Would Tyson have betrayed and left Cus?

Cus D'Amato died during 1985, Mike Tyson's first year as a professional boxer. During his early years as a pro, Tyson appeared to have quite a team backing him up in Jimmy Jacobs, Bill Cayton, Steve Lott and Kevin Rooney. Could Jacobs have been the glue which held the team and Tyson together until his untimely death in early 1988? Tyson apparently broke up with Rooney eighteen months before losing his world heavyweight title to Buster Douglas in early 1990.

It did seem that Rooney made Tyson toe the mark as his trainer. After parting ways with Rooney, Tyson seem to choose virtual "yes-men" to be his trainers for the most part.

- Chuck Johnston

 

He most definitely would've stayed with Cus. The only reason he left the original Team Tyson was because his other father figure, Jim Jacobs, had passed away. He never felt close to Bill Cayton the way he did with Jacobs. Plus, he originally suspended Rooney for one fight because of what Rooney said about Robin Givens but once Rooney filed the lawsuit against Tyson he was fired.

 

You have to remember the whole whirlwind that was surrounding his career at that point: Jacobs dying, Givens claiming she was pregnant, Rooney patronizing Tyson about Givens and her BS, Cayton managing as a businessman only and King swooping in. Tyson had nowhere to turn to and didn't have anyone to trust. Plus he was only 22 years old! I've failed at far lesser problems.

 

I think had Cus not died, Tyson wouldn't have ever self destructed the way he did - if Cus was say 20 years younger, we could be looking at a Tyson that never went to jail, always trained hard and finished his career as an undisputed ATG rather than a "What could've been"

 

Pretty much how I see it panning out.

He may of stayed driven for a while longer but not too much,when you have so much money so young and people blowing smoke up your *** all the time the dedication would of soon wore off.

Even the right advice from D'Amato would have fallen on deaf ears eventually.

 

He never would have left cus he loved him too much if cus never died Mike probably would have made GOAT on a lot more people's lists

 

He might have not left Cus, but I can still see Tyson's issues getting to him and him self-destructing even with Cus training him.

Tyson still got into trouble as an amateur with Cus training him and being a mentor/father figure. Now picture that troubled kid with all this fame and money.

 

to me its like asking if a kid would leave home at 19 if he won the lottery...no matter how much he loved his mother.
i think, guessing, looking at the type of chap tyson was, that the allure of women and big city lights would have been too much to refrain from.....and the type of chap cus was, despite giving tyson a long leash, i imagine he would have protested a lot....and i think, if only temporary, yes they would split.

i think if cus was alive and tyson lost to douglas without cus, tyson would have come home to cus immediately

 

I cant be bothered to type it up but Tyson actually didn't severe ties with Rooney,it was Rooney who destroyed the relationship.

In a nutshell,Tyson was annoyed with Rooney for speaking out on his personal life, wife etc. So Tyson suspended Rooney for one fight, the Bruno fight and had plans on bringing him back after. But Rooney during this one match suspension decided to sue Tyson which completely destroyed it and basically Tyson said F you your not working in my corner again.

 

I see it as unfortunate that Cus was so old and frail when Tyson met him, the fact he died as Mike was on his way to becoming champion was devastating for him I think. People kind of take that for granted, because he had it all and was on his way to becoming champ the assumption seemed to be he got over it. But did he ever really? He needed a lot of guidance and the problem is Cus was the only one he admired enough to follow, he would have chosen Cus over Don King I reckon. Losing his mentor had a massive impact down the line, it really left half a job done.

I tend to agree it wouldn't all have been peachy if Cus lived though but Mike would defiantly stayed on the straight and narrow longer I think. I really don't think he would have betrayed him, as said, the only reason it did go belly up was because circumstances dictated that he was a sitting duck for Don King.

Its an interesting subject though. I wonder how Cus would have reacted to Robin Givens, that might have caused a bit of a wedge? So there are questions.

Also the Rooney thing really needs to be cleared up. As mentioned above, that wasn't all Tyson's fault. Kevin being a stubborn idiot and not letting time for the dust to settle a bit didn't help. He should have just respected Mike's wishes to keep out of his personal life, especially with the press. Rooney messed up as well.