The Reason Why Mike Tyson was Doomed from the Start - and would never beat Klitschko

[ninjaspy3]

Good afternoon fellow Saddo-boxng members!

I know the Tyson topic has probably been done to death, but I have not seen anyone approach it from the angle I'm about to now.

First off, my hypothesis is that Tyson was doomed to defeat from the very begining, and now I will explain why that is.

But first lets get the obvious commonly-cited reasons out of the way: With age Tyson increasingly used less head movement, inreasingly began to rely on single punhes instead of combinations, and he stopped punching his way into range.

That last point is the most pertinent to what I am about to point out.

Following Tysons record, it is most interesting to note the fights in which Tyson failed to KO his opponents. These are the key fights to watch. Why was Tyson unable to KO these opponents? Well, some of them were indeed running scared and engaging very little, true. Others were simply very durable. However, there is one thing they all seemed to have in common: they were taller fighters with the ability to effectively tie Tyson up when in close.

In fact, I would go as far to say that with each additional fight Tyson was engaged in where a KO did not occur, opponents became increasingly skilled at exploiting what for me, was one of Tyson's consistent weakness. It was as if trainers honed in on this weakness, and the blue prints to throw a monkey wrench into Tyson's fighting technique became better and better developed.

Buster Douglas would be the first to employ the technique combined with enough consistent firepower to hand Tyson his first defeat. Sure, Tyson had not trained as he should, but watch Douglas' effective clinch and just how much Tyson was frustrated by it. Holyfield had the right idea immediately, and also effectively clinched Tyson and frustrated him into total ineffectiveness. Again, I know Tyson's technique was always in decline around this point, but the weakness was a fundemental one which was there to be exploited to some degree even from the beginning! Lennox would eventually also effectively use the technique, basically ending what little of Tyson was even left by that point.

And this, gentlemen is why Tyson would never have beaten Klitschko... at least not the Manny Stewart-trained version. Klitschko's extra height and amazingly consistent clinching would not leave the much shorter Tyson any chance to score hurtful shots other than the occasional single one that may slip through. Tyson would be thoroughly frustrated and tied up, and when free, would almost never be able to reach the very much taller Klitschko's head. A Jab and grab fest would ultimately end with a tired Tyson, likely TKO's as he was in other fights.

If you disagree, I invite you to watch Tyson's fights ending in UD, or ending in him being defeated by TKO/KO. Please let me know if you don't see it, this consistent pattern. But I believe you too will see what I have noticed.

James Tillis UD 10 May 3, 1986
Mitch Green UD 10 May 20, 1986
James Smith UD 12 Mar 7, 1987
Tony Tucker UD 12 Aug 1, 1987
Buster Douglas KO 10 Feb 11, 1990
Donovan Ruddock UD 12 Jun 28, 1991
Evander Holyfield TKO 11 Nov 9, 1996
Lennox Lewis KO 8 Jun 8, 2002

[Master]

Every fighter is taller than Tyson but if you mean 6ft 4inches minimum then Holfield, was smaller. Tyson brutalised Tyrell Biggs who was tall and many lower ranking fighters including Saverise, and Golota.

Peak Tyson was early on and he faded after leaving Rooney, Jacobs and Cus dying with King taking over.

Peak Tyson would destroy a fragile and frightened Wlad.

[ruthless rocco]

Tyson was too old to fight the Klits.

[p4pking]

Vitali perhaps. Trying to make a case that a peak Tyson couldnt have beaten Wlad is basically laughable.

[Spicoli]

Basically Tyson became more and more one dimensional and couldn't adjust. But even though the majority of those fighters worked to clinch Tyson still won. Save for maybe Holyfield and Douglas who worked to punch into and out off tying up with effective offensive work and mentality. Others just did do so to survive or trying to re establish range and waiting for Mike to whiff. Wlad surely had the size and while he could clinch and be a wet blanket on guys I don't think he had that mental make up to go on the offense inside. And it may get over stated about his beard but was Wlad really going to soak up the damage a Holyfield or Ruddock did in the late rounds? The could clinch but all at one point or another were badly shook.

[Primo Carnera]

A peak Tyson would have no problem dispatching of Wlad. He’d have had more problems with Vitaly, but would still have beat him. But we’re talking a Peak Tyson. Less than peak? Well anything could happen.

[Baal]

Heyday IronTyson smash young boy Vlad like glass. OctoVlad hold in fear to end