why do people underrate Tyson's heart...he showed plenty of grit

He was always interested in the knock out, it was like it's either the knock out or nothing, he had very little interest in out boxing his opponents or going the full 12 rounds.

 

This.

And it was Teddy Atlas' comment that Tyson would 'look for a way out' against Lewis that Rooney was responding to when he had the quote I posted earlier.

 

He had the opposite of heart. As soon as things went south he started looking for a way out.

 

Atlas put it in peoples heads. It ain't true, but he has some convinced. Tyson fought brave in Douglas fight and guys did try to stand up to him and he fought well. Atlas was saying Tyson would quit back when he fought Spinks, for Christ sake . When after 6 years of winning he lost to Holyfield it was cause of head butting making him lose cool, not him quitting. In prime he had courage, he lost all his confidence near end, like in McNelly fight. But he never lacked courage when champ.

 

It says something that Mike never lost by decision.
The question of his heart is interesting because it's true that he never stopped coming forward but simultaneously it could look like he'd given up trying to win and was just going through the motions... the motions of taking his beating like a man. It was an interesting contrast.

 

Any dude that stand in there, and take a beating the way Lewis beat him. Should never have there heart in question. He could of just laid down, and the fight would of been over, but he fought on until he couldn't no longer. It takes heart to do that.

 

he was more interested in his pigeons and his performance against Williams & McBride was just ludacrisp

 

The Williams fight was a different story to the McBride one. He came out like he usually did trying to knock him out and was looking good til he hurt his knee. Against McBride he looked hesitant and didn't seem to ever really let his hands go. Totally different performances.

 

He has heart but resigns himself to defeat and in the words of Teddy Atlas he makes "silent contracts".

 

Yeah, it really gets overplayed.

Sure, you have to stand up to Tyson....AND have the skills/abilities and the right game plan.

Tyson was far from the toughest guy mentally in the ring but his "lack of heart" gets exaggerated.

Tyson was prone to frustration and had a tendency to look for one bomb when this happened. There were some fights in which guys were having some success (Tucker in the first 3-4 rounds, Thomas had some success in rounds 3-5 IIRC) and Tyson was able to get to Thomas and stop him, or patiently beat Tucker and even out jab him.

In his losses to Douglas and Holyfield 1, he didn't show a lack of heart, he showed struggles with adaptability. He did manage to sucker Douglas into an uppercut and drop him. But much of the fight, Tyson just looked confused and looking for one bomb. Same thing with the first Holyfield fight.

I don't know exactly Tyson's true motivations with the bites on Holyfield were. Same say it was quitting, others say he just snapped or wanted to get even. He did (laughably) claim to Mills Lane "it was a punch"

Against Lewis, he again got frustrated and looked for one bomb. To make it worse, Tyson had declined a lot from 1990 and 1996-97, and Lewis was a considerably more powerful puncher than Douglas and Holyfield. Maybe Tyson was so badly beaten that he didn't really try to get up from that KD, or maybe his body couldn't move. Who knows. He got the **** kicked out of him.

Basically, the bottom line is that Tyson did have some weaknesses mentally (front-running, frustration, impatience), but it's not nearly to the extent that many say it was.

For what it's worth, it's not uncommon for fighters to get cautious when they taste leather and go into a defensive shell. Camacho Sr, Mosley, Judah, Tua, are all examples off the top of my head of fighters who tended to go into defensive shells. Like Tyson said, "everyone has a plan until they get hit".

Tyson, perhaps due to his style, never went too much into a shell when this happened, and he ended up getting stopped.

 

Mike Tyson won most of his fights BEFORE the opening bell. He won by intimidation. When he stared at his opponent with just his eyes following his movements it was SCAREY
Ive stood in a ring facing him & he did it for fun It scared the hell out of me yet I knew he wasn't going to hit me .

 

lol teddy and his sayings.

 

The fight against Lewis I won't take seriously because Tyson was just shot by that time and he idiotiotically turned up in extremely poor shape and with poor preparation which allowed Lewis to inflict an absolute massacre

 

The Lewis and Douglas loses showed how tough he was. I remember after Lewis Rooney saying he thought Mike could have gotten up but knew he beaten. I think he probably cold have gotten up against Williams but he knew he had nothing left to beat him with.
It makes me furious when people question his chin or say he instantly folded when he got hit back. All the times he was knocked down it was late in the fight and he had looked exhausted for a while leading up to it. He got caught fairly flush by Ruddock a couple of times with that 'smash' and didn't wobble, in fact didn't Tyson have a busted ear drum from one of those fights? That was probably the punch that did it.

 

Atlas is full of **** with that 'Silent Contract" stuff. Tyson pre-prison as fearless, any fighter clinching does not mean fear.