what contributed to tyson's fall in the ring?

i suppose this isn't a new thread, but here goes.

when was mike tyson's peak and how long did it last? was he like ali, in as much as his best days were when he was out of boxing? [i've read that ali's peak would've been when he was unable to box because of the army thing?]

tyson was exciting an invincible for a while, so how come that after a while he started losing and other fighters weren't intimidated anymore?
i suppose only 6 losses doesn't really make for a disastrous career?

i imagine there are a number of factors? i know that mentally he seemed to be on another planet! did the huge amounts of money he was earning affect him at all?
did losing to douglas simply burst his bubble and sap him of his confidence in some way or other?

was it easy for some boxers to 'work him out' after a while?

 

Age? He was still a young when he lost to Douglas. I don't think he ever had the maturity of other great heavies throughout his career either

 

Tyson's prime or best fighting years were when he started in 1985 to 1988 when he beat Spinks. He was almost unstoppable, although by 1988 his defense seemed to be a little more porous due to being not as focused on boxing. Great defense and power and focus. But the fame then came after 1987 which was his best title reign year- Robin Givens was not at fault for his career going down hill, yet in my mind it was a contribution to Mike losing focus. The media was focusing on his relationship to Given a lot and Mike was very young and vulnerable and I don't think it would have been easy for anyone to handle that fame to quick-boxing fans like me just wanted to see Mike fight, but the media loved the Givens story. Basically I believe Robin Givens and her mother distracted Mike a little and then his focus was off. Even his defense against Tubbs in 1988 was good, but Mike was hit a little more than normal. I am not saying Robin Givens caused his decline, but the fame and then meeting someone like Givens who was into her own interests really hurt Mike. Mike is a very sensitive person you can tell and I think vulnerable since he wanted to trust people, and he had a hard time dealing with all the complications of marrying Robin Givens. That did not cause him to decline in boxing a lot, but it sped up the bad habits and not training properly. His mind got out of the focus of boxing like I said and his mind was more on his personal life. Then Mike started to move away from Kevin Rooney and other guys who wanted him to probably train more, and he got the help of these guys who were not too great and associated with Don King-who then were around Mike all the time. I like Don King normally and think he is better for boxing than Bob Arum, but with Mike Tyson he was not that great for him. I remember some guy in Mike's corner who was just a complete joke- his name was Kevin Bright. His claim to fame was sparring Ali one time and they had a picture of it. The addition of a guy like Kevin Bright or whatever his name was showed how Mike didn't have real professionals in his corner or real friends really, and just yes men. So after that he was not focused and didn't have real friends around him. Anyway to come to the point, had Mike stayed focused on boxing and trusted Rooney and postponed marrying Givens and just boxed, I think he could have gone into 1992-93 undefeated, and then he would have had to fight Bowe and Evander and Lennox and it would have become tougher then, but I think he would have been able to be successful or at least build a great legacy around those guys. Mike was so good at defense, yet a guy 5-10 and fighting all these big guys has to be perfect on defense and he was, but just a little lack of concentration and focus and he starts getting hit, and then Frank Bruno in 1989 was a tough fight. Bruno was his first fight without Rooney incidentally.

 

I don't think Douglas sapped a lot of his confidence, but it did a little and his defense after that fight never was as great as it was for say Pinklon Thomas or Bonecrusher. And those guys really couldn't land a punch on Mike.

 

his time at the top seemed so brief.

 

Emanuel Steward is given credit for improving and making Lennox Lewis the dominant champion he became.
Tommy Brooks is given credit for the rebirth of Evander Holyfield for his fights with Tyson and Moorer. He left Holy for the Lewis fights to work with Tyson, and was brought back in for Valuev, where most people felt Evander pulled off the win.
Mike Tyson's firing of Kevin Rooney is brushed off as hogwash for being a determining factor of Tysons downfall on this forum. The proof is there. The cornerman in the case of these three great champions were always a big factor in their success, to say otherwise is not true.
Mike Tyson let go of discipline, technique, and mindset when he let go of Kevin Rooney, Steve Lott and Bill Cayton.

 

On that one specific night , Aaron snowell and those clowns around him did not help matters, Don King did not treat the Douglas fight with particular proffesionalism, Mike himself was too lax with his own prepairations.... The whole decline was down to Mike not having lots of love and support around him, only characters with love for money and the benefits for being around Tyson PERIOD !!!!! Mikes sham marriage broke a lot of his spirit...... and his love for boxing wayned............

 

Being easily manipulated but the person most responsible is himself. No one forced him to fire Rooney or work with that scum Don King.

 

Absolutely. And don't forget, the competition was better. There were a lot more sharks in the water after feasting on a diet of older fighters sliding down the ladder.

 

The death of Jim Jacobs and the firing of Kevin Rooney. He trusted Jacobs and Rooney held him accountable for training and preparing...after that, he transformed from a Heavyweight Dynamo with unprecedented speed, power and elusiveness to ...Earnie Shavers.

 

Don't forget about the death of Jim Jacobs who was basically a surrogate father/advisor/friend to him. After he died, he trusted no one and went off the deep end.

 

Buster Douglas' left fist and gravity.:thumbsup

 

Because he wasn't a particularly versatile or resilient fighter. There's only so far you can go with one basic style/method of attack, no matter how talented you might be.

 

I think character is the bigger issue, not his one-dimensional attack because Joe Frazier was maybe the most one dimensional heavyweight champion ever but he got to the top of the mountain despite being legally blind in one eye and having basically one method of attack and one punch. Character is the main reason behind the success or failure in most ventures.

 

Tyson was agreat fighter. a monster. he was locked away as a kid. then he was found and locked away again if you like and programed purly to be a heavyweight champ. on one side of the coin it saved him. on the otherside it prevented him from developing as a person, his life was on hold until he won the title.
whilst boxing consumed him he had balance to his life. he was kept busy fighting evry 2 weeks. with sucsess you fight less often and with more time on his hands thats when he went off the rails. cayton and jacobs could not control his personal life any longer and tyson was just not stable enough to control it himself.
still tyson was in control in the ring but douglas had tysons number. Tyson took a beating there and he was in shape. Then he apeared to struggle with evry top tier guy there on. This started with the ruddock fights before prison.
It wasnt so much douglas burst his bubble its that the guy had his number. Tyson was still great he just lost his aura in the eyes of his opponents. they had more hope now. Later he sucumbed to a combination of not developing his style with age and bad matchmaking later on. where as other great fighters become economical with age tyson still flew out fast but ultimatly this made him a 3 round fighter and he paid the price.

The thing is its like evrything else, a talented guy looks like superman at one level and only human at another. The greatest fighters still meet guys who make them look human. Tyson just lost those fights.