Would Tyson have been champion without D'Amato

Trainers are unsung. Tyson would have went nowhere without Cus. Atlas and Rooney wouldn't have been factors without Cus. Ali would not have been allowed to develop without a hands-off trainer like Dundee. Louis, sans Blackburn, would have been technically deficient. He would have been a black version of Baer. Duran would have been a one-dimensional slugger without Brown and Arcel -he would have been like Ayala.

Bottom line is that trainers have been critical. Even in hypotheticals, we should take care not to discount the grand and grizzled strategists behind them.

 

Cus D'Amato's role in Tyson's life went way beyond making him a great fighter. This was a man who saved a kid from either a life time in prison or an early death. Forget about being heavyweight champion of the world. Tyson would not have even fought as an amateur had he not been discovered by D'Amato.

 

No, it's doubtful, he probaly would have been killed or sent to Prison for a long time..

 

Louis and Tyson had differnt body types and physical abilities Jack Blackburn might not have been the best Trainer for Tyson and vice versa Cus might not have been the best trainer for Louis

 

DaMattos fighters all seem to have certain points of similarity while Blackburns show a bit more variety of style.

Blackburn would probably have been able to do something with Tyson which I imagine would split the difference between Tyson and Louis. Louis's power and handspeed could have made for a verry interesting DaMatto school offensive fighter.

 

Strongly disagree with the last statement even if you added...as a trainer.

D' Amato was like the Professor. Rooney was like the TA. Atlas had his contributions but he loves to hear himself and exaggerate his contributions.

 

Tyson the fallen champ would not exist if it wasn't for Cus. That and the whole string of events that got him into Cus' hands. Tyson would have been nothing more than a thug that would have been permanently locked up.

 

If you mean could another trainer had made Tyson champ, probably, but Cus was best suited for Tyson style and personality wise. Cus was not greatest trainer of all time, or even his own time, but for Tyson he was perfect.

If Tyson had not been bougt to Cus he would have never become a boxer, he was not into sports, and had no goals in that direction.

 

Tyson would have been NOTHING without Cus.

 

Yes, I think he would have been a champion regardless of Cus. Probably not as good, but still a champion.
Remember that Cus did not discover Tyson. Bobby Stewart did. It was Stewart who contacted Cus and told him about this phenomenal kid. Stewart had connections on the fight game and if Cus had rejected the offer, I'm certain Stewart would have contacted some other people.
Who knows? Maybe an Eddie Futch or Angelo Dundee would have had Tyson instead.
Cus was obviously much more than a mere trainer to Tyson, but it's not like Mike was a raging lunatic as a youngster, despite his reputation. Many boxers as young men were as bad or worse than he.

Cus was perfect for Tyson, but nonetheless given the poor state of the division in the 80's and Tyson's prodigious talent I don't see any reason why Tyson, provided he had decent training, could not at least capture a belt.

 

Look at Tyson after he and Kevin Rooney parted ways. You can see a diffrence even as early as the first Bruno fight.
Without D'Amato it is very unlikly he becomes a boxer but if he dose box I can see him wining a tittle but i dobut he would be domant.

 

Fair post Punchy. Good to see Cus getting his due.

Blind Freddie can see the shared D'Amato stamp in the talented trio of Torres, Patterson and Tyson. One can even see the style evolve, with D'Amato being the type of trainer who was always trying to learn and extremely perceptive technically. He may have let others hold the reigns here and there, but guys like Atlas, Rooney and Fariello were all Cus tutored and based. He was also a great philosopher in his own right.

Regarding the question, IF Tyson got thru his teenage years and found boxing he may have become a champ. I'm not sure he would have got thru without Cus' guidance, but let's pretend he did. I think given his extreme raw talent he would have had a chance of being world champ, but as Stone tells it's very difficult to overlook the actual roles a Cus and Dundee et al have played. Good question, but a damn tough one.