When did Mike Tyson lose his passion for boxing

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by steve1990, Jun 2, 2017.


When did Mike lose the eye of tiger

Poll closed Jun 9, 2017.
  1. After the Michael Spinks fight

    9 vote(s)
    36.0%
  2. When he went to prison

    2 vote(s)
    8.0%
  3. After the 2 Holyfield fights

    7 vote(s)
    28.0%
  4. Other opinions

    7 vote(s)
    28.0%
  1. clinikill

    clinikill Active Member Full Member

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    Certainly not right after Douglas, as Mike was in good form in the Ruddock fights. I'd say he lost a lot of his momentum after the first Holyfield loss. He didn't seem the same after that.
     
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  2. janitor

    janitor VIP Member Full Member

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    Before the Spinks fight, he had this obsession that he wanted to be the "undisputed champion".

    Once he had it, he basically didn’t know what to do with it!
     
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  3. richdanahuff

    richdanahuff Boxing Junkie Full Member

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  4. Bonecrusher

    Bonecrusher Lineal Champion Full Member

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    Mike was only 11-0 when Cus died, I would say he made it a personal mission to fulfill the dream he and Cus had, if you listen to Tyson in interviews back then it's a totally different guy he loved boxing and was on a mission!!
     
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  5. richdanahuff

    richdanahuff Boxing Junkie Full Member

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  6. ETM

    ETM I thought I did enough to win. Full Member

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    Remember though then Jacobs died. He was a link to Cus. Mike wasn't as close with Cayton. I honestly believe it was a combination of Jacobs passing away and Robin Givens. He didn't really want to fight anymore.
     
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  7. BUDW

    BUDW Boxing Addict Full Member

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    When King got his hooks into him
     
  8. Radrook

    Radrook Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Robin Givens
    Jail
    Cus D'Amato
    Buster Douglas
    Holyfield
     
  9. Sangria

    Sangria You bleed like Mylee Full Member

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    After Spinks there was no one on the horizon. Holyfield was still a Cruiser, I believe, and wasn't a viable challenge until a year or so later. Even so I believe Tyson thought Holyfield would be tough but nothing too threatening.

    If Jacobs was still alive the Mike Tyson World Tour fight schedule that Cayton laid out would've went through as planned. It looked something like this: fight Bruno next in England, Francesco Damiani in Italy, a mega-fight with Holyfield in Vegas, Ruddock in Canada, Adilson Rodrigues in Brazil and George Foreman in China(?).
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2017
  10. Titan1

    Titan1 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Lost his passion in the late 80's, after Robin Givens and the partying.
     
  11. reznick

    reznick In the 7.2% Full Member

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    I don't think he lost his passion. I think his destructive antics were a result of what he believed champions were supposed to be, in it's most excessive and exaggerated state.

    On top of this, he was most likely wrongfully convicted of **** at 25 years old.
    That's a serious stigma to get beyond.

    I don't think he ever lost his passion for boxing.
     
  12. rski

    rski Well-Known Member Full Member

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    maybe not, but he lost his passion for being a boxer that's for sure.
     
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  13. populistpugilist

    populistpugilist New Member Full Member

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    Very well put. To this day he's obviously still an obsessive fan of boxing, but starting with Bruno 1, he clearly wasn't interested in putting in the effort to keep up with the style D'Amato taught him. He was able to coast on his power and chin and a minimally adequate level of conditioning and wasn't interested in doing more.
     
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  14. HerolGee

    HerolGee Loyal Member banned Full Member

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    1. prison spell

    2. possible wrong conviction

    3. the mental barrier of being expected to go beyond what he had already acheived would have felt insurmountable. It must have difficult to avoid the feeling that he had already done something pretty amazing, so to achieve it all again would just seem not real.

    4. too much too young, including hard drug use.

    5. maybe some poor training techniques when younger took a toll on his frame.
     
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  15. Saad54

    Saad54 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    When he married Robin Givens.

    The distractions added up and things started heading south when he got involved with her and her mom. Gold digging, manipulative bitc&es. At 19 yrs old, I could see it. Too bad Mike couldn't.