When did Tyson's prime end?

[McNulty]

There's a bit of a debate on when Tyson was past his prime. Was it after he came back from prison? Was it after being upset by Douglas? Or was he already past it by the time he fought Douglas?

1991-06-28. He was no longer in his prime after he got out of jail.

[Sugarj]

Yes, he would be tested for sure. Heavyweights peak later and benefit from experience, but the type of style used does make a difference.

Actually if Tyson had been in the mix and Bowe had stayed the course we would have had a nice talent pool!

I really rate the 90s as one of the key era's of heavyweight history. But with 3 major disappointments. 1) we never saw Bowe vs Lewis. 2) Tyson's rape conviction (at the very least we lost 3 half decent years and a closer to prime Holyfield fight). 3) the abrupt decline in Riddick Bowe during his first fight with Golota. He was never the same again. He was still young and should have at least been world class for the rest of the 90s.

[billeau2]

I really rate the 90s as one of the key era's of heavyweight history. But with 3 major disappointments. 1) we never saw Bowe vs Lewis. 2) Tyson's rape conviction (at the very least we lost 3 half decent years and a closer to prime Holyfield fight). 3) the abrupt decline in Riddick Bowe during his first fight with Golota. He was never the same again. He was still young and should have at least been world class for the rest of the 90s.

Truly a steak that never sizzled.

[OctoberRed]

I really rate the 90s as one of the key era's of heavyweight history. But with 3 major disappointments. 1) we never saw Bowe vs Lewis. 2) Tyson's rape conviction (at the very least we lost 3 half decent years and a closer to prime Holyfield fight). 3) the abrupt decline in Riddick Bowe during his first fight with Golota. He was never the same again. He was still young and should have at least been world class for the rest of the 90s.

That training camp was the real decline. I remember he came in overweight and HBO asked him why he was so overweight and he said "why do I have to train hard to beat a bum"

And then he overtrained for the rematch and lost too much weight.

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

I don't know but I've heard tell
Ol' iron Mike done went through hell.

Iron Mike was apparently (ahem!) compromised in prison. His worst and perpetual fear of big brutal black men forcing themselves on him, was fulfilled quickly during his stint, and many times.

When white supremacists behind bars saw what a little bullishness had gotten the brutal blacks for their efforts, they wanted some boxer nooky, too. And they were not exactly taking no for an answer.

Last I heard, the various races behind bars had Tyson parceled out by the night of the week. The Asians had not dared look weak, so they demanded some Tyson nooky, as well, and got it on Wednesdays when the Asians passed a helpless iron Mike around for their delight. Thursday was Latino night, when Tyson could expect to be stuffed with hot peppers continually.

In there they do not believe in days off. Blacks, whites, browns, yellows, reds and blue injuns from the east fought over that extra day there was no human color for, and made some awesome swaps. They made some deals ol' Trump would have been proud of them for.

The minute Mike mauled ms Washington, his prime was over and gone, replaced by the concerns of a full growed rapist.

Did everyone just pretend this didn't get posted? Wtf?

[Sugarj]

That training camp was the real decline. I remember he came in overweight and HBO asked him why he was so overweight and he said "why do I have to train hard to beat a bum"

And then he overtrained for the rematch and lost too much weight.

Yes, he was so spindly for the return. It looked like his balance and chin were very compromised by it too.

His slurred speech in the interview afterwards was very sad to hear.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Michael spinks fight..


Peak Prime Tyson was him with cus. Young, hungry, trained, fine-tuned, and lasted up until the spinks fight when he conquered the world in 90 seconds and became the biggest sports name in the world

Post spinks to prison was physical Prime mike but mentally shot mike.. bad training camps, not as active, robin givens, the life as a celebrity ruined mike’s hunger, coasting on natural talent,showed flashes of his prime but only in short bursts. Still good enough to be the number 1 heavy, just not great like he was from 85-88.

Post prison- Holyfield 2. mike slightly past physical Prime, not as quick or explosive or twitch reflexes, no hunger anymore, benefitted from a soft schedule of opponents, with old, semi retired Holyfield who was coming off a struggling performance vs faded bobby the blownup cruiser

Post ear bite- Lennox- totally disinterested in training or fighting, mentally not there, coasting on name alone and the freak show factor, looking to extend a lucrative career and milk it dry

Post Lennox- just fighting for money... no passion, no heart, just showing up to get payday..




To sum it up... I think his peak was 85-88, and still prime but not peak til prison.. everything after that was just a downgraded version of Tyson

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I really rate the 90s as one of the key era's of heavyweight history. But with 3 major disappointments. 1) we never saw Bowe vs Lewis. 2) Tyson's rape conviction (at the very least we lost 3 half decent years and a closer to prime Holyfield fight). 3) the abrupt decline in Riddick Bowe during his first fight with Golota. He was never the same again. He was still young and should have at least been world class for the rest of the 90s.

Good post, I agree with everything.

70s and 90s are considered the best heavy division eras, but 70s are considered the best because the top guys fought each other at perfect timing. Whereas the 90s the big fights were always delayed by years, sometimes 5 or more years in some cases.. Holyfield-foreman and Holyfield-bowe were about the only 2 major fights that got made in quick fashion.

Ideally the 90s would have given us

Tyson-Holyfield 90
Tyson-Holyfield 2 91
Bowe-Holyfield 92
Tyson-bowe 93
Bowe-Lennox 94

Or something along those lines

[IronDanHamza]

Good post, I agree with everything.

70s and 90s are considered the best heavy division eras, but 70s are considered the best because the top guys fought each other at perfect timing. Whereas the 90s the big fights were always delayed by years, sometimes 5 or more years in some cases.. Holyfield-foreman and Holyfield-bowe were about the only 2 major fights that got made in quick fashion.

Ideally the 90s would have given us

Tyson-Holyfield 90
Tyson-Holyfield 2 91
Bowe-Holyfield 92
Tyson-bowe 93
Bowe-Lennox 94

Or something along those lines

Throw Tyson vs Lewis in there at some point too.

Bell, I'd have paid to see Tyson vs old George Foreman.

[billeau2]

Throw Tyson vs Lewis in there at some point too.

Bell, I'd have paid to see Tyson vs old George Foreman.

That would have been interesting. How does Mike get to George?