Here's a theory: Tyson's problem was purely confidence issues.

[-Antonio-]

I agree with kid on the fact that heart had nothing to do with it. When you take beatings like he did in the Lewis and Dougles fight and continue to go at it, its not heart. He crumbled when he faced adversity. Thats all mental.

[Verstyle]

when i was an amateur my parents never knew about it, i kept it secret from them because i knew what they thought of me - not very much. the mental aspect of boxing is really one of the most interesting, i never believed in myself when i had the goods. i've always wondered if i could have made a good pro - i think so, given what some of the guys who trained me said, that i had surprising handspeed and power. anyway at the time when i had the greatest potential i didn't believe in myself, a guy i knew who didn't like me - he was surprised when he saw me training and admitted i'd make a good boxer. it was only years later i realized what i had, when i remembered some of the fights i'd had. but when i should have been taking it seriously i didn't train, didn't eat properly, was out partying all night. i'll always feel sorry for tython because i know where his head is at sometimes, how it ****s up your potential

yeah the mental part is the hardest thing to overcome in sports. i dont even tell my parents when i knock ppl around or ppl at my gym think i'll become huge. im always afraid they'll be live.ok. get over yourself. but my parents r cool,they just dont know how serious i am about it.

[Verstyle]

I definitely know where you're coming from vers...

Growin up my folks treated my younger brother like a golden child, they went to all his basketball games, they got to know all his friends, almost anything he did they supported it fully, hell they acted like he was "cool"- my mom would gush over anything he did.

I was the older brother and I was good at school. The only time they ever noticed me was when I was causing trouble. My brother used to blame me for everything to the point of my dad kickin my ass on a pretty regular basis. Gave me a real complex that I was a bad person, folks never let me build up that big brother confidence.

My folks have never really supported me in anything I've done. i went to college in a podunk town, studying a major that was way hard, just for their approval - because that's what they wanted me to do, and I've spent most of my adult life regretting it.

Sometimes you gotta do without.

In my case, I usually supplant them with close friends.
Lost most of my close friends by moving out here to Texas to get married. Unfortunately, my ex-fiancee was my closest friend, the only one i had left, and she damn near killed me in 2006 by lying, cheating, stealing, and blaming it all on me.

My boxing/fighting interests are kind of on the backburner now. I'm going back to the drawing board and re-figuring out what I want to do with my life. Had to go out and get a social life too; boxing is a pretty lonely sport (for me in Texas at least) & the isolation was really pushing me over the edge.

That's not to say I'm not boxing, I'm just not making it the center of my life. I gotta figure out what makes me happy and use it to keep me on track for boxing. An actual decent chick would help out real nice but the kind of girls i like are few and far between here in Texas.

I think you gotta figure out what keeps you happy, confident, and content- then use that to fuel yourself in boxing. If it's a girl, if it's a trainer you've clicked with, if it's a younger brother/sister who looks up to you, whatever it is- fight for it.

hell i would just find something that im comfortable with,like for me boxing is and it keeps my head off of ****.

[Sir_Jose]

Here's a stab at the Tyson enigma. I've seen the fights, observed how he faced adversity in the ring and out, and heard the things he's said throughout his life.

I propose this: It wasn't a lack of heart or grit, nor a technical deficiency or glaring weakness in his style. It wasn't his shorter stature, or even the people he chose to surround himself with (the #1 target most people pin the blame on). Tyson's trouble all stemmed from a lack of confidence, an inferiority complex.

With Cus around to keep his confidence built up, he did very well for himself, but things soon fell apart when Cus passed on as Cus had built him up to a certain level and only he knew how to really keep him there. The thing is, even with Cus around there were cracks in the foundation of Tyson's tower of confidence. It's been said by Atlas and others who trained him that Tyson was on the verge of quitting in fights as early on as his amateur career when he had trouble exerting his will on opponents. There is footage of Tyson crying before an amateur fight and Teddy Atlas consoling him. The truth is, Cus could only help Tyson so much when he was alive, because Tyson's problem was internal, and deeply rooted unfortunately.

Self confidence is the single most important attribute a fighter can possess. It is in this category that Tyson is the most lacking when compared to the other great heavyweights. That Tyson went as far as he did while not really believing in himself or his worth as a person shows you how strong he really was mentally.

The question is, assuming this theory is correct, why did Tyson lack this belief in himself? Was it background, or genetic? Tyson experts, what do you think?

Oh wow Mike had confidence problems...you come up with this all by yourself?

I mean have you seen the clip of him crying in Teddy Atlas' arms blubbering how people wont like him if he dont fight, and yes Cus was alive when that happend.

and Cus hurt Mike more than helped him as a HUMAN BEING by never holding him responsible.

[1bad65]

If you read Teddy Atlas' book, he does say it was lack of heart. He said Tyson was fine when he hit guys and they went down and stayed down. It was when they either would not go down or they got back up that he had problems.

Teddy said he was cornering Mike at an amateur fight against a big, white kid. He said Tyson put him down and he kept getting up. Tyson came back to the corner frustrated. Teddy tried to calm him and Tyson said his hand was broken. Teddy squeezed the glove and Mike never flinched. So he told him he better not quit. Teddy said he had push him to not quit, even though he was beating this kid up. The fact that the other kid would get back up got to Tyson.

Teddy Atlas also predicted before the fight Mike would quit in the 2nd Holyfield fight because Evander would not back down. He said that biting him was Tyson's way of quitting 'honorably' in his own eyes.

[MindBat]

I folowed Tyson religiously when he was on top. And I also believe he would've surpassed many of the greats' records had he still been fighting.

My perspective on this is more a case of karma catching up to him.

As a young kid, trying to survive, he could care less about who he hurt in any way to get his. I'm assuming it's the same as he got older and ****ier. He let his big ego control his thoughts and his actions without any remorse.

Ultimately, we All have to face the consequences of our past thoughts and actions. It's simply the Law of life. Like the law of gravity. We have to pay the piper some day. We'll get back what we gave out (good and bad) in the end.

Just my perspective.

[realheavyhands]

[phallus]

yeah the mental part is the hardest thing to overcome in sports. i dont even tell my parents when i knock ppl around or ppl at my gym think i'll become huge. im always afraid they'll be live.ok. get over yourself. but my parents r cool,they just dont know how serious i am about it.

if u really wanna be a pro fighter, no matter what happens u have to believe in your self. it pisses me off that now i have the determination to train properly but physically i'm not what i used to be. don't let that be you

[Pork Chop]

hell i would just find something that im comfortable with,like for me boxing is and it keeps my head off of ****.

in the past it woulda been boxing & kickboxing- that's where all my friends hung out, that was my social outlet.
out here, it just ain't the same. there are a couple cool guys at the gym, but they're not my boys that i used to run with all the time.

if i throw myself into boxing fulltime lately, i start feeling more n more isolated, lonely, and insane. so i'm finding stuff to get me through, but boxing's not really the centerpiece that it once was.

as far as confidence goes, i've never really had that kind of floyd mayweather, "dominate the world" type confidence- mine's more like mayorga or duran: "win or lose I'm going to hurt you". I have no problem bringing that up after I get hit a few times. My problem is keeping my head straight long enough to stay consistent in the gym.

[hemichromis]

Tyson had the potential to surpass ali, most ali fans wont admit it but its true. Tyson had the potential to be the best, its as simple as that. I think there is a reason as to why he's the biggest draw ever in boxing.

physically the only boxer superior was george foreman. mentally however, niether was any good at all they were not smart boxers