Tyson, Williams and the myth of that knee

[realheavyhands]

i roll dolo so suttin wrong witch..tyson still make more per fight then any heavyweight ..klitscko runnin scared from rahman...whats klitsckos Biggest win a loss to a fat lennox lewis who took everthing vk had...rahmam put lennox out with one shot thats why vitali scared..ok lil guy

[neils7147933]

Tyson already led by 5 points after three rounds.

It was only scheduled for 10.

He didn't appear to be in the best condition, but if it wasn't for the knee, it's still safe to assume Tyson could have won the fight, KO or decision...

[Martin (Top Knowledge)]

It wasn't the knee, that was just a marketing hype thing to try and sell another fight... *ENTER* - Tyson vs McBride

Tyson clearly punched himself out in my opinion.

[neils7147933]

It wasn't the knee, that was just a marketing hype thing to try and sell another fight... *ENTER* - Tyson vs McBride

Tyson clearly punched himself out in my opinion.

I didn't think Europeans bought the "punch yourself out" line of thinking, or is that just in Wlad fights? lol

[Guest]

All that being said, Anorak, your interest in this topic stems solely from the fact Williams is a Brit.

I was enjoying your input before you started making assumptions.

[Guest]

Original post edited to include link to fight footage.

[RobbieD]

Tyson already led by 5 points after three rounds.

It was only scheduled for 10.

He didn't appear to be in the best condition, but if it wasn't for the knee, it's still safe to assume Tyson could have won the fight, KO or decision...

How is it? Tyson walked out of the ring fine and didn't complain once about the knee until days after the fight. Even his own trainer Freddie Roach said they knew nothing about an injury and they just underestimated Williams. It could have been scheduled for how many rounds you like but the fact remains Tyson still got legit KO'd.

People need to stop thinking that Mike Tyson is the best thing since sliced bread.

[Knicksman20]

Tyson hurt his knee in that fight & it affected his punching. From after the 1st round on he mostly threw left hooks because he couldn't plant his feet to throw the right hand or left hand effectively. Those hooks he was throwing were arm punches so they didn't have the affect they did in the 1st. Tyson needs to be able to twist his hips & put his body weight to land his monster power. Example: his KO over Frans Botha or when he knocked Golota down. He turns his weight into that 1 punch & nitey night. Tyson's also the blame in that fight because it seemed he didn't have a plan B once he couldn't KO him. Couple that on the fact he hurt his knee & he thought there was no way he could win.

[jack_the_rippuh]

Kimmy and Anorak, as much as you hate Tyson or as much as you love Williams no matter what. Tyson would have KOed him.

[GranTorino]

Okay, it's an old(ish) subject, but it's quiet week for boxing (until the weekend, natch) so what the Hell.

This is something that's always bugged me about the Tyson/Williams fight. The notion that Williams "got lucky" and would have been knocked out in the first if his knee hadn't have gone.

Taking away the fact that the knee was largely caused by Williams, who applied his body weight to Tyson on the inside (not exactly sporting, but then neither are Tyson's elbows, Holyfield's head, Lewis's hitting and holding.....), I believe that the knee would have had no bearing on the outcome of the first round.

The second? Well, maybe. By the third Tyson was looking for a way out after paying for a bum to turn up and that "bum" not playing ball.

But I was reminded of the whole situation not just by posts on here (read another post on this front page which tries to downgrade Danny's win by pointing out he was obliterated by Klitschko... and that makes Tyson look better?!!?) but by a recent edition of Boxing Monthly where Freddie Roach admitted he underestimated Williams (the camp were publicly talking about a one-round fight) and that while Tyson had treatment for the knee, Roach said he wouldn't regard that as the reason he lost as "he never mentioned it to me in the corner."

People always slate Williams for this fight, but fail to mention Tyson sitting down like a ***** finger and waiting to be counted out.


But let's look at this "Tyson would have got the KO if it wasn't for the knee" myth. Here's the list of events that took place in that round, from the moment Williams was rocked to the end of the round. The time is the time that was left on the clock.



1'37m - Tyson's first significant shot against Williams

1'33m - The uppercut that Williams would later describe as "a white light behind his eyes"... Williams holds on and applies his weight to Mike, as the referee has to split them up.

1'21m - Action resumes, with Williams covering and not taking any further headshots from Tyson. They clinch again.

1'08m - The referee splits them up.

1'02m - Action resumes, Tyson trying to get in another uppercut. He succeeds once, the rest go to the body. Another clinch.

0'51m - The referee splits them up

0'47m - Action resumes. Williams uses the clinch and again gets separated by the referee. It's clear at this stage that Williams's head has now cleared.

0'30m - Action resumes.

0'28m - The knee!!!


More trading, some referee intervention, end of round.

Now is there really any Tyson fan so deluded that they think that a Danny Williams who was half-conscious could avoid being KOed by Tyson for over a minute would then be knocked out with a cleared head and less than half a minute on the clock? Tyson's got the guy half-out in front of him, yet he still has the savvy to avoid getting KOed for over a whole minute when out on his feet? This same guy would then - with his consciousness fully restored - get knocked out in less than a minute?

Here's the video so you can see for yourselves:

Tyson vs. Williams Round One:
Williams in trouble-end of round (11mb)

Dude, you've put way too much mental energy into this...