Why did Mike Tyson fail to KO James Tillis in ‘86?

Tyson is likely being a bit humble/gracious by going so far as to say he was almost floored, but beyond that I agree that Tillis' body work played a crucial role in slowing Tyson's attack & lessening his power over the course of their fight. Tillis was 1 of the very, very few fighters who succeeded (or even dared to try) working a young Tyson's body, & the results were apparent.

The Tillis fight also exposed Tyson's openness to uppercuts, which would persist throughout his career & play a major role in his loss to Douglas.

 

Fanboys can never accept that their hero was not the greatest fighter of all time.

Tillis wrote the blueprint for others to follow.

Tyson always had trouble with certain styles and could only fight one way.

Personally I think that a prime Liston would have brutalised him with that awesome batterinng ram of a jab and then deposited Mike on Pluto.

 

Tyson cleaned out the division over a 3 year period in an absolutely emphatic fashion. Holy never did such a thing, thus never garnering the public's appreciation anywhere near on the level of Mike. And I think you're undervaluing what Tubbs, Thomas, Berbick, Tucker, Smith and even Biggs brought to the ring. Hate to break the news but plenty of boxers have substance abuse problems but that era was packed with talent that generally was very well schooled during the peak of US amateur success. What Tyson did was more impressive than what Dempsey or Marciano accomplished. Prison and lifestyle caught up to him and exposed his physical shortcomings (literally) but when he burned he burned as bright as any heavyweight ever.

 

It’s very possible he was in a bit of agony, body shots are carried with you for days.

 

Tyson had been fighting for about a year when he fought Tillis? fair chance he was looking for work instead of running him over at least initially, if he couldn’t it’s not a stretch to believe a guy who’d already fought the likes of Witherspoon, Briggs, Coetzee, Frazier, Williams, Page, Thomas, Standers, Shavers and Weaver had some tricks to survive and compete with someone who had been a pro for one year.

 

Aye, hardly anyone seems to bat an eye on substance abuse for anyone but the 80s HWs Mike ran over mostly lol - Napoles, JCC Snr, and Frazier all had self destructive habits, what Tyson did was incredible.

 

Why is this any more complicated then a solid fighter fought a fantastic fight? Probably the best night of his career even. No fighter ever just walked through everyone they ever met in there... some guys are going to take you the distance and make you work in there.

 

All fair points, I sometimes think my views are coloured by the ignorant fools on Youtube who think that Tyson would KO monsters like prime Liston Ali and Foreman in 1 round.

 

I remember reading something probably an interview where Rooney said something to the effect of they wanted to test Tyson going the distance, they already knew he could get guys out of there early

A comparison would be from reading pitbull books, there were dogs known as destroyers "super biters" as they were called that could crush a dog's chest with a single bite, but their gameness was never proven because they never got tested, they never showed what they had in them when they were getting whooped, and because of this they were actually considered inferior dogs

It was about Tyson showing what he had after enduring those body shots

In the documentary with Cus there is a clip where they are walking with what looks like a Colby pitbull, the bloodline Dempsey and Johnson had dogs from, so it is probably safe to assume Cus incorporated some of that philosophy into his teachings

 

Well I think dog fighting is absolutely obscene which is why I have no sympathy for McClellan.

 

There's an old saying among trainers that on a given night some dudes just aren't there to be knocked out. Tillis had such a night.

 

Wasn't Tyson about all of eighteen years old at the time ? Tillis had a ton of experience of fighting top world class opposition and while losing he when the distance with almost all of them and gave decent accounts of himself. Tyson was trying very hard for a KO and was taken the distance .... if you're asking if the competitiveness of the bought forecasted future chinks in Tyson's armor I can say I have no clue since the first time Tyson lost for a fight he went balls to the wall training was Holyfield 2 and that was an ear bite.

 

How did Holyfield have any business losing to Bowe and Moorer? Both accomplished very little career wise outside of beating Holyfield himself. Losing to a guy whose only claim to fame is beating you seems like a bad look for a supposed great

 

In many cases it is, but there were some instances in history where it wasn't the horror stories you hear about, where there was no money involved and the dogs were separated when one was obviously losing and neither of them ended up seriously injured

There were times when there were many stray/roaming dogs and a hustle was to take a smaller pitbull to a pub and challenge whatever the meanest roaming dog of the town was, no one thought the small pitbull would win so the locals bet against it, it was determined the winner when the other dog started yelping and trying to get away

It has a history that coincides with bare knuckle boxing in Britain and Ireland, some of the most sought after bloodlines date back to Irish families

 

Holyfield was about 40 lbs lighter and lacked power compared to Bowe, who was gifted and had the legendary Eddie Futch in his corner.

Moorer just barely beat Holyfield and had a pretty decent career. He was a southpaw with sharp combinations.

Holyfield beat both of them in rematches. You win some, you lose some.