When was Tyson's exact prime?

I think becasue he was a bit of a physical freak he delined early.


He thrived on young reflexes of a teenager combined with the upper body build of a 30 year old who had been hitting the gym for years. Thats an awesome combo, not many have it. So I think he peaked quite early from the age of 19-20, but lost it quite soon.

Once he started losing the pinnacle of one of those he was no longer a force, but more importantly he lost his early style (via losing his mind).

 

For me the best that Tyson was as a fighter was his match against Mitch Green at what 19 years of age and 214lbs -Tyson was phenominal at that stage and Mitch Green hung tough - no one else in the world at the time would've hung in there on the receiving end so much - that was a great fight and Tyson looked to be relishing the chance of dealing the pain for a lot longer than usual - most guys would be gone in a couple of rounds against him at that stage but this was a fight where he got to show us what he could do over a full 12

 

Foreman Hook KO1 tommygun711

 

Yeh 86-88 - very short prime. He was already mentally gone before the Carl Willaims fight!

 

That's probably true, but he greatly accelerated his own decline with his lifestyle choices. He could have continued his greatness through his 20s I think, I don't think he peaked and then subsequently started "losing his mind".

There are many documentaries on him, but I'm thinking of the one called just "Tyson", it has a lot of straight interview footage. In it Mike talks a lot about his peak and decline. It was a pretty good documentary.

 

Peak (Physically, Mentally, Technically) = '86 Ribalta to '88 Spinks.

Physically Prime*: '86 to '91.


*Though not necessarily in "Peak Shape", just capable of being so with the appropriate Supreme Conditioning of his Mind, Body, & Technical Skills.

 

Tyson looked utterly ridiculous when he came out of the clinc in '95 and started training again. He still had all the physical tools to put his head movement, speed and combinations back to use but shockingly just didn't do it. He'd walk in straight up and look to land the big punch, a head hunter.

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Some little fangirl has her knickers in a knot... :yep






Foreman Hooooooooooooooooooook!:smoke

 

Tyson passed the eye test for a long time, and in training he would still look good. But in real fights, he could only sustain his previous style with any effectiveness for a few rounds. He was all used-up after prison.

 

Quite deceiving eh? Physically, he looks much more impressive to me from 1995-97 than he ever did in his prime. Based on appearance, he looked like the last person on the face of the earth I'd want to get mixed up with. But this isn't a bodybuilding contest or a street fight, as would be proven shortly thereafter.

I don't know how he looked in training after Holyfield II, but he was definitely much more bloated. That was the last time he looked phenomenal... It was the end of his relevance. 31 years old, an absolute shredded tank, melting legend.

 

And an insecure loon with the mental stability of an ageing stick of dynamite. :silly

Roids & Cocaine running around his brain made him red-mist bad**** psycho aggressive like a fighting pitbull. :scaredas:

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Then there was all that ganja, for his paranoia. :smoke

 

You don't need steroids to achieve that physique. Tyson had what, 16-17 inch arms?

He was of no more than average stature, had short limbs and small joints. All three contribute to him looking the way he did. It's partial illusion. Tyson would actually be among the taller of the IFBB juiceheads, who are primarily 5'5 to 5'9" with 23 inch arms looking ridiculous. Not to mention he took up weight training, something of which he didn't partake much if at all prior to prison. The legal supplement industry had also advanced significantly over the four years he was put away. Oh, genetics don't hurt either.

None of this means he didn't use, just that it's hardly necessary.

 

His skills deteriorated considerably.

 

Most definitely. I was speaking primarily about his appearance and perceived conditioning.

Technically, his skills were deteriorating since the split with Rooney. On his come back however, there wasn't too much ring time to really get a glimpse of up until Holyfield. McNeely was a circus act, he did miss wildly against Mathis, Bruno grabbed him for dear life and was stopped in the 3rd on a vicious combination of blows, Seldon hit the canvas without seemingly being touched.

In hindsight, making it to the 11th with Evander was pretty impressive. He was butted, cut and knocked down all around the 5th-6th. He didn't throw in the towel, but he was getting tagged pretty good.

 

1987-88 was the best we ever saw of Tyson.