Tyson, Tillis, Douglas

[JAB5239]

Watching Tyson vs Tillis got me wondering if Douglas formulated a game plan for Tyson based on that fight. Both used lateral movement and the jab while trying to tie him up inside. Both also had success with the uppercut. Could this have been the blueprint Buster used to upset Tyson? Thoughts?

[Daddy T]

Watching Tyson vs Tillis got me wondering if Douglas formulated a game plan for Tyson based on that fight. Both used lateral movement and the jab while trying to tie him up inside. Both also had success with the uppercut. Could this have been the blueprint Buster used to upset Tyson? Thoughts?

a lot of tyson's opponents talked about using the tillis gameplan against mike, none of them had much success with it. Some people point to the likes of smith if running for twelve rounds and surviving the distance is any sort of achievement.

Of the guys against prime rooney era mike i thought tillis, ribalta and tucker gave the best performances. If any of those three met mike on that night in tokyo they would have beaten him just like buster would have lost (but given a good account of himself) if the mike that fought them turned up.

[miamike]

It seemed all the heavyweights wanted to hold and tie Tyson up instead of moving. Tillis was very effective at that.

[mickey malone]

Watching Tyson vs Tillis got me wondering if Douglas formulated a game plan for Tyson based on that fight. Both used lateral movement and the jab while trying to tie him up inside. Both also had success with the uppercut. Could this have been the blueprint Buster used to upset Tyson? Thoughts?

Tbh I think it had more to do with Mike's ******* & hooker binge b4 the fight, coupled with the death of Buster's mum, made Douglas much harder to beat..

[joseph5620]

Tbh I think it had more to do with Mike's ******* & hooker binge b4 the fight, coupled with the death of Buster's mum, made Douglas much harder to beat..

Those were definitely big factors.I know Tyson wasn't focused like he should have been. Greg Page dropped him in sparring preparing for that fight. Tyson's corner was inept. Too many negative factors going in. I was a little kid when it happened but looking back as an adult those 40 to odds don't look too bad if you knew Tyson's situation.

I didn't know about the ******* binge.

[Sugarj]

a lot of tyson's opponents talked about using the tillis gameplan against mike, none of them had much success with it. Some people point to the likes of smith if running for twelve rounds and surviving the distance is any sort of achievement.

Of the guys against prime rooney era mike i thought tillis, ribalta and tucker gave the best performances. If any of those three met mike on that night in tokyo they would have beaten him just like buster would have lost (but given a good account of himself) if the mike that fought them turned up.

I couldn't have worded it better. Mitch Green caused some problems too....

[Dynamite76]

Probably, but consider Tillis was three years off being a world class fighter, and was at the journeyman stage, so he knew all the tricks to the trade on how to deal with Tyson.Shame, they didn't find out about his allergy until too late, could have made a great WBA champion.

[BattlingNelson]

It certainly helped, but the main issue, as I see it (and saw it), was that Douglas wasn't intimidated as most where and he had the determination and skill set to get the job done.

[billeau2]

It certainly helped, but the main issue, as I see it (and saw it), was that Douglas wasn't intimidated as most where and he had the determination and skill set to get the job done.

yes and one way that determination seemed to manifest was in his jab. A lot of Tyson fights one saw Mike use his footspeed and head movement to walk through, smother the jab. Douglas seemed to use an idea that Dempsey advocated in his text on boxing: making the jab a strong punch with a measure of body weight behind it. Buster really put his shoulder into the jab, he wound up shifting weight on the punch many times and his reach was already an advantage. Tyson not being at his best may have been a little slower in the feet, but Douglas showed a beautiful jab that evening.

It seemed to me that Douglas also took a page from Ali that night...he made that jab so effective that what he woked off of the jab was....academic. When he KO'ed Mike he had Tyson backing off and up...A Mike Tyson not moving foward and throwing punches becomes a somewhat diminutive heavyweight with no reach and no means to tie a guy up who is extended with reach.

That was a magnificent fight....I will take the memory of that fight to my next adventure after my time on earth is up.

[Bodyshot3]

There's certainly an element of Tillis in there and perhaps a smidgeon of the half-forgotten James Smith as well?

Bonecrusher kind of choked Tyson in their fight with a lot of mauling and pushing and used his size and height to nullify Tyson fairly effectively; but whilst I am fairly sure he never got beaten-up he also totally failed to do any meaningful work or manage to fire back convincingly.

Tyson won a stinker but I seem to recall that Smith (whilst being criticised for not making it a fight and only throwing any meaningful late on) raised the first questions about Mike's ability to cope with big, ring-savvy guys.

Douglas, uniquely, put all three winning elements together. The physical size not to be bulldozed, the self-belief not to be intimidated and keeping on the move behind a solid jab...all came together for Douglas.