Change one event in boxing history.

[tysonesque]

Cus Damato lives for another 10 years.

It would have been interesting, but I don't think it would have changed things that much. Tyson is a head case and he would have screwed Cus over at some point. Camille Ewald was his surrogate mother and only died a few years ago, but she didn't seem to have much influence on him.

Tyson doesn't know the meaning of loyalty and I say that as a fan! He likes to blame everyone else for his mistakes and the long history of bad behaviour, but the fact is he's not a very nice person.

Camile Ewald never had a say in Mikes career or probably had a clue what was going on. Cus made Mike and if he and Jim Jacobs had not died so early in Mikes career would King have really got a hold on Mike? I doubt it. King needed Mike to lose those influential people.

I honestly don't think it would have made any difference. Tyson is a self-destructive person and still behaved like an arsehole even when Cus was alive. He would have gone off the rails regardless.

He may have had small altercations but he would have trained properly without King giving him everything he wanted. Mike Tyson knew who was responsible for his success early but King made him believe he didnt need them and they were a chain round his neck.

You cannot compare those two periods of his career. King taking Mike and Mikes career turning to shit (compared to what it was) is more than just coincidence.

I believe had Damato and Jacobs been around to steady Mike he would have had a similar longevity to Wlad now, only with the whole world wanting to see all his fights. Holyfield would have just been a good little scrap while it lasted with Tyson winning. Bowe would have been awesome and Lewis would have faced Mike instead of McCall. Potentially Mike becomes the greatest heavy ever.

It's all ifs and buts with Mike.

The fact is, he's a fruitcake and has been in trouble his whole life, and that includes during the time he was with Cus. Even while he was in Cus' care he was constantly in trouble at school and eventually thrown out, he was also doing drugs and Teddy Atlas put a gun to his head when his wandering hands ended up on a very underage member of Teddy's family. It's really not the fairy tale people make it out to be.

The idea that Tyson would have kept himself out of trouble, lived the clean life of a dedicated athlete and reigned undefeated for a decade or more with Cus and Jacobs around is absurd. Even when he was at his peak and seemingly unbeatable, everyone who knew anything about Tyson predicted that he would self destruct and that's exactly what he did.

I'm a Tyson fan and he was truly outstanding at his best, but let's not let our adoration cloud our judgement. The man has dumped on every person who has ever been around him and pulled some unbelievably bad shit in his time. He's a pretty unpleasant individual with a long history of very serious criminal behaviour, violence towards women and is incredibly unpredictable and volatile. If he wasn't such a good fighter no one would give him the time of day.