mike tyson highlights

He was definitely a bad ass. I would have liked to see him accept the challenge from Bob Sapp. That would have been a good one.
 
The scary thing is he never really had a "prime". His career was interrupted by the rape thing and prison, etc. etc. As good as he was when he was late teens- earlier 20's, imagine if he had trained seriously and developed the rest of his career and not had the breaks( and breakdowns). The guy woulda been a monster and maybe the best ever. He had a combination of speed and power that probably will never be seen again. And when he was younger, he even knew how to box a little bit. What a badass.
 
Thanks...Mike was a beast.


Anyways, Mike could never beat a prime Ali because Ali would get in Mike's head and Mike would already be beaten come fightime.
 
Ali was, (is) the supreme pugilist, in his own words, "The Greatest". Tyson was a virtual knockout machine at first, sadly after his trainer, handler passed away his talent seemed to erode. Boxing hasnt been the same since.
 
CDONDICI said:
Tyson vs ALI

Both in their prime

WHo wins?

I say Ali
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Without a doubt Iron Mike would have kicked some serious ass.....while he isn't a technical fighter, the guy had no fear and an intimidation that will probably never be seen again. In that clip there is a guy that actaully runs to the corner and falls on the mat giving up....unreal
 
Flat out, without a doubt, period, Mike Tyson was the most physically gifted fighter ever. I don't even know how anyone can make a case otherwise. Tyson was as quick and agile as any lightweight, his body more durable than any middleweight, and he flat out packed a punch more deadly than anyone ever.

Technically he WAS a great fighter. Nobody perfected the bob and weave like Iron Mike. Few could even touch him because his defense was so good and he was so quick and elusive.

Mentally, he was held together by string, wrapped so tightly that at anytime he could break.

Ali vs. Tyson? No contest, not even close. Ali was the greatest, but Tyson was FASTER, STRONGER, and in his albeit short prime, had a chin that could take anything. Ali would not have lasted against Tyson's barage. Ali would not have been able to get past Tyson's bob and weave defenses and would have been devastated with an uppercut landing him on the canvas.

That's all considering Tyson would be mentally stable, was ready to fight, and was at the top of his game. Mike's prime was never reached because of the rape trial. Also, he was never the same after losing Cus.

When some talk about the biggest waste of talent you CAN make a case for Tyson even though he was the undisputed champion for a while. We didn't even get a chance to see him nearly at the top of his game.

Imagine Tyson with a sound mind, with the training and dedication that Bernard Hopkins has. Tyson may never have lost until his 50s....lol
 
A chin that could take anything?

In his "prime" what exactly did he "take"? He didn't exactly get many clean shots thrown at him.

I still don't think Tyson was a good technical boxer. You saw it in his approach. He simply bullied his opponents and it worked. He was not a good technical boxer.
 
Tyson went longer than 2 rounds more than people think. How many times was he knocked down? He's went the distance with a fighters quite a few times.

And just because he uses a brawler approach, doesn't mean he's not a technical fighter. You may see him flail but there's a ton of strategy behind his punch techniques. Take a look at his combos. Very few, if anybody had the quickness and technique to land the body/face combos that he did. Mike was an extremely intelligent boxer when he had the tools to back that style up.

No, he wasn't your prototypical jab jab boxer. No way, but that would have been ridiculously stupid for him. Tyson earned his living an quick, decisive combos. He fed on chaining hard punches together and using speed and power to overwhelm his oponents. Many see a brawler but there's so much technique behind it's unimagineable. There have been tons of fighters as strong as Mike, and a few as quick too, but nobody that was able to see holes in his opponents and continually exploit them.
 
Reminds me of another fighter that nobody could beat..........



A Russian and an American wrestler were set to square off for the Olympic Gold medal.



Before the final match, the American wrestler's trainer came to him and said "Now, don't forget all the research we've done on this Russian.



He's never lost a match because of this 'pretzel' hold he has, whatever you do, do not let him get you in that hold! If

he does, you're finished!"



The wrestler nodded in acknowledgment. As the match started, the American and the Russian circled each Other several times, looking for an opening.



All of a sudden, the Russian lunged forward, grabbing the American and wrapping him up in the dreaded pretzel hold.



