Back then, I swore Tyson was eventually going to be known as the greatest heavyweight champ of all time, going something like 60-0. Little did I know.
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8 Responses to “Twenty Years Ago”
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A heavyweight KO’s a puffed up Light-heavy. Gee… who’d a thunk it possible?
I never, ever, everevereverever had any confidence in Mike Tyson achieving a legacy as a great boxer. He fought a lot of guys who were over-the-hill or whom should never have been allowed on the hill in the first place (see, ‘Marvis Frazier’). A career journeyman, Buster Douglas, exposed Tyson for the fraud he was. Great boxers don’t go out like that.
well in my own defense, i was 14 and all caught up in the hype of seeing bodies dropping every which-a-way. although i certainly think that the tyson who was guided by d’amato and rooney was an altogether different fighter than the one who fought under don king.
I started off the opposite in that I didn’t like Tyson much at first. It was annoying to me to see all these fighters cowering before this squat bruiser. I was soo happy when Buster beat him down like a (much) bigger man with greater reach should — whenever Tyson bulled his way forward, just pop ‘im one! But over time I came to appreciate his skills and power. I do believe early Tyson was definitely on track to become one of the all-time greats (if he isn’t already). My favrit move of his: after a while of bobbing and weaving in front of you, he’d do this quick lil hop to the side (to the left, usually) and devastate your cranium with a lightning quick battering ram of an uppercut. Pow! Ah, but he was a fragile package that needed careful, responsible handling. He lost his way under the bespectacled bushyman and now he don’t know which way is up. Alack!
Early Mike was a boxer who had one-punch knockout power. Late Mike was a slugger who tried to hit a grand slam with every punch. I saw a couple of his fights in the last week. The first was early Mike, perhaps his 10th fight. Good balance, great defense, put together devastating combinations. The second was against Buster. Bad balance, little defense, always looking for the homerun.
He would have been- had Cus D’Amato lived longer. He was tough to hit, hit tough, his neck size and lower body made him difficult to knock down, and he trained like a demon. He also caught a few cats near the tail end of their careers, a la Holmes, Berbick, Pinklon Thomas and Tyrell Biggs.
Three of ‘em, he would’ve beaten whenever they’d met.
Well for biggs, tyson WAS the end of his career. remember, biggs had just fought in the 84 olympics, and he was supposed to have been that dude.
i’m supposing you’re talkin about holmes as the dude tyson wouldn’t have beaten. i’m thinkin that would have been a magnificent fight. holmes had the tools that gave tyson trouble, but holmes could be touched. he had a strong chin and lotsa heart, as earnie shavers could tell you, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he could’ve been gotten. off all the talk of tyson vs. ali in his prime, etc., i’m thinkin that 87 tyson vs. 82 holmes would have been a magnificent fight.
Whic of course begs the eternally unanswerable question, what would Larry Holmes’ former employer, in his heyday, done against the pre-Tokyo Tyson?
from the get-go i’ve said that Ali takes Tyson in some version of a KO (assuming it’s a 15 rounder) before 13. tyson wasn’t as mentally strong as joe frazier, who i believe ali could’ve knocked out had he not bolstered frazier with all the talk. where it melted most other fighters, as it would with tyson, it actually made frazier more resolute. but ali-tyson? 9-13 rounds, at best. tyson gets frustrated and then ali drops him.