Viihdyttävin ottelija nyrkkeilyn raskaan historiassa on kieltämättä. Aikaansa edellä edellä oli ennen reissua kivitaloon. Ilman noita sekoiluja olisi hyvinkin voinut olla kovin koskaan.
Mä olen niin samaa mieltä tämän artikkelin kirjoittajan kanssa:
Listen, people. Time to face the facts. Mike Tyson just was never all that.
He demolished some average fighters, knocked out an ancient Larry Holmes and went to prison…third-best heavyweight ever. That makes sense, right?
Oh sorry, that sounds crazy. The honest truth is that Tyson had a lot of potential, but threw it all out the window when he signed with Don King. If he had not fired Kevin Rooney, sure, he probably could have been more successful down the line.
But it should be clear that I believe in ranking fighters based on what did happen rather than what could have been in a perfect world. In a perfect world, I would live in a floating castle and Shakira would wait on me hand and foot, but I never put down “floating castle lord” on my resume.
So why is Tyson ranked on what could have been instead of what was? If you look at his resume of wins, Tyson is a top 20 heavyweight, probably floating around 15. But I have actually heard people argue that he could have beat Ali! Based on what? Every single prepared, unafraid fighter Tyson ever stepped in with gave him hell.
But the Tyson fan has an excuse for every loss. If you have a couple of hours and you like being bored, just bring up Buster Douglas to a Mike Tyson fan. “Oh he was unprepared. He was getting with hookers in Tokyo. His corner was incompetent...they even used a condom full of cold water on his face!”
On and on and on it goes. But at the end of the day, Mike lost that fight. A serious prizefighter does not have sex with prostitutes the night before a fight. He takes his training camp seriously for a title defense. He hires competent staff to be around him.
Don King can only be blamed for so much. I have no love for the man, but I never seem to remember Julio Cesar Chavez being knocked out and destroyed by a 42:1 underdog like Buster.
Mike was an exciting fighter to watch. The atmosphere in old Tyson fights reminds me of Romans cheering on a lion ripping up a poor gladiator. And being the youngest heavyweight champion of all time is no joke. But stirring up buzz and knocking out bums convincingly does nothing to convince me of greatness.
His entire resume is fixated on him being the youngest heavyweight champion ever and destroying a light heavyweight Michael Spinks, who was literally shaking in terror on his way to the ring.
Larry Holmes was 37 years old and still had some fight left in the tank, but clearly was not the same fighter that was at his very peak at the end of the 70’s.
But since Tyson was an exciting heavyweight and people love to speculate what if, he gets a lot of undue respect considering what actually happened.
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