A sigh of disappointment arose from the crowd and the trainer

buried his face in his hands, for he knew all was lost.



He couldn't watch the inevitable happen.



Suddenly, there was a scream, then a cheer from the crowd and

the trainer raised his eyes just in time to watch the Russian go flying up in the air.



His back hit the mat with a thud and the American collapsed on

top of him making the pin and winning the match.



The trainer was astounded.



When he finally got his wrestler alone, He asked "How did you

ever get out of that hold? No one has ever done it before!"



The wrestler answered, "Well, I was ready to give up when he got me in that hold but at the last moment, I opened my eyes and saw this pair of testicles right in front of my face.



I had nothing to lose so with my last ounce of strength I

stretched out my neck and bit those babies just as hard as I could."



So, the trainer exclaimed, "That's what finished him off!"



"Not really. You'd be amazed how strong you get when you

bite your own nuts!"
 
not_big_enuf said:
There have been tons of fighters as strong as Mike, and a few as quick too, but nobody that was able to see holes in his opponents and continually exploit them.
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Evander Holyfield did.

Even when he was younger his weakness' were there but nobody could last long enough to exploit them since the heavyweight division at that time was a joke (early in his career). His aura and intimidation ended fights before they even started. I think he went the distance twice and didn't look that impressive towards the end (tony tucker and someone else). After Buster Douglas his wekaness' were shown.

They said the same thing about a young George Foreman and Ali out thought him. He would have done the same with Tyson.

I don't think he was a great technical fighter at all. He couldn't adapt like Ali did. Ali could fight and win with any style.
 
Sure Tyson was a beast. But the oldtime fights were tougher IMO. Some those old guys would fight 60-70 fights in a career. Now that tough.
 
LCSULLA said:
Sure Tyson was a beast. But the oldtime fights were tougher IMO. Some those old guys would fight 60-70 fights in a career. Now that tough.
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Those guys also had to go 15 rounds in those days. Much more conditioning would be required. Tyson also became big due to his outlandish quotes, entertaining press conferences, and his ability to get in trouble with the law. He'd make some incredible reality TV though, especially with that new face tat he has going on LOL.
 
Bobo said:
Evander Holyfield did.

Even when he was younger his weakness' were there but nobody could last long enough to exploit them since the heavyweight division at that time was a joke (early in his career). His aura and intimidation ended fights before they even started. I think he went the distance twice and didn't look that impressive towards the end (tony tucker and someone else). After Buster Douglas his wekaness' were shown.

They said the same thing about a young George Foreman and Ali out thought him. He would have done the same with Tyson.

I don't think he was a great technical fighter at all. He couldn't adapt like Ali did. Ali could fight and win with any style.
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Yeah, I remember watching the holyfield tyson(the first) fight thinking tyson was going to end it at any second, but it never came. Evander just dismantled mike.
 
jarhead said:
Yeah, I remember watching the holyfield tyson(the first) fight thinking tyson was going to end it at any second, but it never came. Evander just dismantled mike.
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True, but put holyfield against tyson back before he went to jail and holyfield would have ate the canvas in the first few rounds like everyone else......different tyson, different time.
 
Trauma1 said:
True, but put holyfield against tyson back before he went to jail and holyfield would have ate the canvas in the first few rounds like everyone else......different tyson, different time.
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Yeah that's what I always thought. I was a big tyson fan, and a buddy of mine was a holyfield fan. He used to always say that tyson would get his ass kicked and I'd tell him he's nuts. Too bad they fought when they did and not when mike was at least a little sane. I give evander credit,but man I woulda like t have seen them fight years earlier.
 
Trauma1 said:
True, but put holyfield against tyson back before he went to jail and holyfield would have ate the canvas in the first few rounds like everyone else......different tyson, different time.
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I don't think so at all. Tyson was the same fighter he was then IMO. People have this perception he was totally different. He wasn't. The aura around him certainly was. His preperation WAS different but his strategy and weakness' were the same. It would have been closer but I think Evander would still have frustrated and simply out boxed him. Differece is, Holyfield could take a beaten and keep going. Tyson never could. Most boxing analysts today even agree he wasn't that "great" of a boxer. He was intimidating, extremely powerfull and quick in a weak heavyweight division.
 
