Thread: Mike Tyson vs Oliver McCall 1987 sparring video awesome!

Good give and take between both men. @ 2:56 Tyson nailed him pretty good with a right. I still think it would have been a very entertaining fight had McCall got past Bruno.

I really wish that version of Tyson was around now.

Tyson was a beast McCall is a rock.

The thing that really stands out for me watching this is how difficult it was to hit Tyson in his prime. The agility and variety of punches is also vastly different to that which we saw after he split with Rooney and in the later stages of his career.

McCall is a stand up tough guy who comes to fight, but he didn't really manage to land anything significant on Tyson who was right there in front of him. Tyson's punches were really coming in from all angles.

Great session featuring two great fighters. Thanks for posting it.

I think that McCall was trying to emulate an opponent that they expected to tie up a lot. At points, when Tyson caught the McCall jab, it kept him back because it was a forceful punch. Even catching it stopped Tyson.
You can see some of Tyson's shortcomings on display. A number of times he made the move and didn't counter. He would slip and not throw a punch. And he would walk in with his hands up, not punching, and let the guy tie him up. I was suprised to see how straight he was standing at that point in his career.

Originally Posted by greynotsoold

I think that McCall was trying to emulate an opponent that they expected to tie up a lot. At points, when Tyson caught the McCall jab, it kept him back because it was a forceful punch. Even catching it stopped Tyson.
You can see some of Tyson's shortcomings on display. A number of times he made the move and didn't counter. He would slip and not throw a punch. And he would walk in with his hands up, not punching, and let the guy tie him up. I was suprised to see how straight he was standing at that point in his career.

His main "drawback" was that he was not relaxed, he seemed never enjoyed being the ring, just wanted to stop the annoying opponent as fast as possible so he does not have to suffer

Originally Posted by NVSemin

Originally Posted by greynotsoold

I think that McCall was trying to emulate an opponent that they expected to tie up a lot. At points, when Tyson caught the McCall jab, it kept him back because it was a forceful punch. Even catching it stopped Tyson.
You can see some of Tyson's shortcomings on display. A number of times he made the move and didn't counter. He would slip and not throw a punch. And he would walk in with his hands up, not punching, and let the guy tie him up. I was suprised to see how straight he was standing at that point in his career.

His main "drawback" was that he was not relaxed, he seemed never enjoyed being the ring, just wanted to stop the annoying opponent as fast as possible so he does not have to suffer

Most boxing trainers will tell you to get loose, to be loose in the ring. I think that D'Amato's style, the style that he taught, is based on tension. Most boxers stay out of range, body angled. You can see punches coming and you don't even react to most of them. The whole 'peek-a-boo' style, it is squared up and based on always pressing, so you have to react to almost everything.
Contrast the way Marciano pressures an opponent to the way Tyson comes forward to see what I am getting at.