Rick Farris wrote:Charlie Norkus thoughts on a young Tyson? . . .
Charlie, your father was a top ten heavyweight. He was also a New York guy, and involved with boxing long after his career ended.
I'm curious what his thoughts were on Mike Tyson?
I can't think of anybody's opinion that could be more qualified than your dad's.
I'm referring to Mike in the early days, before the death of Jimmy Jacobs, not the Mike after Spinks.
I was a big Tyson fan. And I was sadly disappointed watching a great potential waste away.
I believe what seperated Mike Tyson from greatness was charactor.
In my opinion, it was charactor and courage that made Muhammad Ali great, not his ring skills, which really did not impress me.
I am glad you asked Rick. When Tyson first appeared on the boxing scene (as a pro) his reputation as a leading amateur preceded him here in the metro NY area. Word spread kind of quickly, I remembered, about this young kid and that all he was interested in was boxing.
My father attended a dinner that at that time honored both Ray Arcel and Cus D'Amato. I did not attend this one. My father told me that he sat with Jose Torres that night and that Torres mentioned that D'Amato had this kid who was going to be champ someday.
My father managed to get a minute with D'Amato that night and asked him to come up to Poughkeepsie that week to watch him. D'Amato said the kid had a tremendous respect for old fighters.(Not insulting my father of course) My father did go.I couldnt make it.
When he came home and he kept saying rthat kid is the real deal and D'Amato was the man to keep him on the straight and narrow. My father gave Mike copies of his fights that he had on VHS at the time. He thanked my father and Cus told my dad that the kid watches tapes all the time with him to learn about different stances and mistakes made in the ring.
I went with my father to see Mike fight Zouski at the Nassau Coliseum. A mismatch.
My father liked Mike Tyson alot and hoped he would get a chance to ref one of his fights before he moved on to Out-of-New York venues. He didnt get a chance.
When Cus D'Amato died, Rooney smoothed in and out; under Giachetti, things started to change. When my father ran in to Jose Torres again,Jose said that he is training different and keeping all hours. He was still winning though and wanted Holmes bad even though Holmes was washed up.. Torres book "Fire & Ice" the Tyson Story is a decent read slanted by Jose Torres a very good friend and confidant to Mike.To answer your question though-My dad was very old school. He thought the world of Mike but as his problems arose one after another my father became disenchanted over his lifestyle but told me he had all the tools to be the greatest ever but lost respect after each newspaper article about him in a bad light. Fierce competitor my dad would say.My father blamed Cus D'Amato's death as one of his major changing points.
I took my father into my firehouse in NYC to watch the Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson fight.(He enjoyed hanging with the guys whenever he could).
He was glad that Tyson got KO'd as he thought it would set back Mike into respecting training camps and just a regular come-uppance.
When it came out that (Tyson said) he was on psyche drugs at that time-my father was even more disgusted. He said if he was on something-under doctors care ,go off in time for the fight, or he shouldn't be in the ring.
The idea of a championship fight under that condition isn't right.
By then, my dad was pretty much fed up with the heavyweights around then anyway. My father hated the ABC's and thought that most of the heavyweight title holders would have got there butts kicked by fighters from the 40's and 50's.
I also heard him say about the late 80's-early 90's : "If you were to take a snapshot of the division at that particular moment, all those fighters deserved one another, and on any given day, anyone could have been champ". I thought that was one of his better remarks to me.
, and a very Happy Birthday to your dad from all The Baltazar clan.... 