Bobo said:
I don't think so at all. Tyson was the same fighter he was then IMO. People have this perception he was totally different. He wasn't. The aura around him certainly was. His preperation WAS different but his strategy and weakness' were the same. It would have been closer but I think Evander would still have frustrated and simply out boxed him. Differece is, Holyfield could take a beaten and keep going. Tyson never could. Most boxing analysts today even agree he wasn't that "great" of a boxer. He was intimidating, extremely powerfull and quick in a weak heavyweight division.
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Everyone is going to have differing opionions regarding tyson then and now. He definately was a different fighter after the rape trial conviction IMO. Prior to that event, nobody had ever exploited a weakness on tyson......they never had a chance to with most ko'd in the first 2 rounds. While I agree with most that he wasn't a distance fighter, but that however wasn't his stategy or mindset for the fight. If anyone was good at exploiting a boxers' weakness it was iron mike using nothing more than intimidation that opened up his opponents for a beating.......I think in the end tyson is really the one that beat himself....sad but true.
 
Trauma1 said:
Everyone is going to have differing opionions regarding tyson then and now. He definately was a different fighter after the rape trial conviction IMO. Prior to that event, nobody had ever exploited a weakness on tyson......they never had a chance to with most ko'd in the first 2 rounds. While I agree with most that he wasn't a distance fighter, but that however wasn't his stategy or mindset for the fight. If anyone was good at exploiting a boxers' weakness it was iron mike using nothing more than intimidation that opened up his opponents for a beating.......I think in the end tyson is really the one that beat himself....sad but true.
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Actually douglas whupped him prior to the rape trial. He went in there without fear, full of emotion from his mom passing, and nothing to lose. He stood toe to toe with mike, and got the win. More importantly, he showed that he could be beat. I think that was the turning point for mike, if for no other reason than I don't think he believed he could ever lose. Wait, on second thought, robin probably screwed mike up more than anything else in his career. The destructive power of poon.....
 
jarhead said:
Actually douglas whupped him prior to the rape trial. He went in there without fear, full of emotion from his mom passing, and nothing to lose. He stood toe to toe with mike, and got the win. More importantly, he showed that he could be beat. I think that was the turning point for mike, if for no other reason than I don't think he believed he could ever lose. Wait, on second thought, robin probably screwed mike up more than anything else in his career. The destructive power of poon.....
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Very true, poon has the destructive power that could topple rome......while yes douglas did whoop up on him, just by watching that fight it was like mike wasn't even there. Douglas did what he had to do to beat him, and did it well......but that trial was the icing on the cake in his downfall from the top.
 
I never watched boxing until a few years ago, and then my Tivo discovered ESPN Classics doing profiles of the greats. Having just recently watched about 5-10 hours each of Tyson, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, etc. Considering I had little bias coming into it, and based only on what I saw, I believe Tyson was the most dangerous and least consistent fighter ever.

Could anyone stand a chance fighting a ****y, focused, young Tyson on a good night throwing a flurry of KO uppercuts so fast I had to use slo-mo to even see his gloves? Hell no! Could Tyson mentally get it together even when he was 20, undefeated, and facing an inferior fighter? No way.

I give the young Tyson even odds with Ali or Foreman, just depends on what demons were dancing in his head that day.
 
Trauma1 said:
Very true, poon has the destructive power that could topple rome......while yes douglas did whoop up on him, just by watching that fight it was like mike wasn't even there. Douglas did what he had to do to beat him, and did it well......but that trial was the icing on the cake in his downfall from the top.
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Hehe yep, poon is a cruel mistress indeed. Good points, he definitely wasn't there that day. I think it was very evident just by looking at his conditioning for that fight. I don't recall him being in worse physical shape( which still wasn't necessarily horrible, but a bit soft for him) at any other point in his career.
 
