Would Tyson Have Been Able To Handle A Loss, Early In His Career?

Agreed Ferg.

If we take the Tillis fight as it was but change the outcome to an L on Mike’s record- it would’ve set Mike back a bit but it would’ve been the best case scenario (losing to Tillis) if Mike had to lose a fight along the way.

Even if we tweaked the complexion to a close but clear loss - again, it would still be the best possible way to lose if we were to impose a loss on Mike - he’d have a far better chance of coming back from such a loss.

The first, crucial step back of course would be to immediately rematch Tillis and he see him off in no uncertain fashion.

If he copped a devastating loss like the actual loss he suffered against Douglas however..that would be extremely hard for Mike to regroup, comeback from and get himself back on his winning ways - just imo.

That Louis came back from the Schmeling loss was no mean feat at all - and, at least for me, Joe’s ability to come back from same actually eclipses the loss in its own right and positively builds into Joe’s elite ATG status overall.

 

It's really hard to say. I cant think of any other sport where a loss can have such a devastating impact on someone's psyche and career. Top pros in sports like tennis lose to lesser opponents all the time, but one bad loss and a boxer can be completely written off. It must add to the pressure. Personally, I like to see a boxer take an L and adapt from it, I never hold that against them.

 

I think with Cus or Rooney around, he would be OK. Depending on how the loss was, he would still be Mike and he would still go on and do great things.

 

I don't think so. Cus D' Amato trained him to be a ruthless destroyer that he predicted would become the youngest HW champion ever. Mike trusted him blindly. If he had lost he would have lost trust in Cus therefore in himself

 

His biggest issue was growing overconfident from never losing. Had he suffered a loss early on I think he would've been much better off as he'd have likely became less one-dimensional and learned to switch gears when losing a fight instead of always charging forwarded because that was the only thing he knew.

That said if he suffered a devastating loss early on like the one against Douglas....its hard to say. Most boxers ain't recovering from that kind of beatdown. On the other hand you do have some boxers where such a loss causes them to snap and become better than ever imagined. Was Tyson that kind of boxer? Its a toss up IMO because recovering from such a beatdown takes hunger and while Tyson did have that kind of hunger, he had to be motivated for it. I think it ultimately depends on who his trainer is. If its Cus or Rooney then yeah I could see even a devastating loss not entirely slowing him down. If its any other trainer then nope, Mike would be finished.

 

I think it would've taught Mike a lot more than it did later on, especially considering his support at the time in Rooney and Cus.

 

I think Mike having studied so many old school fighters would’ve accepted it for what it is and moved on. I don’t think the “mission” Cus had mattered that much to Tyson he still tried to unify and to do his “best” up until about and a bit past the 90s.

 

I think it would've helped him and put another fire under him that he lost in part bcuz of his dominance.


Seen this argument b4 recently but I agree w it that he still had sum passion left prior to prison. Definitely not as sharp but he didn't let the Douglas loss destroy him despite how humiliating it was.


Not sure he would've said this in the 90s but I recently heard him say the Douglas fight was his fav from his career.

 

Anthony Joshua alluded to this as well. He was under tremendous pressure with all his sponsors and fans. Joshua was deeply entrenched in the social media era where people can easily hype up and exaggerate their favorite fighters as being demi gods and Joshua was feeling it. He even said in interview something to the effect of "I can't lose right now, too many people are relying on me".

 

I think a significant factor would have been that Cus D'Amato his father figure, died before Tysons 12th pro bout, so i believe that a loss around that time would have not been handled by Tyson.

 

Excellent analogy to Tyson’s burden. Also great point as to the far reaching and broad based influence and effects of social media - which keeps on unpacking on us as time progresses.

 

The "need' to be undefeated was not so urgent as now when Tyson was coming up. Tyson had looked at films and been schooled in boxing history. His idol Jack Dempsey had been kayoed in one round and come on to win the championship. Joe Louis had been knocked out by Max Schmeling and come back. So Mike had perspective early on. I think a loss right then might have motivated him. I think he would have been okay and recovered pretty quickly. Like HolDat says, his team was still together and backing him.

 

That's true. It's a misconception amongst people that Tyson collapsed after that, even though he put up great performances against Tillman, Stewart and Ruddock. Tyson fighting in '92 to '94 is one of the biggest what-ifs in boxing history, in my opinion -- he truly missed out on some of his best years.

 

This is about the worst that is likely to occur based upon when & who was with him.
Others have made great comments about how in the early stages a loss very likely would be a motivator & helped him develop & hone his craft (& variety of strategies) even more.