Good article on Mike Tyson...

[ChrististheAnswer2]

I get sick of hearing all these haters and "experts" write trash and nonsense about Mike, so heres a refreshing article from a former member of Team Tyson back in Mikes's day.

Boxing: RSR Goes 12 Rounds with Original Team Tyson Member – Steve Lott

By John "Johnny Detroit" Lepak - Sept. 19, 2005


It has been close to 20 years since Mike Tyson turned professional, but he remains the most popular name in boxing without question. It was 1986 when Mike Tyson became the youngest Heavyweight Champion of all time, and he continues to capture headlines around the World. Most recently he made the front page of the USA Today for receiving a ticket while riding a jet ski in Italy. The media continues to report this nonsense because they know one thing is for sure, if they put the name “Tyson” on it, people are going to pick up their publication and read it.

Mike Tyson gave his all to a sport, business and its fans that gave him little thanks in return. While he still has a legion of loyal fans, there are many of them who have turned their cheers to hisses because that’s what society teaches us today. To love a winner and ride the wave of success, but when that wave comes crashing down, oh how they love to say “I told you so”.

Long before the tabloids, Bentleys and multi-million dollar paydays there was just a wise old man and a young kid with dreams of becoming champion. A man that was there when it was all just a dream was Steve Lott. In this interview Steve Lott counter punches the critics’ low blows at Tyson and raises the hand of all true Tyson fans and followers to victory one last time. Lott didn’t give simple answers to the questions, he answered them with his Heart and Soul. Grab your ringside seat because Lott takes us inside his experiences with Mike Tyson and far away from the useless tabloid garbage you are used to reading on the web and in the print news about Tyson.

Round 1: How did you first get involved in the sport of boxing?

My Uncle Marty taught me to play handball when I was very young and I got hooked on the sport. As I played more and more I met many great players. One of them was Jimmy Jacobs. Jim worked with Bill Cayton in New York at a company called The Big Fights, Inc. The company owned the rights to all the legendary fights and its business was licensing the films and tapes for showing on television throughout the world. I asked Jim for a job at the company and he said yes. That was 1972.

Round 2: When did you first meet Mike Tyson?

It was a very brief meeting around 1982. Mike had hurt his wrist training and he came down to the city with Cus D’Amato. They stopped by the office for a few moments to speak with Jim and Bill. I had heard Jim and Bill speak highly of the Mike, but looking at him I was not impressed. Shows you how much I knew.

Round 3: From everything I have ever heard, you and Mike were more friends than business associates. How was your relationship with Mike back in those days?

First a little background. Mike was supposed to turn pro at the end of 1984. Jim and Bill entered into a deal with a wonderful promoter, Bob Andreoli. Unfortunately, Mike hurt his hand in training, this time a finger, and his debut was put on hold. The rehabilitation for his hand required Mike staying in New York for a week to undergo hand therapy twice a day. Jim and Bill asked me to supervise the doctors visits and Cus knew that I would be capable of the handling the responsibility. It was during this one week time period that I got to know Mike for the first time.

Mike was an incredibly warm, kind, and caring young guy. Now you must remember that this Mike that I met was not the Mike Tyson of Brooklyn circa 1979. This was a Mike Tyson who had just undergone 5 years of advanced training with Cus D’Amato in learning how to be a responsible human being. And Mike graduated with honors. As many people know it has to do with the teacher. And few were more qualified than Cus in this particular role.

Month by month and fight by fight Mike grew as a fighter and more importantly as a man. Cus died in October 1985, but Mike had other powerful positive individuals with whom he surrounded himself. People like Bill Cayton, Jim Jacobs, Jose Torres, Brian Hammill, Jack Newfield, and Bill Gallo. Most parents know that the friends their children associate with have a huge impact on the behavior of their child. Even though he was not a child, this was also true in Mike’s case.

For three years Mike was my house guest whenever he was not in training up in Catskill. The couch in my living room became Mike’s home away from home.

