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

Damato wanted a 18 year old to settle down?:-(


Everything you said was B.S and of little relevance during Tysons reighn.


Being a promoter doesn't mean you have control over the fighter if he has all Hw titles..King needed Tyson not the other way around.

 

Tyson and Rooney weren't friends. That's why Tyson cut him loose so easily. And Jacobs and Cayton were talking about dumping Rooney as far back as the Tony Tucker fight. Rooney didn't have any magic. Tyson had some bad performances with Rooney in his corner, too.

And, as far as picking opponents goes, after Tyson dumped Cayton (following the Spinks bout), Tyson faced Bruno and Williams, who were both his mandatories. So his list of opponents wouldn't have varied much.

Before he dumped Cayton, there was talk of Tyson fighting Adilson Rodriquez in Brazil (along with Bruno in England). But Tyson got into a car wreck (hit a tree) and then he broke his hand against Mitch Green ... and Rodriquez fought Holyfield in '89 for the number-one ranking in the WBC and got knocked cold.

Holyfield was coming in 1990 whether Tyson faced Douglas (in this alternate scenario) or not ... and the 1990s in general were coming up. Tyson was a young, wealthy black man when the hip-hop culture exploded.

A stern Kevin Rooney wasn't going to stop a Tyson who was in his early 20s from doing what he wanted in or out of the ring. (Hell, Tyson was beating up parking lot attendants for stepping in when he was harassing women in the late 80s - Jacobs and Cayton just covered it up and paid people off).

Tyson was going to do what he was going to do. That collection of guys in the 80s worked for a time. But they were never going to succeed long term.

Jacobs and Cayton didn't succeed long-term with any boxers they worked with. They had Benitez, and he bolted from them. They had Kallie Knoetzee for a time. Cayton had Tommy Morrison, who left him, too.

Tyson lasted longer than most, probably because he was so young and desperate and ALONE (no mom or dad around to chime in).

 

Everything I said was true.

 

"I would watch myself if Cus had been around,he intimidated me and I always felt I had to prove myself to him,i would have been an angle" M Tyson


"Mikes problem is he like girls to much" C.Damato

what exactly did you say that was true?nothing but hypothetical scenerios that would most likely not have unfolded

What you failed to realize Cus doesn't let the train wreck begin which was givens!

By the way Don King convinced Tyson Rooney was stealing money from him that's why he was let go....this is coming from Steve Lott himself the" OTHER "guy Tyson trusted.I think he would know!


NOPE! Strike 2

 

Don King was not of any help, he has the pimp mentality and looks for weakness to exploit in a person so that he can control them. Its the street mentality. Tyson needed someone strong that could reach him but he had many cracks in his armor like most young men. I think a positive influence could have made a difference but like most bullies they have trouble when someone stands up to there best and keeps punching

 

Tyson would have ended up the same no matter who he went with, his problem was Mike Tyson no one else.Enough excuses have been made for him, at the end of the day you are responsible for your own actions.

 

I think Tyson's problem eventually turned out to be the fact that he let his personal life and life outside the boxing ring ultimately affect his profession i.e. what he did best in the ring. Tyson has always had problems with women, with the law throughout his life but like you rightly said his Handlers made sure that he delivered where he needed to do the most i.e. in the ring irrespective of his problems outside the ring. That is what the public wanted, no body gave a damn about whom he dated, whom he slept with or had controversies with as long as he entertained them with a fantastic performance and a quick entertaining KO. Had Tyson done that and fulfilled his talent, no one would talk about his off the ring lifestyle.

As far as Rooney is concerned. Granted they may not have been friend's, i doubt whether all fighters are too friendly or chummy with their trainers. They are both doing their jobs at the end of it.

But Rooney's importance as a trainer to Tyson cannot be downplayed. I am not sure what you mean by Tyson had bad performances under Rooney as well unless you fall into the usual trap where a UD for Tyson is viewed as a bad performance where he struggled but perfectly acceptable for the likes of Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis but that is just the greatness of Tyson in itself where everyone ends up being surprised and dissapointed when he doesn't KO another fighter even if he gets a comfortable UD victory over his opponents whose main objective is to just survive and get out of the fight in one piece.

I will not digress but just state my observations that Tyson's boxing technique completely deteriorated in the abscence of Rooney. I will not say he was the complete fighter even under Rooney, he had things to work and improve on for e.g. his infighting, body punching skills especially when in a clinch and using body attacks more to set up the attacks to the face and chin but their legendary combination is summarized by the following phrases used by Rooney when Tyson was under his tutelage

"Move your head"

"You gotta attack the body, right now your just going for the one shot to the head, don't go for the one shot to the head"

"You gotta punch with bad intentions"

"Punch out"

"3-5-1"

"Use your jab"

"Dont let him Tie you up, dont give me that ****"

"Mike take it easy, just relax"

History proves how valuable Rooney was to Tyson and how Tyson committed career suicide by letting go of Rooney.

 

You talk as though those quotes are something out of the ordinary, I don't think it's just Rooney who ever handed out advice to a fighter...

 

Good job,mainting that number one spot of worst poster.....keep up the good work! :good

 

Bit cheap coming from Mr Window Licker....

 

If Cus had lived he'd probably have had a lot of input in choosing the opponents as Tyson move higher up the rankings. I believe he would have matched Tyson with easier opponents.

Tyson mentions it himself in his autobiography. He says he had doubts that Cayton and Jacobs were matching him right when he was being thrown in with men like Pinklon Thomas. He felt that Cus would have taken some easier routes.

I think Cus would have gone for a fight with C00ney around the time, maybe even kept Tyson out of the unification tournament.

 

So you get to pick and choose what Tyson says in his bio as truth? This is complete rubbish. Cus says of Tyson, "I finally found my Liston!" Tyson isn't Floyd Patterson.

Get a clue guy.

 

No, I'm not picking anything as "truth", I'm just repeating Tyson's opinion. It wasn't a fact, just an opinion. An opinion that makes sense to me, and probably makes some sense to others too. Maybe not you.

Not sure what your problem is. Cus D'Amato might have matched Tyson differently. There's nothing controversial in saying that. Jacobs and Cayton had some good plans but D'amato might have chosen other opponents to hone Tyson with.
He may well have matched Liston differently if he was his manager too.

get a clue mate.

 

Cus is the one who moved Tyson ahead faster because he wanted to see his fighter become champ before he died.he was fighting Berbick and guys like tucker in only his second year as a pro,no one other than Tyson could have ever gotten away with that,at that time.

 

Well Cus died when Tyson was still fighting bums.

It's all guess work but I think Cus would have chosen a few different opponents around that time '86 to '87 if he had lived, maybe he would have sat the unification tourney out, and then matched Tyson with the winner.
He would have felt more in control.

It was something Cayton and Jacobs almost did.
Take the C00ney fight and a few others, then Holmes maybe, then take on the undisputed champion. He still would have been the youngest champion ever.
I think it was a valid route, it wasn't until about September 1986 that Cayton and Jacobs decided against it and said yes to the Berbick fight and the unification commitment. There was pressure on them and they were enjoying the limelight probably.
Maybe C00ney didn't fancy it, and Holmes was still a risk and wouldn't take cheap money.

The schedule Cayton and Jacobs had Tyson on in 1987 was quite tough. Not seriously threatening opponents as individuals, but good enough to be intensely mentally taxing on that schedule, and physically too. Tyson improved but maybe he would have improved more with those fights spread out a little more and some more decent hand-picked money-spinners thrown in.
Don King and HBO's Seth Abraham had a lot of input there.