Why Iron Mike lost to Buster Douglas

In my opinion lax training habits totally affect his legacy. There's that element of "but what if he doesn't train?" in H2H matchups that he himself is responsible for. One of my favourite boxers, Sanders, was guilty of that exact same thing. Lackadaisical training. And then you wonder what might have been.

 

Of course he trained for the fight, look at the condition he was in FFS.

Does that mean he was in the best shape of his life? No, but was he in the best shape of his life for every bout before where he was knocking guys over? Of course he wasn't.

Douglas was the better of the two on the night and that's all that counts.

 

[QUOTE="Wass1985, post: 19615480, member: 87458"Douglas was the better of the two on the night and that's all that counts.[/QUOTE]
Douglas was actually very good that night. Very sharp, fearless, ripping the combos off.

We probably should be talking about his training habits rather than Tyson's because the question arises as to how good he could have been if he'd looked that sharp every fight.

 

Douglas was actually very good that night. Very sharp, fearless, ripping the combos off.

We probably should be talking about his training habits rather than Tyson's because the question arises as to how good he could have been if he'd looked that sharp every fight.[/QUOTE]

Exactly, it was more a case of Douglas getting in to the mentality he never did before or after.

 

A prime, Cus-trained Tyson would utterly destroy any version in time of Douglas. Anyone with a glimpse of true boxing knowledge knows that. But still...Props to Douglas who seized the occasion with both hands and did what he had to do at this precise moment, whatever the circumstances where, when no one believed in him.

 

Yeah Mike really struggled without Cus.........

Next joke please.

 

You have a point, the way he describes the Holyfield fights is not what the rest of the world saw.
'He was butting me, my own wife and kids were so scared to look at my destroyed face.'

He looked completely fine to me in the post fight interview!

 

Anybody who followed Tyson's career BEFORE and AFTER Cus D'Amato can easily see that soon after his death Tyson began to let it slip on many technical things in the ring he was doing under Cus's watch. But for me the main reason of his progressive downfall was the discipline that Cus inducted him was gone when he died and Tyson whent slowly but surely downhill from there.

 

You do realise he went on to become undisputed world champion after Cus' death........

 

EXACTLY!

Most people have not even seen Mike Tyson's fights with Cus in his corner as they were before his time as a champion and against lower level opponents.

Yet still people say things like Tyson's skill went downhill after Cus died.

 

Yes. But he would have been so much better with Cus his entire career.

 

The movement was gone after Cus, the stamina too because of the lack of structure in Tyson's training and life in general...Cus was keeping that boat straight.

 

Yes he would have been better with a 120 year old in his corner that wet himself on a daily basis and couldn't see his own pecker let alone overlook and train a champion Tyson........

 

I'm sorry but have you even seen a Tyson fight let alone his career?

 

I wouldnt take much of what Tyson says in his book very seriously tbh. I think he selects his truths a bit. Sometimes I genuinely believe what he is saying, especially about his self loathing and drug addictions but I think other areas he finds hard to face, so he either changes his story depending on his mood or goes with the main excuses his fans have laid out over the years. he doesn't like to admit he quit out of the Holyfield fight but post prison Tyson was a mess so it wouldn't surprise me, there is some evidence to suggest this. He used to acknowledge Busters performance in the past a lot more than he does not but these days as well.

But I will say that its simply idiotic IMO to say Tyson was in his best form against Douglas. yes it was his fault he wasn't at his best but it doesn't change the fact Douglas didn't fight a fully prepared Tyson. Yes Tyson looked great physically but that doesn't mean much when his camp was generally bad and he wasnt mentally not into it.

I dont get why it is so hard for some to admit Mike wasnt at his best that night, this has happened to other fighters but they get a free pass, but with Tyson its always the same from the detractors "Tyson was 23 and and fully prepared mentally and physically", despite losing his entire training team and support system, despite them being replaced by inept "Team Tyson" that didnt have a clue to handle Tyson in the toughest fight of his life, or the vital buildup to it. This is all Tyson's fault but it still, again doesn't change the fact, Douglas didn't face the best prepared Tyson possible.

I really don't get it. I can sit here as a Tyson fan and say, "well maybe even if Tyson was as his very best that night, fully prepared, maybe it still wouldnt be enough to beat Tokyo Douglas". So why is it so hard for the detractors to admit, maybe, just maybe Tyson wasn't up for this one?

It was on his face and showed in his demeanour the very second he entered the ring.