Sometimes Mike would arrive unannounced which was always interesting. I would be entertaining a young lady in my apartment when all of a sudden there would be a rather heavy knock on my door. And I knew who it was. I just could not send him away. And each one of these young ladies adored Mike because his demeanor and manners were so high level. It was during these three years that Mike ascended the heavyweight ladder in spectacular fashion. For me it was a learning experience listening to Kevin Rooney and Mike talk about the D’Amato system, but more importantly it was a chance to be close to Mike. I did not expect to love him as a brother or perhaps as son, but he made it impossible for that not to happen. His demeanor was so warm that you were drawn to him. Cus D’Amato knew what he was doing.

During this same period Jim and Bill had two world champions that I traveled with, Edwin Rosario and Wilfred Benitez. I must say that while being with Mike was great because he was a terrific kid, being with those two fighters was more exciting. You have to remember at that time Mike was just a four round fighter. There was no one outside of Cus, Jim and Bill, who was proclaiming Mike the next great heavyweight. I certainly never dreamed that Mike would become the heavyweight champ. He was just my friend and a great kid.

Early on I would come out of my bedroom and see Mike sleeping on the couch and say to myself, “There’s my friend Mike Tyson, a four round fighter, that’s cool”. As the months went by he became a 6 round fighter, then a 10 round fighter, then a main event fighter, then the challenger. And then one day I came out of my bedroom and there on the couch, in my apartment, is the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Just thinking back to that time brings tears of joy to my eyes.

It was like having Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle sleeping in your home, on your couch! And being your close friend. Boy do I miss Mike.

The bottom line was that Mike was a wonderful human because he had wonderful role models to look up to and emulate. He tried his best to conduct himself like they did. And he succeeded, big time. It was a wonderful feeling to be there and be part of that four year run.

And what a four year run it was. From 1985-1988, Mike was the Golden Boy of sports. Not one week, not one month, not one year, four years of the highest public accolades. At the height of his career Mike Tyson was the most popular athlete in the world (1987 European AP Poll). From 1986-1988 he appeared on network TV commercials for Pepsi - Cola, Nintendo Video and Kodak Films. In addition, Mike was the spokesperson for the United States Government Drug Enforcement Administration (T.V. video spot, Kids - Stay off Drugs, 1986) and the New York City Police Department ( Poster Campaign - It takes a bigger man than me to be a New York City Cop, 1987).

Round 4: Come fight time, the original Team Tyson was all business. How was Mike's training schedule back in those days?

[ChrististheAnswer2]

Mike would run early, perhaps 4 AM or 5 AM. Then head to the gym at noon. This would be the same routine whether the fight was in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Kevin would modify the amount of sparring depending on the days remaining before the event. If I remember correctly the most he ever sparred in any session was 10 rounds. The one thing that Kevin and Mike did in training that I rarely see is the ferocity of the sparring. Each round of sparring was expected to be a real fight.

And the sparring partners were superb. Among them were Jesse Ferguson, Oliver McCall, and Mike Williams. We taped much of the sparring for review later on in the day and looking at this sparring now many of these rounds were better than 95% of the heavyweight championship fights in the past 15 years.

At night Mike would relax or sometimes head to the health club to ride a stationary bike for an hour or so.

Round 5: Who were the original members of Team Tyson and what was everyone's roll? So I take it there was no entourage like athletes have today?

Bill Cayton and Jim Jacobs were the managers. Matt Baranski, the cut man and also saw that the sparring partners were prepared to go. I would handle Mike’s obligations with the press and the promoter and just basically oversaw all the preparation for managers Bill Cayton and Jim Jacobs. The original “Team Tyson” was really just Mike and Kevin. Period! They knew exactly what had to be done. Mike did not need anyone else around, nor did he ever ask for any additional personnel.

Entourage? Mike never, ever, hung with a group or entourage during those years. To give you an example of Mike’s thinking, I would ask Mike to meet me in front of a particular location here in Manhattan for a pre-fight press conference. I’d be waiting for Mike at the appointed time and would see him, the Heavyweight Champion of the World, casually strolling down the busy New York City street toward the location, alone. Entourage, forget it!

Round 6: What do you think Mike's greatest performance in the ring was?

The thing that made Mike special was the fact that the audience knew they were going to be entertained. When you watched a Mike Tyson fight you knew he was coming to “fight”. He was not going to dance, move, run, box, jab, etc. He was coming to fight. Very few fighters in the history of boxing performed in this way. There was Frazier, Armstrong, Pryor, Gomez, and Duran to name a few, but none really exploded once the bell rang to the extent that Mike did.

