You got that right. Cus D'Amato said that he hit with bad intentions. Tyson used to destroy his opponents.
He was never the same after Cus passed away. The rest is history.
Tyson, in his absolute prime, would have beaten anyone.
You got that right. Cus D'Amato said that he hit with bad intentions. Tyson used to destroy his opponents.
He was never the same after Cus passed away. The rest is history.
You said it. Desoite my not being a boxing fan, he was one of those boxers whose skill projected his name and fame beyond the community of fans; for a long time, he was the standard agaist which others were judged.
Baddest man and biggest A hole. All at the same time, and on the same planet.
Cacius Clay, later changing his name to Mohammad Ali, in his prime would have taken Tyson out. He had a chin. Mike Tyson doesn't.
I've followed both careers.
Agreed.
Few people realize that at the height of his success, Tyson was not only the world's greatest offensive fighter, but he was also the best DEFENSIVE fighter. He was almost impossible to hit.
Things went downhill for Tyson a few months after he beat Michael Spinks, when he fired his trainer, Kevin Rooney. Rooney was training Mike in the style developed by Cus D'Amato. Not only did Mike not replace Rooney with an adequate trainer, but it seems that Mike decided that he didn't need to train at all. Sure, he cruised to a couple of easy victories after he beat Spinks, but in his fight with Douglas, it was clear that the fabulous Cus D'Amato boxing style that Mike employed to clear out the heavyweight division in the 1980's was completely gone. The defensive head movement was missing. The lightning fast choreographed combinations were absent. Mike now just simply attempted to walk in and knock out his opponent with a single power punch.
So those lightweight sports writers who like to comment how Buster Douglas "showed how Tyson could be beat with a jab" and how Holyfield beat Tyson by "bullying the bully" don't know what they're talking about. If anything, Holyfield and Douglas beat dissipated versions of Tyson.
Tyson's old trainer, Kevin Rooney, said that the Tyson who lost to Holyfield was only "one-tenth" of the vintage Tyson of the 1980's. And I have to agree.