ArnieIAmNot said:
I give the young Tyson even odds with Ali or Foreman, just depends on what demons were dancing in his head that day.
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Pretty good statement here. I think mike was his own worst enemy. Maybe not the best technical boxer, but man did he have potential. give him Gotti's heart and fortitude, and who knows...
 
jarhead said:
Hehe yep, poon is a cruel mistress indeed. Good points, he definitely wasn't there that day. I think it was very evident just by looking at his conditioning for that fight. I don't recall him being in worse physical shape( which still wasn't necessarily horrible, but a bit soft for him) at any other point in his career.
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I totally agree that his conditioning was definately subpar for that fight......but not only that, where the hell was his aggressive intimidation as a motivator....He couldn't have looked more flat that day, but guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. As far as mike's conditioning, when have you seen a boxer with a more impressive neck and traps than iron mike.
 
Trauma1 said:
I totally agree that his conditioning was definately subpar for that fight......but not only that, where the hell was his aggressive intimidation as a motivator....He couldn't have looked more flat that day, but guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. As far as mike's conditioning, when have you seen a boxer with a more impressive neck and traps than iron mike.
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Yeah he was always built solid. He looked like he could hit as hard as he did, which helped for the intimidation factor because he was short for a heavy weight. He did seem out of it for that fight. I think after douglas got up(even with the long count), he realized he was in some trouble. He obviously trained halfassed for the fight, and it was just busters day. The heavyweight division is in dire need of a guy like tyson right now, even with all the bad he brought to the game.
 
wasn't there a lot of speculation on the count? i seem to recall something like that, whether it's true or not i don't know. the claim was when douglas got knocked down, the count was ridiculously slow. however, when tyson was down, the count was much faster???? maybe i'm confused but that does ring a bell.
 
Beelzebub said:
wasn't there a lot of speculation on the count? i seem to recall something like that, whether it's true or not i don't know. the claim was when douglas got knocked down, the count was ridiculously slow. however, when tyson was down, the count was much faster???? maybe i'm confused but that does ring a bell.
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yepper, douglas got the longest count i've ever seen.....totally ridiculous.
 
Yeah the ref stopped in the middle of the count and looked back towards tyson. He got like an 11 or 12 count. Must of bet on the longshot.
 
The turning point in Tyson's career was Cus's death. He was never the same fighter afterwards... not even close. Cus was Tyson's father, and was the tie that held Mike together emotionally. Had Cus lived longer, Tyson's career would have been a different story. Emotionally, he lost all heart to fight after Cus died. Tyson still won fights, but he slowly abandoned the style that Cus preached. Tyson's known for being a whirlwind fighter, but he wasn't early on in his career. Tyson was a vicious puncher that actually had technique and disciplined. Same with is life.... he slowly lost his career and his life.....
 
not_big_enuf said:
The turning point in Tyson's career was Cus's death. He was never the same fighter afterwards... not even close. Cus was Tyson's father, and was the tie that held Mike together emotionally. Had Cus lived longer, Tyson's career would have been a different story. Emotionally, he lost all heart to fight after Cus died. Tyson still won fights, but he slowly abandoned the style that Cus preached. Tyson's known for being a whirlwind fighter, but he wasn't early on in his career. Tyson was a vicious puncher that actually had technique and disciplined. Same with is life.... he slowly lost his career and his life.....
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I totally agree, cus was the glue that held tyson together. He absolutely was a vicious puncher.....how many heavyweights have you seen that can throw a rt cross/uppercut combo with the speed and precision that he did.
 
I think most of you are caught up with how he fought instead of looking at WHO he fought. The division was pure **** when he was coming up. The divisions were completely split and yes if you wathced some his early fights his weakness' were shown. Don't watch classics because they only show his dominant fights which mostly show weak boxers with very little quickness and even less power. Who did he beat? Tyrelle Biggs? Tony Tucker (that took 12 rounds)? Spinks who wasn't even a real heavyweight?

It was always though if you kept moving and actually jabbed with power you could frustraste Tyson. If fact it took a washed up Larry Holmes to show that if you actually have someone that knows how to box, you can make Mike look average at best. Its too bad that Holmes was WAY past his prime. Even when he fought Frank Bruno you could see how you could frustrate Tyson.

The difference between Tyson and Ali is Ali HAD no weakness'. It took some year for people to figure Tyson out and then exploit him. Ali just got old.
 
