Did Mike Tyson a "Game quitter" against Buster Douglas like Teddy said?

[Benny Leonard]

That should be: "Was Tyson a Game Quitter" and not "Did"

if you vote "YES" please explain why


Only judging the Buster Douglas fight.

If you really think about it, Tyson quit on his career/himself after Spinks. But just judge that one fight with Douglas as is.

OK, I won't go through the entire 50 pages of theory on the word or the story that I could probably write on the topic/subject, but I'll give a few bits to it.

Teddy Atlas said Mike was a "Game Quitter." Basically, Tyson didn't quit the fight by raising his hands up and refusing to come out for the next round but Teddy's view was that after Tyson knocked Douglas down and Buster got up, Tyson's confidence was broke and any thought of winning the fight was out the window; so he basically accepted his beating until he was finished off.

Now, I do understand the point Teddy is making about being a "Game Quitter" in a way, but if true, if he was "game" for the beating, why not just sit against the ropes like a lot of fighters do and just take their beating until the ref stopped the fight?
Is there different levels of being a "game quitter" since I guess "game quitter" is better than quitting like Duran or Arguello or how not coming out for the next round like he did in his last fight?
Was he "game" enough to take the beating and still look like he is fighting by throwing a few punches to cover up his quitting? Maybe...but why bother. I could probably bring up a number of fights like that.
Why continue to try to keep coming forward and throw some punches whenever he could gather up the energy (after resting) to punch?

Seriously, the guy was out of shape going into the fight and was tired even before the knockdown of Buster but he still continued on.
There was a quote by Vince Lombardi that said: "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Yet if you look at that fight, despite being fatigued and taking a savage beating by Douglas, Tyson continued on. It's not like he just started to take a beating after the knockdown of Douglas either, he was getting his ass whooped from the start.
Even after Douglas hit Tyson with a hellova powerful combo at the end that dropped Tyson on his back causing his mouth-piece to fall out, Tyson barely knowing where he was, did his best to gather himself, grabbed his mouth piece and staggered back to his feet where the ref waived the fight off.


I think besides getting his ass kicked from the start of the fight that Tyson showed heart in that fight. People like to judge heart by when a fighter is at their best, but I like to see a fighter when they are not at their best and how they respond. Now, Tyson did lose and you can take a shot at the "heart" department for not training hard anymore after his Spinks fight but if he did continue to train hard then we wouldn't be able to see how much heart he could gather up in the Douglas fight. I don't think you have to come back to win in order to show heart. Actually, if a 5'11, 220 pound fighter that is out of shape both Mentally and Physically beats a 6'4, 230 pound athletic, motivated fighter that is still young and at his best...there is something wrong with that picture...unless of course the guy wins by a one-punch KO then that has happened probably. Almost did actually in this fight.

So here is the video to judge for yourself:

This shows the knockdown and the rounds after...






Next post I will tell you some of the things I saw....

[Benny Leonard]

Some of the things I mentioned already that leads after the knockdown like continuing on to fight, but here are some clear things: Tyson came charging out in the next round to try to finish Douglas off; it didn't work. Douglas had to much energy for the exhausted Tyson at that point and despite Tyson trying to land some bombs, Douglas gathered himself well and fought back. Douglas would then stun Tyson in round 9 and smack him around. Tyson, stunned, gathered himself a little and made a short attack with some bombs back to no avail. Tyson would continue to move forward but clinch to get rest (like he had been doing for a while now because he was in crap shape).

With about 1:12 seconds left in round 9, Douglas unloaded a combo of bombs that hurt Tyson bad...backing Tyson up against the ropes. Where fighters could just cover up, Tyson started to unleash hail-marry uppercuts to stop Douglas's attack. Why uppercuts? because that was the punch that dropped Douglas. Getting pounded against the ropes, Tyson continues to fight back despite still being hurt. He is now taking a big beating but once there is room to move, Tyson moves forward and throws a big uppercut back (that misses) at {Time :46 left in round 9}. Tyson would try to get another big punch off by Douglas continued to pound his ass. The round would end.

Round 10 starts: Tyson comes out with a big bomb but Douglas handles it and clinches Tyson up (to show him who is boss) and pushes him back to the ropes. Distance is made and Tyson comes forward right to Douglas. Some more clinching. Tyson would do mostly clinching in this round with one punch sometimes to get in the clinch. Tyson starts to move forward and Douglas starts pumping that jab...jab, jab, jab,...Tyson moving forward and BAM! The Uppercut from Hell nearly rips Tyson's head off...Huge combo follows and Tyson is DOWN. Tyson, on his back, slowly staggers to his knees. Looks around for his mouth-piece, places it in his mouth and staggers back to his feet. The fight is OVER.

[M.I Truth ?]

Its always hard for me to watch that fight. I keep watching watching it and thinking Buster won't make the count. lol. The ref gave Douglas a lot more slack with the ten count than he did Mike. Not that it matters now. To the question I don't think Tyson was a game quitter in this fight. There was massive adversity and I think he tried to win the fight up until he was KOed. The problem was he didn't know how to win it.

[La_Vibora]

Not at all was he a quitter in any way. A "game" quitter would have just tried to hold on and survive until the end of the fight not continually come forward and give everything he has to win. He also could have just stayed down on the floor after that rather than try to get up, but he didn't. Teddy is just being a hater period. Another thing is this notion that Douglas was the first real fighter that he fought, which is BS, Bruno, Tucker, and Spinks were superior fighters to Douglas.

