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Yes agreed on the Don King catching a Bullet, fact is though as long as Cus was alive and in condition to keep Mike under control Mike would have not self destructed out of the ring. Tyson loved Cus and it actually was what made Mike who he was before he cracked up. Only person I believe Mike Tyson ever respected in life was Cus!!!!!
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None. He did have Paz for a bit.
From what I read (and not sure how much is true):
Rooney stayed in Catskill despite people telling him to go to the city.
Rooney also had some "issues" he was dealing with which wasn't the best way to recruit students.
Rooney seems to really only know one style and it's hard to get fighters to learn it and be good at it. How many fighters have really been able to follow that style?
It's better to be a Ray Arcel type who can work with anybody and any style.
It still doesn't matter because at the end of the day, when Rooney had Tyson, he continued to get better. Look at the fights from his first pro fight to Berbick...then from Berbick to Spinks. He kept improving and was said to have been even better in training/sparring but only so much transfers to the actual fight.Comment
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The fact is that as long as Cus was alive Tyson cherished that man, and would go to church 7 days a week if Cus told him too. Tyson respected Cus cause he was the only one that believed in him and gave him a chance at his darkest moment. Tyson would have not done any of those things if cus was alive and he would still be world Champ!!!!Comment
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Tyson was still a knucklehead under D'Amato. Cus and Jimmy were able to cover up some of these incidents and present the Hollywood "elderly white man takes in ****** black kid and turns his life around" story, but Tyson still got into trouble during those Catskill days.
Jose Torres talked about how he and Cus used to drive thru the streets of Brownsville looking for Mike when he'd run the streets, and rarely did they find him. Torres also wrote about one incident in "Fire and Fear" about Cus basically giving Mike an ultimatum because he was so tired of Mike getting into trouble.
Cus living longer may have prolonged Mike's stay at the top, but eventually demons would get the best of Mike. Plus his boxing style isn't exactly suited for longevity. It requires a ton of energy and stamina and fighters are more prone to burn out quickly with that sort of style. He's 5'11 with a 71" wingspan, he's not exactly going to be able to box at range patiently for most of his fights.Comment
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^^ Agreed. Many people never knew that Tyson was NOT really an Angel under Cus' management.
Mike was really young & immature while with Cus & their relationship was cut too short. Who really knows if Cus would have been able to tame him longer if he lived a couple more years. We can only wished for Iron Mike to have had a better life.
Oh & DK is an evil motherf&^$%$!Comment
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He could have been the best ever, as long as he didnt fight pacquiao, according to the experts on here, he can knockout anything that moves.Comment
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tyson was the man back then....never in a boring fight.....i believe he could've koed ali...Comment
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Don't know but how many other fighters did Enzo Calzaghe train and have sucess? How about Evangelesta Cotto? When you talk about trainers now in todays game they go where ever they can get paid just look at Mayweather Sr or Emmanuel Steward. It is very rare to see a trainer bring up a fighter and stick with him in todays game often fighters out grow the trainers they start with or they think the need a big named trainer to make them better. This is often not the case. Tyson had not only Rooney but he had Atlas and Cus around him in the GYM as well. he lived his life watching old tapes and training while he was surrounded by that type of enviroment. Just take a look at Rocky V and think about Tommy Gunnz. How he was lured away from Rocky in that movie same ish with Don King....King getting everyone that loved Tyson away from him so he could have full control of his carrer and more importantly to Don Tyson's money....Lefty
He was by far the best HW I have ever seen I am only 32 years old but to me he was far more impressive then Holyfield and Lewis. Holyfield was fun to watch for other reason seeing him fight back even when you thought he was beaten there was no quit in Holyfield. Even though I think he should have retired after he lost his rematch to Lewis in 1999. Lewis was a true champion had great skills a terrific jab and powerful right hand and upper cut. He lacked that start power quality that never took him to the heights he needed to be to really get appreciated while he was fighting. His one kink in his armor was his suspect chin. Although it is worth a notable mention that he showed some grit in the fight with Vitali. Tyson had an awesome combination of speed power in both hands footwork and head movement. His ability to get inside on bigger fighters and use his jab and body punching to open up other big shots. His famous left hook to the body follwed by that signature upper cut was purely awesome to see. He put fighters out with either his right hand or left hand didn't matter. It is always the punches you didn't see that hurt you and Tyson was great at hitting you with those punches. The fighter many of us saw after he was poluted by the world around him was a lesser version and he was still awesome. As most fighter learn that they can take a punch they ignore their origianl style and deffense Tysonwas no different. He stopped using his jab and moving his head. he became a one punch KO artist who would walk you down and swing for the fences. No more body work and that signature left hook/upper cut was no longer seen as often as before. It was more of just lunging in with the over hand right and left hook to the head.
To me there were 3 versions of Tyson The Dynamite Kid. This is the one everyone fell in love with. The young KO sensation that took the world by storm. Then there was Iron Mike Tyson aka The Baddest man On The Planet still dangerous but you could see the writing on the wall. King was involved his life started to change. He ended up in jail and when he came out he was clearly changed both inside and outside of the ring. The third is post the ear biting incident. After that I don't even know what nick name he went by but he was seriously damaged goods and in my mind he never returned to glory. The fight with Lennox was hyped up and he was clearly in the fight game now for a payday.....Lefty
The Dynamite Kid: 1985-1988 Record Won 34 (KO30) Loss 0
Undisputed Heavy Weight Champ at the age of 21
Iron Mike Tyson: 1989-1997 Record Won 11 (KO8) Loss 3 (KO2)
Maniac Tyson 1999-2005 Record Won 5 (KO5) Loss 3 (KO3)Comment
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