16 Years ago today...

[Bobbyptsd]

You can keep saying that, it doesn't make it true.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

like i said.....past his peak

[misterpunch]

;;-)

[HomicideHenry]

Had Tyson fought Evander, the same Evander who fought Dokes, I think Tyson could have possibly beaten him. However I'm inclined to believe Holyfield would have won 99/100 against Mike. It wasnt so much a battle of the fists but of the mind and spirit, and that was the great equalizer in those fights.

[misterpunch]

more than an equalizer - it gave evander a big advantage

[Syntax Error]

like i said.....past his peak

I think more believing his own hype & not preparing properly rather than past his peak.

[misterpunch]

but did he ever get it back like it was? if he didnt .......past his peak

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Sure, the Ruddock wins were as good as any he ever had.

[hhaehre]

Had Tyson fought Evander, the same Evander who fought Dokes, I think Tyson could have possibly beaten him. However I'm inclined to believe Holyfield would have won 99/100 against Mike. It wasnt so much a battle of the fists but of the mind and spirit, and that was the great equalizer in those fights.

You have got to be kidding? Evander looked great against Dokes. Holyfield however did look like crap against Czyz which is why many, myself included, thought Tyson would beat him up.

[man]

5 years earlier it would have been a more entertaining victory for Holyfield. Funny how Tyson is now the diminished fighter that Evander preyed on when at the time people were fearful for Holyfield's life. He beats Mike any day, any place, any year.

i second that. holyfield got his number, because he could
absorb tyson's shots without being shocked. that is the
solution to the whole mystery ... if you're able to take his
shots ... he is the one being shocked. i figure in the
tyson bouts where the other guy didn't get wobbly within
three or four, mike had simply no idea what else to do. his
entire boxing rooted in the notion, that the other guy has to
fall and that there is actually nobody who will not fall. of
course this was the same ingredient that made him youngest
champ ever. in his mid twenties he would have needed proper
life style and team to make the necessary adjustments for the
next stage in his career. which IMO should have been a more
patient approach to things once plan A wouldn't work. instead
he ran the baddest man on the planet stunt.

[misterpunch]

brilliant! i love it when my theories are endorsed

[Bobbyptsd]

Did you actually read his post?

[man]

brilliant! i love it when my theories are endorsed

if you're referring to me, sorry, i didn't read yours.
with longer threads i sometimes take the privilege
and respond to the original post without reading all
that was said in between.

[misterpunch]

pretty much all i am claiming is that iron mike started believing his own "baddest man...." hype - just as you said - and didnt need to to do too much more than psych his opponents out to win fights. and that when he needed to use his full capacity again ie against evander he found it wasnt there no more. thats my theory.

[man]

pretty much all i am claiming is that iron mike started believing his own "baddest man...." hype - just as you said - and didnt need to to do too much more than psych his opponents out to win fights. and that when he needed to use his full capacity again ie against evander he found it wasnt there no more. thats my theory.

i believe it is a little more complicated in that
his plan A involved a lot of great defensive work.
mike tyson was not only powerful at his peak, he
was very, very fast in his upper body movements,
which made him really difficult to hit.

his own hype made him neglect this part of his
game and he paid dearly, since all he had was this
A plan and with one part of it gone ... mike tyson
was gone.

[misterpunch]

agreed - my post was a slimmed down version of the idea

[SaadOffTheDeck]

And Man didn't mention that Tyson's prime ended before he was of legal drinking age. That's where your train went off the tracks.

[man]

And Man didn't mention that Tyson's prime ended before he was of legal drinking age.

don't think it's true but it's a hell
of a phrase ...

[misterpunch]

great sentence - and might have an element of truth in it