The Myth Of Mike Tyson

[K-DOGG]

Tyson's prime performance was against Spinks....he was still in his prime until he went to prison. The reason he didn't "look as good" agasint Bruno, Douglas, & Ruddock was the fact that Rooney wasn't in his corner and he wasn't as diligent in his training as he'd been under Rooney's watch. Having the skills is one thing, utilizing all of them is another.

Mike wasn't past it until he got out of prison. He lost his hunger behind bars.

Don't believe me...compare the fire in Mike's gut against Stewart and Ruddock with the second Bruno fight and Buster Mathis Jr. Mike was going through the motions after prison, fighting for the money, not the love of the game.

The Mike that was looking for a way out against Holyfield is not the same animal that warred with Ruddock for 15 rounds or even the out of shape Tyson that lost to Douglas but kept trying till the end.

Mike is of the same class or style of fighter as Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, and Jack Dempsey; not exactly no, but the same type. And that type does not have a long career.

Joe Frazier was past his best at 29 when he fought Foreman.
Marciano retired at age 31 due to a bad back.
Dempsey retired at 32 after losing the second Tunney fight and after a three year layoff.

Tyson was 24 when he went to prison and 29 when he got out....he was on the down side when he walked out a free man. He wasn't the same type of fighter as Ali, who also had a 3 year absence. Ali was a boxer, Tyson, a technical slugger in the swarmer style....like Dempsey.

Dempsey was on the skids after his 3 year hiatus, of course Tyson would be...not to mention the psychological effects of being in prison.

Tyson never peaked in the ring. He was....and then he wasn't.

[Yogi]

Posting your findings here and have the non-brighties (read Yogi)

Seeing as your just another one of those Tyson fanboys with hurt feelings, don't mind if I take that comment as a compliment rather than the insult it was intended as.

[BKM-]

Seeing as your just another one of those Tyson fanboys with hurt feelings, don't mind if I take that comment as a compliment rather than the insult it was intended as.

You didn't hurt anyone's feelings, your posts were rather laughable. My(And the other guys here) Tyson knowledge is inferior.

[Yogi]

He was fully trained by Rooney for that fight. AFTER that fight, he was past his prime SKILLSWISE. My Tyson knowledge is inferior to yours.

Nope, I wouldn't say he was "fully trained" because there were strong rumours that he was slacking off in training during the lead up to the fight, and judging by the fact that he wasn't as "cut" as he was for say the Berbick fight (the Tyson that fought Spinks physically looked not one bit different than the one who fought Douglas), I'd venture to say that there's some truth to that...Also consider all the out of the ring **** that was happening with Tyson at that time like, his marriage troubles, managerial problems, Jacob's death, his fragile mindset (assaulting parking lot attendants a year earlier, driving his wife's car into a tree shortly after the fight, ditto for the incident when throwing his furniture out of the windows of his home, etc., etc...Tyson was an admitted "manic depressive" previous to the fight), his drinking problems (which is something he says he gave up in an interview a couple of months before the Douglas fight), etc., etc...A whole bunch of stuff that would've made some very convient excuses for you Tyson fans had he lost.

Also watching the Spinks fight...where's this great head movement, jab, or combination punching that was supposed to be a great trademark of a "prime" Tyson (with Rooney). Don't see much of any of those things, and all I really saw was a fighter who only swarmed in throwing mostly singular power punches as he looked for a quick knockout...You know, the same things that are supposed to be a description of what Tyson fanboys say was an indicator that he was past his best.

i.e. I've heard the "on the night he beat Spinks he could've beaten anybody in history" statement so often over the years, and it's quite often made by those who are very quick to excuse his loss to Douglas as a depleted verison of Mike...

But what I want to know is...What the hell is the difference?!

[Yogi]

You didn't hurt anyone's feelings, your posts were rather laughable. My(And the other guys here) Tyson knowledge is inferior.

The amount of little red bars that I've gotten from Tyson fanboys as of late indictates that some people aren't too happy with what I say about him.

And yes...Yogi > All, but that goes without saying.

[RockyMarcianofan00]

Tyson's prime performance was against Spinks....he was still in his prime until he went to prison. The reason he didn't "look as good" agasint Bruno, Douglas, & Ruddock was the fact that Rooney wasn't in his corner and he wasn't as diligent in his training as he'd been under Rooney's watch. Having the skills is one thing, utilizing all of them is another.

