What went wrong with James "Quick" Tillis?

He had a bad milk allergy.

 

tommy morrison

 

His style was flawed, as well.

His nickname was Quick, but he wasn't all that quick.

Was never taught to settle down. Always on the move, and thus couldn't hit hard. Fought in straight lines and patterns.

Was never going to be special. Never learned to box.

 

Magna nailed this one. Tillis wasn't a sharp puncher and I don't think he was a great natural athlete either. When I think of Tillis' liabilities, I always think of the difference between how he and Micheal Dokes fought my local heavy Roughouse Fischer. Tillis got caught in corners, ate some overhand rights, fought sloppy and couldn't land anything definitive. Dokes bicycled away from shots and landed pinpoint shots while keeping smooth movement.

In the long run. he probably overachieved in the Weaver fight. At least he got to the big screen with Oprah....

 

James Tillis v Joe Bugner (1986)

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This was just 4 months after Tillis faced Tyson. Beginning of another comeback from Joe Bugner, this time as an Australian !

 

If eggs are making you **** yourself, you should probably quit eating them.

 

MR bill..."Tyrell Biggs was a stroke boy".....
Whats that mean ?

 

COCAINE, DON KING ! There is a magnificent quote by him in duffs book 20 and out,describing when earnie shavers hit him!

 

I always liked Tillis, but he ultimately probably found his level; good enough to be a contender, but not quite good enough to win the big one. That said, he could have beaten Weaver, imo, had he not fought scared.
He stunned Weaver in the 14th with a great shot but didn't follow up. He also gave Page a good fight and dropped him heavily. He was ahead on the cards going into the 10th versus prospect Johnny du Plooy but gassed and was stopped in the 10th. Tillis was faded by then, though.

I suppose he will be best remembered for being the first man to take Tyson the distance. Now Mike was green, but he was as ferocious as ever, and it took a good man to hold him to a close decision.
Tyson also said in his book that he was all sore in the body after that fight, one of the few times in his career where an opponent hut him to the body.

All in all a good, solid pro with nice skills. I think his mentality was his biggest weakness.

 

Didn't he deck Carl The Truth as well?

 

He said that when earnie hit him, he saw rats playing trombones etc from my recollection!!

 

I wish I knew. I'll have to look that one up.

 

He clocked Greg good, but that knockdown was BS.

 

There's a piece that done on him on YouTube. It's from just a few years ago. I do hope he's doing better. There are actually Facebook pages that are supposed to belong to him!

I just he didn't have the passion necessary to make the upper tier of 80's heavys. He's got talent but he's not really "quick". Kind of mimicked Ali but did the late 70's version instead of the 60's version. Fought everybody & that probably wasn't for the best. He never had a run of mid level guys to build his skills & record.

 

A few things.

Inexperience at the time of his title shot. He didn't fight anyone resembling a top 10 contender before getting the shot at Weaver. He had only gone 10 rounds once

Lack of killer instinct and/or desire. He hurt Weaver in the 12 th round and didn't attempt to follow it up.

Don King's matchmaking. After fighting mediocre opposition with the exception of Weaver and arguably a faded Shavers, King put him in back to back fights against Greg Page and Pinklon Thomas. He probably needed a few fights against weaker opposition to rebuild his confidence after the Weaver fight, and especially after the Thomas fight.

A claimed allergy to milk products. Tillis did seem to gas out pretty early in fights despite looking in shape. It was later claimed he had had this allergy for many years upon discovery of it in 1986. Was it just an excuse for losses, I don't know.

He probably was just not that great to begin with. He had speed and decent power but ****py stamina and his defense was not great. His desire was not at the top tier either apparently.