Why didn't Tyson use any head movement in the Buster Douglas fight?

Tyson was not s disciplined as he was a few years before that, but he trained and took that fight as serious as any, he weighed in at 218 and a quarter against spinks and 220.5 against Douglas. Now I highly doubt he just walks around at about 220 without training to cut weight for fights.

 

Tyson had not quite lost that half step yet but he had come to take the effortless way his programed system of fighting worked for granted.

Although he had trained and prepared as well as he had for a few good wins Tyson was not so prepared to react or think his way out of a situation in the way a less gifted fighter might have been. The focus required to do anything other than fall back on his talent was not there.

The problem might have been more mental than physical.

 

Mike, was a programmed guy who is not able to adjust his mindset. That should be quite clear to any knowledgeable fan!!!

 

I remember MIke holding his guard high by round 5 or 6 already too late though.
That Douglass gives Peak Mike a tough fight. A classic fight though, half dead Mike
almost pulled it off. The eyes don't lie, Mikes eyes said it all he didn't have it that night.
But yes as Choklab said, Douglass was a masterful feinter that night.

 

Mike was in great shape physically. Look into his eyes (haha) before the fight. He wasn't there. Possibly the worst corner in a title fight, ever.
They didn't even have the antiswell, but a condom filled with water.
Cmon. Tyson took his beating like a man, all the true greats have losses.
I used to ***** about the long count etc, homeslice (Douglass) got up though. Wasn't
Mikes night. ANd McGrain Ive been meaning to rewatch both Ruddock fights.

 

I agree with everything your saying, but I'm not saying that he was mentally together, or that his cornee was well prepared, I am saying he was in shape, period.

 

The corner was bad but Tyson won fights with that corner too. I have heard some people balme almost the whole thing on that corner but those guys snowell and Bright had all been around boxing a long time, it was not like they were just Mike's buddy's off the street. Ok, they forgot the enswell. They were badly prepared and proberbly as surprised as Tyson was that Douglas was that good but I don't know what else Manny Stewart, Teddy Atlas, Eddie futch could have done for Tyson once things went wrong.

 

Snowel had worked the corners of Tim Witherspoon and several other fighters. Jay Bright had been in the sport a while and even worked under Cus D'Amato for a while. Also sparred once or twice with Muhammad Ali way back in the day. Both men knew boxing, but didn't have the right approach to be effective with Tyson.. Their corner work was later highly criticized in an interview I watched with Gil Clancy and Angelo Dundee. While its true that these men were in Tyson's corner and training camp for both the Bruno and Williams fight, you have to remember that those bouts didn't require them to redirect Tyson's focus, as they both ended so early. In addition, by the time the Douglas fight came off, Tyson had already been working with them for a year and half, which is quite a bit of time spent with a poorly matched team. When asked what other trainers like Futch, Steward, Dundee , Duva, Clancy, Futch, etc, might have done, my answer would be, they'd yell at him more and make him wake the f-ck up.. They also would advise him on how to better close the gap, use more head movement and throw more combinations rather than hunting for that one big shot.. And needless to say, there handling of his swollen eye(s) would have been shall we say, more orthadox.

 

I know, a condom! Unbelievable. A cold teaspoon or a desert spoon would have worked as well as an endswell and would have given the undisputed championship a whole lot more dignity.

 

Alot of things finally caught up with Mikey Boy that night.
Amongst other things he should have come out of the closet the next day.
He was exposed that night.
A tall heavy who stuck to his plan would always beat him.
Failing that someone smaller who didnt back down (Evander)
Tysons peak was short ..he is hugely overrated.

 

I think Tyson was a special fighter who did great things right when boxing needed it. He was also a very young man. Douglas was also very good on the night. It was an extraordinary fight in a lot of ways. Nobody could predict that result at that time and we can all be wise after the event. Now of course we can piece together how it went wrong for Tyson and how it went right for Douglas but I don't think the answer is Tyson was never that good in the first place or that he was so bad one night. Tyson was great.

I think Douglas was a sleeping giant. A disillusioned could be great fighter who either underacheived or let himself down until a set of circumstances allowed for him to quietly find some form and gather decent seasoning at a good level after the Tucker loss. We did not credit that he had it all together in time for that fight. Buster was able to grasp the opportunity and overacheive for one night because the talent was always there. A combination of technical experience, desperation, size, speed, focus and sheer talent saw him through but it was a one fight deal.

 

Choklab..you are an analytical craftsman...best poster on here always make sense...im a bit 'tongue in cheek' regarding Mikey....i just dont like the guy.!
I reckon the 31 jabs that Tyrell landed on his ugly mug in round one of their fight sent him a bit funny....after that Mikey started throwin elbows and headbutts...surprisingly Donkings referee never saw any of this which made Mikey think he was untouchable....he got caught out by Buster then his homo side came out when he said he wanted to kiss Ruddocks 'big lips'...
After that he was just a sad prolonged freak show.
All that anger...a repressed gay man if ever there was.

 

The Tyson autobiography is certainly an insight. The guy was always going to be a bit mixed up with meglomania encouraged at an early age. He is not as stupid nor as inocent as he likes to makes out. He's had a crazy life but unbelievable opportunity to turn things around.

 

It wasn't just about the way his swelling was handled. Watch that fight, and listen in between rounds. There was virtually no useful advice being given nor any enthusiasm or sense of urgency in the voices of the trainers to get him going. Hell, he had his head down the whole time they were talking to him as though he didn't even want to be there.. In short, he had been working with badly suited management team for a long time, had only seen 93 seconds of boxing action in the previous 12 months, was hanging around his old friends from the hood, and had plenty of distractions going on outside the ring.. Are these valid excuses? probably not. He still had some responsibility for making sure that he was prepared. But no way was the Tyson of Tokyo the same guy people saw flatten the division between '86-89