I think Mike’s performance against Michael Spinks was very high level because of the “moment”. Even under the enormity of this fight on a world wide scale Mike came right out and started blasting. He showed no inhibition whatsoever and the fans loved it. The fight lasted only 91 seconds, but no one wanted their money back.

His techniques in the Spinks fight were not high level. If Cus D’Amato had watched the fight he would have commented that there was no slipping, no bobbing, no weaving, the trademarks of the D’Amato system.

I believe that Mike’s greatest performance was earlier in his career. The one fight in which Mike’s use of the D’Amato techniques were displayed brilliantly was against Reggie Gross in 1986. About halfway through round one Reggie opened up on him. Mike stood there, right in front of Gross, weaving, bobbing, slipping everything Reggie threw. Mike tried a bomb of his own that missed and Reggie came back with another flurry that had Mike using his brilliant head motion once again. A few seconds later Mike came out of a weave and landed a blockbuster hook and Reggie went down. To Reggie’s credit he got up, but the referee wisely stopped it.

When was the last time anyone has watched a fight on television and saw one of the boxers come out of a weave and land a bomb? For that matter when was the last time anyone has seen a fighter weave?

Round 7: What do you think were the prime years of Mike's career and how would he have matched up against the all-time greats past and present?

Mike’s prime years were from 1986 through the Spinks fight in June of 1988. It ended when he left Bill Cayton and Kevin Rooney in October of that year.

It is always interesting to compare heavyweight fighters of different eras. Without a doubt Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Ali, and Holmes will go down in history as “greater” Heavyweight Champions. This is attributed more to the many negative things Mike has done outside the ring rather than what he accomplished in the ring. In the eyes of many Mike has become the “disappointment of the century”, for any sport, but for a moment let’s focus on just what happened in the ring.

When I think of comparisons I only look at each fighter during their prime. I do not judge the post Vietnam era Ali. Or Joe Louis upon his comeback after retiring as champion in 1948. In Mike’s case his prime ended with the Spinks fight.

With that parameter being said I compare legendary fighters in a slightly different way. I do not look at the legendary greats when they are looking their best. I look at them when they are struggling. For example, do not consider the Ali against Liston in the second fight or Cleveland Williams. I consider the Ali who is rocked by Karl Mildenberger, running from Ernie Terrell, or dropped by Henry Cooper. I do not consider the version Joe Louis against Nathan Mann or Max Schmeling in the second fight, but the Louis struggling against 175 pound Billy Conn and Tommy Farr.

Rocky Marciano was spectacular against Jersey Joe Walcott in their rematch, but for comparison I look at the first Walcott fight and the first Ezzard Charles fight.

[ChrististheAnswer2]

Jack Dempsey was great against Jess Willard, but for comparison I look at the Dempsey that was rocked by Georges Carpentier or knocked out of the ring by Luis Firpo.

If this same yardstick is used with Tyson he is must be considered on par with all the legendary greats. At his worst Mike won a close decision against James Tillis. In his prime as champion from 1986 to 1988 his worst performances were in winning easy decisions against Bonecrusher Smith and Tony Tucker. In those 24 rounds of boxing Mike may have lost 2 rounds on the scorecards. It is obvious that at his worst Mike was still very impressive.

Round 8: It’s amazing that after all these years, people still expect Mike to perform like that. When did you notice a change in Mike in the ring?

Once Mike left Kevin Rooney he used the D’Amato techniques less and less. This was due to the fact that the trainers like Richie Giachetti, Aaron Snowell, Jeff Fenech and the others had little knowledge of the D’Amato system. But mostly the change in Mike was emotional - a lack of deep inner confidence. This was a result of his realizing that he was being laughed at and ridiculed in every newspaper, in every boxing magazine, and in every television sports news story. Mike remembered being the Golden Boy of sports. Loved and adored. Fathers, White and Black, would bring their 5 and 6 year old boys up to Mike and tell Mike that they hope their kids grow up to be the person that he was. That was not happening anymore. Instead, as people would walk by Mike in the street, he could hear them whispering insults. Mike would go into a store to buy something and as he would leave, he could hear the salesperson mumbling some derogatory thing. As Mike would enter the ring he would hear the same insults.

