What if Tyson and Douglas had a rematch?

[ross]

Tyson's style was a bully style watch him in any clinch, his head is always down in close and his forearm is usually in the throat of the other fighter

That was also a tactic, yes Mike didnt mind holding but try and say he was Ricky Hatton, you dont get as high a knockout percentage and as many first round KO's as Mike has by holding, his opponents initiated the holding and Mike really didnt mind but hew as taught to keep his eye on the gloves, keep his arms in side the opponents and the elbow in the throat is pretty straight forward, Floyd uses it now

This is all because Mike was taught well, how many other fighters from the mid eighties do we wish were around now? Maybe Leonard but even he got beat at his peak, Mike destroyed a division.

Also, Tony Tucker before he fought mike would have handled todays division He was 6,5" and had 29 ko's from 30 fights

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

He was better than Tony Thompson, that's for sure.

[J_Undisputed]

Tyson's style was a bully style watch him in any clinch, his head is always down in close and his forearm is usually in the throat of the other fighter

That was also a tactic, yes Mike didnt mind holding but try and say he was Ricky Hatton, you dont get as high a knockout percentage and as many first round KO's as Mike has by holding, his opponents initiated the holding and Mike really didnt mind but hew as taught to keep his eye on the gloves, keep his arms in side the opponents and the elbow in the throat is pretty straight forward, Floyd uses it now

This is all because Mike was taught well, how many other fighters from the mid eighties do we wish were around now? Maybe Leonard but even he got beat at his peak, Mike destroyed a division.

Also, Tony Tucker before he fought mike would have handled todays division He was 6,5" and had 29 ko's from 30 fights

Actually, it was Mike many times, that initiated the holding. He used it to guage how ripe his opponents were for the knock out and how much fight they had left in them. On the inside, Mike a practice of grabbing his opponents arms and pulling them into him. If he was game, he'd pull away...or try push or back Tyson up.... if the guy had enough, he would hold on or his arms would go limp. (in reaching, his opponents would often take their elbows away from their sides and leave themselves open for the hook to the body /uppercut combo he like to use so much.) Tyson would typically bury his head in the center of his opponents chest to distance them so he had room on the inside to work and get his hands inside his opponents so he could work the body and still protect his head.

[ross]

Now your just making things up

kevin Rooney used to get frustrated with Mike how he would let his opponents hold, he actually said once that Mike used to have "silent contracts with his oppponents that if they held neither would work on the inside".

If Mikes opponents held, Mike was still in control because as soon as the clinch finished Mike would go back to work, clinching Mike never did any good for his opponents other than to give Mike a breather and do a few dirty tactics like hooking and following through with his elbow either in to the cheek or the throat


I know Rooney has said it but a quick search has found Atlas has said the same thing and in an artical along with Eddie Futch about Tysons performance in the Douglas fight.

''It was a silent contract,'' Atlas said. ''A free ride for the opponent, who often was glad to have it. This time, Douglas didn't go along with the silent contract. He punched and made Tyson come up with something different.''

Also, the last few paragraphs are said from Mikes old trainers and another world renowned trainer, Futch who all noticed and agreed that Mike had no desire and wasnt fit, over time though revisionists will try telling us that Mike was a bully and Douglas not only stood up to him but also would have held his own with any heavyweight in history.

Truth is a tired beaten up disinterseted Tyson still dropped him hard in the 8th and if it hadnt been so close to the bell, Mike would have finished him there.

Tyson Failed to Make Adjustments - NYTimes.com