What if Mike Tyson never fired Kevin Rooney?

At that point Mike's life was changing, and even staying with Kevin Rooney would not have changed what came later.

We're all on a path in life and all the prodding and poking can't make us learn something if we don't want it. So that means we do what we want until we fall really hard, usually several times, until we wise up and mature.

I'm sure Mike has his regrets like we all do, but it's doubtful you'll ever hear him admit it publicly.

 

??? Sarcastic humor, or are you serious? Sometimes you can't tell on here.

 

Yeah, that's a serious problem for me too. I see these guys on here talking up Tyson when he was moving side to side for like literally no earthly reason and they're saying that's the good one? ODLH could stand up straight and be better against a higher quality of opposition.

 

Hate to tell you but did it ever occur to you Kevin had a huge problem(drinking) that he would never have been able to control?
Had a friend that a long time ago was a top amateur and he actually worked with Rooney for a very short time and he did not like it at all and just up and left. I asked why and he straight up said the man was basically a drunk when he wasnt in the gym.
I actually saw Kevin in person at the fights one time and he was VERY drunk and he seemed like a jerk to me the way he was acting towards people.

 

Brilliant post mate

 

Interesting and probably telling.

I do believe this, whatever personal issues Rooney may have had (I think it’s been fairly established that he had a gambling problem) is that Kevin didn’t understand the balance of power had shifted.

Tyson was no longer a kid. He was an adult in a marriage. He was rich beyond belief, with so much money he could buy cars with pocket change and shut down jewelry stores for all-night shopping sprees without really missing what he spent.

Tyson’s mentor in his youth, Cus, was dead — that relationship didn’t transfer to Kevin when Cus died anymore than it would with you or me when a parent dies. It dies with them. Then Jimmy Jacobs died and Tyson had no real relationship with his other manager, Bill Cayton, so there was nothing there.

That left Kevin. I think Kevin still thought they were all Team Tyson with equal footing, but that was no longer the case. Mike had achieved the goal of heavyweight championship and was trying (with mixed success) to learn to live as an adult and realizing he was in charge of his life. I think Kevin thought that he (Rooney) was still in charge of Mike’s life, at least as far as boxing went.

Then Kevin made a huge mistake. Tyson had warned him in no uncertain terms: Don’t talk about my wife or my marriage. That, frankly, is none of Kevin’s business. He’s an EMPLOYEE of Mike Tyson, and a well-paid one. His job was to handle boxing training duties, stay out of the guy’s life and keep his freaking mouth shut … because his boss, Mike, told him to not speak of it. So what does Kevin do? He talks to the press about Mike’s marriage and wife — if he had an opinion he should have kept it to himself and respected that it’s Mike’s life and not his to comment on.

To Tyson, that made the relationship with Rooney irreparable. He’s the one who has to go live with his wife and hear about his employee mouthing off. Anyone who has ever been married knows that you don’t let anyone drive a wedge there — your best friends, your parents, your siblings … nobody. It’s your private life and they aren’t allowed to do that. And if the marriage doesn’t work out, that doesn’t change the fact that Rooney tread where he wasn’t welcome and had been told not to speak of it.

Kevin screwed Kevin.

 

Tyson KOs Douglas within 5 rounds. Stops Ruddock in 3. Has his epic clash with Hoylfield as scheduled as knocks him out in 9. Wins a unanimous decision over Foreman. KOs Morrison on an epic brawl within 4. Beats Bowe by late stoppage or decision. Tyson has a hell of a resume and is the greatest ever!!!!

Then he wakes up in prison wondering who he can blame for his mistakes. Tyson would still be Tyson with or without Rooney. Unless he manages to get his life together, his career still gets derailed.

 

My friend told me when I asked for details that Kevin would call him in the middle of the night yelling at him why he hadnt showed up for roadwork or something and it would be like 3AM.
And he said Kevin tried to make everybody fight the same style even if it was not a good idea.Everybody cant fight out of the peekaboo style especially tall fighters.
The final straw he said was when Kevin showed up to where he was sayin it was time to go to the gym he said it was like 4am or some crazy time when the gym was not even open.

 

Tyson wasted movement? i think you're talking about a different fighter bro and i don't even know how you can mistake Tyson for another fighter

 

Trainers job is to give 100% effort to prepare a fighter in the gym. What he does outside is nobody's concern

 

Well, I might be thinking of Chagaev, Galaxy or Fury. I do get them mixed up. I binge-watched a lot of boxing when I first got into it and sometimes all the fighters just sort of blend together when I go to talk about them later. I did the same thing with Downton Abbey.

 

Yea that's what i figured

 

Yes and no. While agree that it wasn't Kevin's business to talk to the press about Tyson's personal life, if he wanted to ask Tyson if he could give him his 2 cents (privately) that would be fine. But the moment Tyson says he isn't interested in his opinion with a stern warning he should have left it alone.

I say yes and no because a trainer is getting paid to train, true, but if he sees something glaring that could ruin his payday he should at least say something to the fighter. For example, if I'm training a guy and discover some freaking meth or illegal firearms I will tell him to his face he's making a bad decision because I wouldn't want to be called to the police station to issue statements and get investigated. There's levels to it. It would be monumentally stupid to say nothing and just shrug with "hey I'm just a trainer, not his dad" as the excuse if I was fully aware of it.

 

True but not in Cus's formula. He needed to control seemingly every aspect of his fighters lives. Naturally a strong minded individual would resist that. Maybe that is why Cus didn't train more big name fighters.

 

Oh actually i was replying to someone that said Rooney had a drinking problem outside the gym and my answer was as long as the trainer give 100% attention to the gym it shouldn't matter. I agree with you that it's not like that when it comes to fighters though. Trainers definitely should pay attention to what a fighter does outside the ring. Watch what he eats, no drugs, no drinking etc