went from disturbia to hysteria and from rags to riches over night. That kind of rapid success is sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a young troubled individual. I haven't touched upon how he was a dropout at 14 and then later parted ways with Rooney when he was canned, or even his divorce to Givens....

People who have gone through far less than Mike Tyson have wound up murders or went to early graves themselves. Never mind showing up with their heads in the clouds for a freakin' boxing match.