The casual boxing observer may not know that most fighters, like most people, are controlled by their emotions. If you have control of your emotions then you can remain calm in a pressure situation. Mike was not able to control his emotions any longer because of all that he was involved with outside the ring. Plus he felt horrible about leaving Cayton and Rooney and did not have the courage to admit it or rectify it.

All these things weighed heavily on Mike and it all first came to a head in the Douglas fight. He did not have the emotional “well” to go to when the fight was on the line. In his recent performances it is much easier to see how he is affected by his emotions. He doesn’t even want to fight because he doesn’t want to be under that spotlight, for the whole world to snicker at.

Round 9: I have to ask this one. I think fans will talk about this until Mike is like 70 years old. If, and this is a big if, Mike had reunited with Kevin Rooney as recently as a couple years ago, do you think he could have became champion again, and if yes, why?

When an athlete gets older, in every sport, they can’t run as fast, throw the ball as hard, have the same keen sense of hitting as they did when they were young. Older athletes want to play, they want to make the money, they want the attention and be under the spotlight for the big game, but physically they just can’t do it. Mike’s problem is not physical. If you watch Mike train today he is amazingly fast and still hits very, very, hard. Mike’s problem is emotional. He does not want to be in the spot light. He does not want the world looking at him.

To this day Mike reuniting with Kevin would make a dramatic positive effect on Mike if, and only if, he dumped all the scum that surrounds him. With the exception of his girlfriend and kids that means everyone else. Mike physically is fine. It is the out-of-the ring influence that would make or break Tyson. Remember, Kevin would be with Mike for two hours a day in the gym. The other twenty two hours is where Mike must have a tremendous amount of positive support in order for him control his emotions and regain the confidence he had during his prime. When Mike was with Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton he was a world-wide hero doing commercials on network TV. The reason for that adoration was that Mike was a reflection of those people and other positive individuals. Now Mike is the looked upon as one of the biggest party jokes of all time. That’s because he is a reflection of the people who have surrounded him since he left Bill Cayton. And we all know who those people are.

By the way, there is no one around Mike today who would even suggest that he go back to Kevin, even if it meant Mike becoming a better fighter and being happy again. Why, because the people around Mike now know that once Mike saw the real light they would be history. They do not want to lose the pay day.

And yet another very devious thing that is going on behind Mike’s back today. For the people around Mike now he is more than just a payday. Mike is a powerful marketing tool used to sign the cream of the crop of up and coming fighters. Remember, there are many young fighters who come up through the amateurs and turn pro. Many of them look up to Mike for what he once did in the ring. They want to work with the people who work with Mike. Unfortunately, these young kids don’t know that the people who work with Mike now had nothing to do with his success. They are in fact very much responsible for his continuing decline.

[jack_the_rippuh]

Mike Tyson is the greatest of all times. Even if there's another really good era in heavyweight boxing and there is one guy who comes on top and becomes undisputed and the greatest of his time, he won't be able to touch Mike's skills and legacy.

[masterdirector]

Enjoyed that. Good K when I can. I'm all out for the day.

[jack_the_rippuh]

Mike was the first and last of his kind.

[ChrististheAnswer2]

Mike was the first and last of his kind.

Exactly, there will never be another Tyson.

[masterdirector]

Exactly, there will never be another Tyson.

Don't be so sure. Cause when I become a multi-billionaire, I'm getting some Tyson DNA, cloning him several times, then I'll send all Tyson clones to different people, all loving fathers and mothers but they'll stay alive. And Tyson's clones will all be shown boxing tapes from a young age and be encouraged to box. A lot of them will be taught peek-a-boo style, if not all. Actually hell since this is my fantasy, they'll be pre-programmed, Matrix style, with Tyson's prime fighting style. And any other style they want if they feel like trying something else. They'll be taught Mike Tyson's history, along with every other great boxer who ended up broke and thrown away. They'll learn not to make the same mistakes.

Now, of course, all of them won't become fighters, but if just one would become a fighter that's all it'd take.

[leff]

great read chris

jack dont be silly

[SnoopySmurf]

Mike Tyson, prolly the most misunderstood athlete in the past 15 years. Good to hear from someone who knew him from his past and told us a different side of him.