:rofl He was so mentally weak that he became the undisputed champ and had one of the best HW runs as champ, went to prison got out 4 yrs later and became champ again, yeah he was mentally weak.
I still maintain Tucker would have beat him if it wasn't for his hand injury in the 4th, but that had nothing to do with Tyson's will.
There's a documentary on youtube that features an interview with Kevin Rooney while Tyson was in jail and he straight out says that physically Tyson was as perfect a fighter as you'd ever see, but mentally he was very weak and easily lead-astray. Some of the interesting insights revealed during his amateur days (from Teddy Atlas) was his fear of the opponent and even if he was absolutely dominating his corner would have to almost comfort him that he was doing the right thing and the crowd were cheering for him. In the early days, Cus, Atlas, Rooney etc would keep him focused during fights, but without a strong-minded person in his corner Tyson regurarily wilted. If it wasn't for his freakish natural ability he may have more losses on his career. I think Tyson may have lost on points to Tucker and Smith if he didn't have his corner keeping him focused over 12 rounds, with their frusterating defensive tactics. If anybody can track it down and post the link, Rooney is quoted something along the lines: "Here we have Mike Tyson the best heavyweight in the world, but instead we have Michael Moorer as champ and Tyson sitting in jail."
No hater, today's era is much worse, furthermore no one in today's shitty era has become undisputed champ as Wlad, Vitali, and Haye all hold a portion of the title.
A 20 year old man does not win a portion of the heavyweight title and then soon after unifying them, all while being weak willed.
Yes. The will you saw until 1988 came from Cus D'Amato and Kevin Rooney, not from Mike himself. Without that spiritual connection to Cus, his will to win (and train) disappeared.
Calling a Tyson weak willed is like calling a Lion weak clawed...you will only understand how strong they really are until you wet your pants after seeing them in person.