What if Don King never got his hands on Mike Tyson?

There is a rumor that Tyson was going to leave Don King for another manager by the name of Harold Smith and the Desiree Washington case was a set up by King to further maintain his control on Tyson. Wont be surprised at all.

 

Suge Knight was involved surely.

 

Another Tyson thread?

 

He goes undefeated and retires around 96.

 

It would have helped, but it would only have prolonged the inevitable.

It is one of the great hypothetical boxing fantasies “what if Tyson had the temperament of Joe Louis or Larry Holmes”.

He just didn’t unfortunately.

 

I don't think the Buster Douglas loss would have happened. He might even have stayed out of jail and fought Holyfield and Lewis in the early 90s.

Tyson should have retained Cayton.

Sugar Ray Leonard was smart enough to keep Mike Trainor as his manager and shop promoters. He knew he had the leverage

Mike Tyson could have done the same.

 

That wouldn't have ended well

Harold Smith caused the MAPS scandal in 1981 when he used money from his embezzlement of Wells Fargo funds to finance his promotional company. He went to jail for several years in the early '80s. I doubt he was welcomed back with open arms in the Boxing community. I realize Don King was also a criminal, but it wouldn't have done Tyson much better to align with Smith.

Tyson should have had a Manager independent of King, but not that guy.

 

In Window Licker World where you come from...

 

The only licker I see is the one who has an A and two S's on his screen name!:smooch

 

Who knows. Mike Tyson was basically a teenager when he was with that group. They were his way out. Once he was on top, and had millions, I don't think any of them living or sticking around would've mattered.

Tyson still would've gotten involved with Robin Givens. (D'Amato was already dead, but D'Amato wanted Tyson to find a girl and settle down when he was a teenager.) Also, Tyson still would've hung out with Tupac and all the east coast rappers who were shooting it out with west coast rappers. That was the era.

When Tyson became wealthy in his 20s, people would be foolish to believe, in the early 1990s, he was going to stay home and continue spending all his time with really old white guys ... and if Teddy Atlas is correct ... most of them (D'Amato and Jacobs) were gay old white guys.

Also, unless Ronald Reagan was going to do a 180 and spend billions on AIDS research, Jacobs (leukemia) or D'Amato (pneumonia) were never going to live longer than they did.

Plus, Rooney was a drunk and a degenerate gambler. Cayton "the deal maker" wanted to control everything with an iron fist - even consulting on who and when Tyson could marry - it was doomed to fail.

Tyson put up with all those guys in the 80s because they were his ticket out. And even then, he'd leave the Catskills and go back to the neighborhood, hang out with his friends and beg for money or rob people.

Basically, it lasted as long as it was going to last. Once 1989/1990 rolled round, and NWA, Tupac and that whole hip-hop culture exploded, Tyson wasn't going to stay home and watch old projector films of Henry Armstrong with a bunch of hacking, coughing old men.

Everyone that age decides to move on and start calling the shots in their lives.

 

Mike Tyson is single handedly responsible for what Don King did to him. No sympathies there. He was the man, he made the decision and the fact he stuck with Don King for almost 10 years despite his reputations and went from the best possible team to the worst possible team. He can't make excuses on this one.

 

My only issue with Tyson is surely that as a professional you would want the best possible trainer who understands you, your style and can get the best out of you i.e. Rooney.

Steve Llott even to this day is one of Tyson's closest friends and whom Tyson trusts deeply.

I think if Rooney decided to side with Tyson over Bill Clayton and agreed to go with Don King and just stuck to his training duties. Who knows what would have happened?

 

Plus, Don King promoted all his fights from Berbick on during that title reign, even when Jacobs and Cayton were still around. King would've been his promoter, regardless. He was The promoter at the time.