[Khalid X]

Teddy is just bitter about getting kicked out. I mean its was cool to stand up and if would of did that or maybe punched tyson thats cool. But he tried to get all gansta on teenage Tyson by putting a loaded gun to his face and threatning his life. This was infront of alot of people so of course Cus had no choice but to kick him out and ban him. That is why Teddy is so salty.

With that said. I really don't think Tyson is a game quitter. His heart was not into boxing at that time and basically his entire career after that. Go watch the 11th round of tyson-holyfield 1 or bascially the fight after the first headbut. Tyson shows tremendious heart and even when He lands on Holyfield with monsterous shots He still is comming throwing more and more. Tyson problem is that He didn't put the effort he needed in during his training camp and with his preperation. Basically if plan A wasn't working he didnt have a plan B or C. So when fighters got passed that he was prepaired to adapt and went to fighting instead of boxing.

All of that was a result from a lack of his love from boxing, because when you love something you put 110 % in and Tyson didnt do that. He even mentioned that during his trip to Toykyo, he was to busy ****ing those japaneese girls and didn't take the fight seriously. In ironic fashion just like most of prime Tyson opponents were defeated before the fight, Tyson soon became defeated before his fights with his have assessed effort and poor preperation during training camps.

[P4PKING_2008 :)]

Ref was bull**** in that fight. Gave buster a very long count and a short one for mike who was up in time and decided to find and collect his mouthpiece as well. Bull****.

[Benny Leonard]

Its always hard for me to watch that fight. I keep watching watching it and thinking Buster won't make the count. lol. The ref gave Douglas a lot more slack with the ten count than he did Mike. Not that it matters now. To the question I don't think Tyson was a game quitter in this fight. There was massive adversity and I think he tried to win the fight up until he was KOed. The problem was he didn't know how to win it.

That's true.

A lot had to do with his style of fight and his size vs. his opponents size. He was trained in an agressive style that breaks down the opponent and goes for the KO. He would make a fighter miss and then counter attack. The problem with that is that if you are going to be 5'11, 220, and fight like that, you have to be in tip-top shape to win, let alone against fighters taller and heavier than you. That's why someone like Marciano stayed in tip-top shape for every fight and he wasn't even going up against opponents that were that much taller or heavier or younger for that matter...and he still had some trouble. That's one thing you can knock Tyson for and give Marciano a lot of credit for: One fighter came into every fight prepared and the other didn't.

[KingTito]

No, Tyson fought tough.

[Benny Leonard]

Is there any way to re-edit the poll to open it up to see the voting?


It would be nice for people to give a reason if it is Yes or No...but especially "YES" because I want to see what they are seeing. So, if you vote "YES" please explain why.

[Kendo]

That should be: "Was Tyson a Game Quitter" and not "Did"


Only judging the Buster Douglas fight.

If you really think about it, Tyson quit on his career/himself after Spinks. But just judge that one fight with Douglas as is.

OK, I won't go through the entire 50 pages of theory on the word or the story that I could probably write on the topic/subject, but I'll give a few bits to it.

Teddy Atlas said Mike was a "Game Quitter." Basically, Tyson didn't quit the fight by raising his hands up and refusing to come out for the next round but Teddy's view was that after Tyson knocked Douglas down and Buster got up, Tyson's confidence was broke and any thought of winning the fight was out the window; so he basically accepted his beating until he was finished off.

Now, I do understand the point Teddy is making about being a "Game Quitter" in a way, but if true, if he was "game" for the beating, why not just sit against the ropes like a lot of fighters do and just take their beating until the ref stopped the fight?
Is there different levels of being a "game quitter" since I guess "game quitter" is better than quitting like Duran or Arguello or how not coming out for the next round like he did in his last fight?
Was he "game" enough to take the beating and still look like he is fighting by throwing a few punches to cover up his quitting? Maybe...but why bother. I could probably bring up a number of fights like that.
Why continue to try to keep coming forward and throw some punches whenever he could gather up the energy (after resting) to punch?

Seriously, the guy was out of shape going into the fight and was tired even before the knockdown of Buster but he still continued on.
There was a quote by Vince Lombardi that said: "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Yet if you look at that fight, despite being fatigued and taking a savage beating by Douglas, Tyson continued on. It's not like he just started to take a beating after the knockdown of Douglas either, he was getting his ass whooped from the start.
Even after Douglas hit Tyson with a hellova powerful combo at the end that dropped Tyson on his back causing his mouth-piece to fall out, Tyson barely knowing where he was, did his best to gather himself, grabbed his mouth piece and staggered back to his feet where the ref waived the fight off.


I think besides getting his ass kicked from the start of the fight that Tyson showed heart in that fight. People like to judge heart by when a fighter is at their best, but I like to see a fighter when they are not at their best and how they respond. Now, Tyson did lose and you can take a shot at the "heart" department for not training hard anymore after his Spinks fight but if he did continue to train hard then we wouldn't be able to see how much heart he could gather up in the Douglas fight. I don't think you have to come back to win in order to show heart. Actually, if a 5'11, 220 pound fighter that is out of shape both Mentally and Physically beats a 6'4, 230 pound athletic, motivated fighter that is still young and at his best...there is something wrong with that picture...unless of course the guy wins by a one-punch KO then that has happened probably. Almost did actually in this fight.

So here is the video to judge for yourself:

This shows the knockdown and the rounds after...






Next post I will tell you some of the things I saw....

No he didnt quite on it. I would not have blamed him though. In no way was his corner ready for that fight they had cold water in a dam glove to calm the swelling. He wasnt able to recover from tough rounds bc the corner was not ready for a brawl like that. I give it all to douglas for winning that fight bc he was no way supposed to be in it but tysons corner didnt make it any harder for him.