BoxRec

In October 1987 Mike Tyson in the midst of his rampaging best, defended his World Heavyweight Title against Olympic golden boy Tyrell Biggs. I remember watching this fight live on TV in the early hours. What I didn't know at the time was there was a history between these two fighters.

I knew they had both been at the 1984 USA Olympic trails and Tyson had failed to make the team and Biggs made the team and went on to strike Gold. However years later I read that there had been friction between the two of them whilst they were at the trails, Tyson claims Biggs mocked him, this is something Biggs denies.


Now back to the fight. After Tyson had beat Biggs by TKO7 there was talk that Tyson had carried Biggs as he wanted to prolong the punishment. I presume this is because Tyson still held a grudge over Biggs making the Olympic team and/or 'mocking' him?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Could Tyson have stopped Biggs earlier? Tyson was on form that night but for all his limitations Biggs was a tough guy with heart (at that time).

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I was very disappointed by Biggs in that fight because in the first round he employed an effective strategy against Tyson. He stayed on his toes moved and used his big reach advantage and scored with his jab. After the 1st however, Biggs started foolishly going toe to toe with Tyson and started getting busted up. In one round, Tyson missed with a right cross (I think) and followed through with his elbow to Biggs' mouth.

In a sense, Biggs fight with Tyson was like his bout with David Bey in reverse. Against Bey, Biggs foolishly fought on the inside and got busted up, until he listened to his corner. Once he put some distance between him and Bey, he totally turned the tide. Had he continued to fight the same way he did against tyson in the 1st, he may not have won, but he would made it a much more competitive fight.

I have heard that as well. I'm trying to remember if Tyson gave any indication of it or not, or if it was something that other people have claimed. After the fight Tyson did seem to have a grudge against Biggs, talking about how Biggs was crying and whimpering during the fight. I also remember during the fight where Tyson hit Biggs with a huge, blatant forearm (Mike's favorite foul in the old days) that the ref somehow missed. I think there was clearly some anger at Biggs. It didn't seem during the fight that Tyson was carrying Biggs, though. He was hitting him consistently and didn't seem to be holding back much from what I remember. Who knows.

Brutal knock out, though.

Tyson did say after the fight that he didn't want to knock him out early because he wanted to inflict pain. For whatever reason he clearly didn't like Biggs.

This may not be known, but this fight was actually scheduled for 15 rounds.

But I agree that Tyson did carry Biggs and could of knocked him out at anytime. But Biggs had heart and this fight isnt the only examle of it, when he fought Jeff Simms he had broken his shoulder in the 2nd round when Simms loaded up a big right hand which landed dislocating his shoulder. But Biggs fought 8 more rounds with this disability beating Simms one handed.

Funnily enough, I watched this fight last week. Biggs had an effective first round, but afterwards, he abandoned his game plan. Biggs' lateral movement was no more, his hands were not high enough, especially his right hand, and his jab became less frequent.

Tyson got to Biggs very early, making him fight Tyson's kind of fight. It was the body attacks that did the most damage. I believe Tyson could have finished Biggs earlier than the seventh, but decided to concentrate on the body attacks even more.

In the build-up to the fight, Tyson made no secret of the fatc that Niggs made fun of him during the amateurs, mocking Tyson's lisp etc. I remember Tyson saying at a press conference: "Everyone I face has a game plan, until they get hit".

Tyson's left hook was also a thing of beauty in the bout. That punch was a constant throuhgout the fight. Biggs was beaten up come the end of the fight. Tyson properly punished him in my view! Very smart, effective, competent performance by Tyson.

It did say it on YouTube HBO telecast that it was a 15 round match. Could be a mistake though.

Tyson actually looked a lot like Frazier in this fight. Anyone agree?

I Feel Fine wrote:Tyson actually looked a lot like Frazier in this fight. Anyone agree?

I don't see it IMO. Tyson was never as active as Frazier and didn't use consistant head movement like Joe did.

Even in this fight you can see some of the things that later got Mike in trouble . . his laziness on the inside and propensity to head-hunt.

That being said, Tyson's footspeed was great back then and his sheer aggression was very tough to overcome.

I haven't seen the fight in some time, but I remember Tyson throwing a lot of punches, going to the body a lot, landing a lot of hard left hooks. Just reminded me of Frazier. Maybe I should see it again.

No he didn't carry Biggs. Biggs was just too stupid to quit sooner.