What if Tyson beat Douglas?

If Tyson beat Douglas, his personal life would not have changed in any way at all.

What would have changed is....Tyson most likely knuckles down (as he did do after the Douglas loss)

Prepares harder for Holyfield which would have his next fight

Win/lose or draw, hed then have fought Foreman and possibly Ruddock once.

By not losing to Douglas, he would have got his most important fights before he was carted off into prison (and yes, Tyson still would have ended up in prison no matter what)

But, by facing holyfield earlier, people would have a more honest appraisal on tysons career rather than judging him on losses against holyfield after 5 years in prison and against Lennox when Tyson was 14 years removed from when he defeated Spinks.

 

I think if Tyson took the type of beating he took up until the 8th and Douglas didnt get up after the knockdown, it would have still prompted Tyson to get rid of Bright and go to Giachetti. Actually Don King would have most likely pushed for it, because King was going to be facing fighters he didnt have control over, like Holyfield. Holy was guaranteed a shot at Tyson next and was at ringside in Japan when Tyson got his butt kicked.

 

When did Tyson ever get up off the canvas to win?

 

lets not forget, he would have probably have had to meet douglas in a rematch too....the boxing public would have demanded that i think.

 

What does that mean? When did Lennox Lewis ever get up to win? Really doesnt mean much. Took a lot to put Tyson down. How many fighters could take the type of punishment Tyson could?

 

Ali wasn't granite.
He was very good in rolling with punches and recovered very fast, but his chin was "just" good.
And early in his career it was ok.(when he was around 23)

 

It's what a lot of punchers have indeed.
They fall in love with their power.
Ruddock was a skilled guy once...

 

Tyson his chin in underrated, the punishment he took against Buster was extreme and I think it's safe to say that it also hurt Tyson his chin.(In the longterm)

Buster had a piston like jab and belongs with the guys who can knockout a fighter with just his jab (Golota, Wlad, Holmes), the uppercut Tyson got was brutal too and the finishing was just perfect.

Tyson had a nearly 20 inch thick neck and a granite beard.
I believe he had in his peak a better chin than Holyfield but his wars took tolls to that.

 

There is nothing impressive, about getting up off the floor to win a fight you were winning anyway

Mike Tyson, never got up off the canvas to win a fight he was losing.

Neither did Muhammad Ali, neither did Lennox Lewis, Neither did Evander Holyfield, neither did Riddick Bowe. Whenever Holmes was knocked down, it was in fights he was winning anyway apart from maybe Shavers. Foreman never got up off the canvas to win a fight he was losing either maybe except the Lyle fight. Wladmir also never got up off the canvas to win a fight he was losing. And theres a whole lot more

Suddenly, the list is smaller than you think.

 

give me #1 and #2 at that time.

 

Princess Di and Michael Jackson

 

I think he'd probably have underprepared again and been smashed by Holyfield.
Tyson didn't get the wakeup call from the Douglas fight, the preemptive headmovement, defacto combination punching, footwork, jabbing never really saw the light of day again. Tyson fell in love with his power and threw his bag of tricks away, he never found them again.

 

what about freddie starr ?

 

He'd have stayed with his incompetent camp, and continued to do the wrong things.

Holyfield would have outclassed him to such a degree it would have hurt his legacy. He'd have come up way, way short against the other great heavyweight of his era.

Losing to Douglas when he did was ultimately beneficial. People can make excuses as to a fluke loss to a gatekeeper, he left some of the worst fools he was with, and in the Ruddock fights, he showed up in shape, and ready to rock, and in the first one, looked fantastic.

It would have made his newfound love for his overrated power worse. Tyson was the most lethal, lightning bolt combination puncher since Joe Louis, and that accounted for his fearsome KO record. Fighting as a one punch stylist, with no body work, and he never looked as frightening again.

For the Ruddock fight, back came body work. Back came angles. Back came hellish combinations.

His fans ***** about his abandoning all his substance for a pure punching approach, and they really think him bailing out the fight of his life with a single punch makes that attitude BETTER?

Tyson isn't beating Holyfield. Period. But to have good chance, he needs to fight the right way, and thats how he fought cornered by Rooney, or how he managed to fight for Ruddock I and to a lesser extent, Ruddock II. He fights Holyfield the way he fought Douglas, or anybody after prison, and he's taking a schooling and a hellish beating.

 

I think he would have lost to Evander in his next bout. In 1990, Holyfield was in the peak of his prime, and completely ready to take the title. Beating Douglas only would have meant that Jay Bright, Aron Snowel and Rory Holloway would have still had jobs in Tyson's corner, so Rich Giachetti never would have been brought aboard, decreasing Mike's chances of beating Holyfield even further.. The one positive thing is that a loss to Holyfield would have been less detrimental to Tyson's legacy than a defeat to Douglas.