Beelzebub said:
wasn't there a lot of speculation on the count? i seem to recall something like that, whether it's true or not i don't know. the claim was when douglas got knocked down, the count was ridiculously slow. however, when tyson was down, the count was much faster???? maybe i'm confused but that does ring a bell.
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It was bull. You know who pushed that rumor and actually tried to get the fight nullified? Don King. Tyson got his ass whooped the fight. Octavio Sanchez was always a slow counter and if you watch Douglas he was sitting there waiting until he reached the 8 count to stand up because it was the end of a round. Get up, bell rings, you go rest.
 
Trauma1 said:
Prior to that event, nobody had ever exploited a weakness on tyson......they never had a chance to with most ko'd in the first 2 rounds. While I agree with most that he wasn't a distance fighter, but that however wasn't his stategy or mindset for the fight. If anyone was good at exploiting a boxers' weakness it was iron mike using nothing more than intimidation that opened up his opponents for a beating.......I think in the end tyson is really the one that beat himself....sad but true.
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Several fighters showed his weakness but they were such weak opponents they couldn't exploit it. The divisions was weak as hell. Tyson's big fight was with Spinks who wasn't even a true heavyweight. He was light heavyweight. It took him 15 rounds in both fights to beat Holmes who was washed up and trying to tie Marciano record. He was your biggest challenger and showed why it was such a weak division. Only when you actually had talent develop such as Holyfield, Moore, Lewis, did the diviosn actually regain credibilty.

In reality the biggest competition was probably Tony Tucker who it took 12 rounds for Tyson to knockout. Spinks refused to fight Tucker in favor of fighting Gerry Cooney. Wonder why.
 
I'll throw my 2cents in here. I"m friends with Lou Duva, in fact I went to a fight with him two weeks ago. I've spoken with him about tyson on several occasions and his thoughts were that Mike was the best "fighter" he's ever seen. He also said he's never seen anyone hit as hard as he did and with such bad intentions.

My opinion is that Mike was a special fighter like some of the greats. He had bricks for fists that could knock just about anyone out. I'll think we'll see that power again and I think a great fighter is just years away.
 
I loved Tyson when he was a younger. Yes, the division was weak at the time but he was basically still a kid running wild over everyone. He had Cus, Rooney and Teddy Atlas in his corner(until Teddy pulled a gun on him lol). His physical attributes were ubdeniable.

All that being said, Ali would have whooped him. Ali was in there with Frasier, Shavers, Norton and of course Foreman. Oh yeah, Sonny Liston too.

What made Tyson special was the hand speed, what made him flawed was his mind. Even as an amateur he would break down before fights and suffer anxiety. I saw clips of Teddy Atlas hugging him and talking to him like you would talk to a kid who is afraid of the dark. Ali would have exploited that. Ali also had an innate toughness that can't be taught. Tyson does not have that at all.

Ali was the master of mind games. He worked that magic on Foreman and knocked him out. Foreman, in my opinion, had the potential to be the best ever but at the time he wasn't mentally strong enough and suffered the consequences because of that. Check out When We Were Kings.
 
One other thing about Tyson's metality. Teddy Atlas said the before Tyson fought Holyfield that Tyson is a punk and would do something to get himself disqualified. Tyson then went cannibal and bit off a piece of Holyfield's ear. That kind of cowardice doesn't spring up overnight, it was always there.
 
delta314 said:
I'd like to see Tyson fight Andrei Arlovoski. What do you think?
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Unless he got extremely lucky he wouldn't stand a chance against Arlovski. If Tyson was to go that route, he would be better off heading to Japan and fighting Bob Sapp. Much better chance and a bigger pay day.

A fight I would love to see is Arlovski leaving the UFC and heading over to Pride to fight Emelianenko. I think Arlovski is awesome but Emelianenko may not be human.
 
Niko said:
Unless he got extremely lucky he wouldn't stand a chance against Arlovski. If Tyson was to go that route, he would be better off heading to Japan and fighting Bob Sapp. Much better chance and a bigger pay day.

A fight I would love to see is Arlovski leaving the UFC and heading over to Pride to fight Emelianenko. I think Arlovski is awesome but Emelianenko may not be human.
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Now that would be an awesome fight. I don't get to see near as mnay Pride fights as I'd like too...
 
delta314 said:
Now that would be an awesome fight. I don't get to see near as mnay Pride fights as I'd like too...
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Plenty of clips of Emelianenko here. Some exceelent ones on page 2.

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