Quote Originally Posted by Master View Post
I think Tyson would have gone on a bit longer but he would have eventually got beat.

I think Holyfield would have taken a lot out of him, as Evander did with Bowe, and if Tyson did win the first fight if he had beaten Douglas, the fight would have been such an epic that they would have demanded a 2nd and 3rd fight which I could see Holyfield eventually winning.

Then there would be the new generation of Bowe and Lennox who at their best were top fighters. An older and aging Tyson would have eventually lost to them i think.

Tyson was showing decline in the Bruno fight.
I would agree with that.

Tyson's mental state and nature is not that of a dedicated athlete who would have enjoyed a long reign. His style of fighting was a young man's game as well. To fight with that amount of intensity, movement and speed takes one hell of a lot of energy and conditioning. That's one of the reasons his defence fell apart in his later career - he just didn't have it in him to be constantly moving the head and rolling the upper body all over the place. His hand speed diminished considerably as well. He achieved so much at a young age because of his youth, not in spite of it.

You're certainly right about the Bruno fight. Bearing in mind that his last fight previous to that had been against Spinks, I barely recognised Tyson when he fought Frank. His timing was a mile off and he just looked terrible. I think he was out of the ring for something like 8 months, which was quite a long time for him back then, and he'd also ditched Rooney which is probably the most stupid thing he ever did. He was already going completely off the rails by the time he fought Bruno. He got away with it against Williams because he caught him in the first, but against Douglas his obvious lack of training and interest meant he came unstuck big time. Douglas fought the fight of his life on a night when Tyson thought he only had to turn up in order to win. After that he just didn't give a shit and his performances (or lack of) are evidence of that.

The last time Tyson looked good was against Spinks. All his post-Douglas and post- prison fights were pretty lame. Ironically, the only exception to that is his performance against Bruno second time around, but that's purely because someone like Bruno is perfectly suited to Tyson. Enormous, slow guy who is easy to hit and has a questionable chin and dodgy stamina - perfect.

As I said in another post, it's all ifs, buts and maybes with Tyson. He had the potential to retire unbeaten with a fortune in the bank well before the age of 30, but he blew it. And when I say he blew it, I mean HE blew it. It's no one's fault but his own.