In 1982, an up-and-coming Mike Tyson who was advancing up America's amateur heavyweight rankings, according to Teddy Atlas, was making inappropriate gestures towards and was groping his 11 year old niece. FYI Tyson was around 15 at the time. Teddy Atlas, obviously frustrated that Mike SA'ed his niece put a gun to Tyson's head threatening to end him if he dare touch the Atlas family ever again. Cus kicked Atlas out of Tyson's management team after the incident. But, what if Teddy Atlas pulled the trigger? What would the heavyweight landscape look like? What would the careers of fighters like Spinks, Holyfield, Douglas, Lewis, Berbick and other titlists be like? Would've somebody else stood up to the plate, to become the face of the heavyweight division?
He would be in Prison for life... even if what Mike did to his niece was disgusting. He would train boxign to convicts "WE ARE CONVICTS ! PRISON DOESN´T BOTHER US ! WE LIVE IN PRISON ! WE TRAIN IN PRISON!" Tyson wouldn´t commit the **** of Desiree Washington, but we would never know that and Teddy would have killed a kid. He never had the intention to do it though.
We would have been spared countless hours of Atlas' terrible boxing predictions as he rotted in prison.
Assuming the Heavyweight Unification Tourney took place exactly as it was...same bracket, dates, etc, I'm not sure there was a Heavyweight out there at the time who would have replaced Tyson and beaten Tucker in the final of that tourney. Tucker as Undisputed Champion, likely would have ended up fighting Lineal Champion Michael Spinks, which I believe would have been won by Tucker. Spinks was at the end of the line, and likely didn't have the legs to get it done at that point. Tucker took 2+ years off following the Tyson loss, and didn't seem quite the same after the layoff. Tucker had very little experience against top opponents when he reached the final of that tourney. Maybe he could have taken it to another level with more activity against better competition. So, I believe Tucker may have benefitted the most from Tyson's absence, and possibly could have gone on a bit of a run until Holyfield came around at Heavyweight. More activity, experience against top level fighters, and perhaps surging confidence may have seen him through as Undisputed Champion from August 1987, until October 1990, when he loses a UD to Holyfield.
Woof. I wasn't all too familiar with this story, knew that Atlas pulled a gun on Tyson, but didn't know it was for that. I've been on the side of Mike for most things (always thought that DW's story sounded off), but if this is an old story, I'd probably be inclined to think that yeah, Mike was a predator. Not gonna ask for "evidence" cause this is clearly not one of those cases, but when did Teddy first claim this, and has he been consistent with his story?
The stories been prominent forever. Who knows what truly happened. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Well that's a new one. I guess that the main implication is that there is no Tyson, and no dominant champion between Holmes and the emergence of Holyfield. The unification tournament probably still happens, because king holds all the marbles. Expect a series of weak lineal champions to emerge.