Mike wasn't past it until he got out of prison. He lost his hunger behind bars.

Don't believe me...compare the fire in Mike's gut against Stewart and Ruddock with the second Bruno fight and Buster Mathis Jr. Mike was going through the motions after prison, fighting for the money, not the love of the game.

The Mike that was looking for a way out against Holyfield is not the same animal that warred with Ruddock for 15 rounds or even the out of shape Tyson that lost to Douglas but kept trying till the end.

Mike is of the same class or style of fighter as Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, and Jack Dempsey; not exactly no, but the same type. And that type does not have a long career.

Joe Frazier was past his best at 29 when he fought Foreman.
Marciano retired at age 31 due to a bad back.
Dempsey retired at 32 after losing the second Tunney fight and after a three year layoff.

Tyson was 24 when he went to prison and 29 when he got out....he was on the down side when he walked out a free man. He wasn't the same type of fighter as Ali, who also had a 3 year absence. Ali was a boxer, Tyson, a technical slugger in the swarmer style....like Dempsey.

Dempsey was on the skids after his 3 year hiatus, of course Tyson would be...not to mention the psychological effects of being in prison.

Tyson never peaked in the ring. He was....and then he wasn't.

I've heard mixed reviews about his retirement. Its not completely known if that was the real reason. The two most likely are the bad back and the fact that he wanted to get away from his manager. When he was still an amateur he signed with a manager who took over 40% of his ring profits. He signed with him because Rocky really had little expierence with money. He was poor and and 400 dollars sounded like alot for a profight. He was supposed to make a comeback but his family urged him to stay retire. Even his last fight (Archie Moore) he said he was gunna make it 50-0.

Wikipedia-
Rocky had a professional record of 49-0 with forty-three knockouts. Some say that he was 50-0 (with forty-four knockouts), but that bout can not be proven as professional, yet. He was originally scheduled to fight Nino Valdez in his last fight on January 2, 1956 (or at a later date in June 1956), but that fight never took place. Originally planned for Miami, FL. Other possible contenders near the end of Marciano's career were Tommy Hurricane Jackson and Floyd Patterson; however, Patterson was not yet ready to take on Marciano and wanted to fight for light-heavyweight championship first for about one to two years.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Marciano

[Yogi]

I've heard of that supposed 50-0 record for Marciano in the past, but I don't know...All I know that it was rumoured to have happened during March of 1956 while him and his wife were visitng Brazil. I know he got into the ring with one or two of the Brazilian heavyweights that were around then (like Dos Santos), but I haven't read anything that indicates that it was anything more than a simple exhibition of his fighting ability.

Valdes ****ed up what was basically his last chance at a shot against Marciano in Dec of 1955 when he lost to Bob Baker in a "dull ten-round match that probably eliminated both heavyweight contenders from any chance of a title shot with Rocky Marciano".

Some backers(Lefty Clark in particular) showed an interest in matching them up in Havana for the spring of 1956, but...that deal was squelched partly by Cuban officials who "frowned" at the idea.

[RockyMarcianofan00]

I've heard of that supposed 50-0 record for Marciano in the past, but I don't know...All I know that it was rumoured to have happened during March of 1956 while him and his wife were visitng Brazil. I know he got into the ring with one or two of the Brazilian heavyweights that were around then (like Dos Santos), but I haven't read anything that indicates that it was anything more than a simple exhibition of his fighting ability.

Valdes ****ed up what was basically his last chance at a shot against Marciano in Dec of 1955 when he lost to Bob Baker in a "dull ten-round match that probably eliminated both heavyweight contenders from any chance of a title shot with Rocky Marciano".

Some backers(Lefty Clark in particular) showed an interest in matching them up in Havana for the spring of 1956, but...that deal was squelched partly by Cuban officials who "frowned" at the idea.

huh didn't know that
learn something knew everyday

[K-DOGG]

Wasn't Marciano's 50th win against Jerry Lewis?

[Yogi]

Wasn't Marciano's 50th win against Jerry Lewis?

Or maybe it was that fight he had on Jan 20th, 1970...

Where's Butterfly?