By Tom Graves: This article is aimed at people who are not necessarily fans of “Iron” Mike Tyson but aimed at anyone who knows his career and life in depth.
I was watching ’Tyson’ the movie for what must be near the tenth time, the film documents his life story and his great boxing career, it got me wondering how things could have been so different if Tyson’s personal life didn’t affect his performance in the ring.
If you have watched the film or know about Tyson’s life you will know he has one of the most difficult and troublesome lives that is known in the world of boxing. Not only his rough childhood in a poverty stricken broken home in Brooklyn NY but problems during his rise, such as the death of his father figure and trainer Cus D’Amato, his marriage and divorce, firing Kevin Rooney,
who was the assistant to D’Amato while training Tyson and addictions to sex, drugs and money.
I could go on for a page worth of writing, explaining Tyson’s troubles and many factors to why the man and his career deteriorated but all I am going to state it that I believe the main reason why all of the problems effected him so severely was due to his lack of discipline.
Cus D’Amato reformed Tyson the teenager using discipline from a ghetto thug to an incredibly skilled and determined athlete with immense boxing ability. Tyson owned nearly all of the great qualities which makes a boxing champion, he is arguably one of the most talented boxers to ever grace the ring.
I believe if his life didn’t crumble in front of his eyes and he kept his mind on his sport by training with the intensity he did in his past to get him where he was, he would of gone onto rule the heavyweight division undoubtedly and wouldn’t have lost to James Douglas, Evander Holyfied, Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams and Kevin McBride. Beating Holyfied would have been the height of his career, as I see Holyfied as one of the best of that decade.
It is a big statement and of course my personal opinion but I feel Tyson in his prime is the most skilled boxer of all time, who had the talent to beat anyone at that time, past or present, which brings me to the current top heavyweights.
If Tyson had remained undefeated, I believe of course theoretically speaking, beating Lennox Lewis may well have set up a fight against Vitali Klitschko and defeating the Ukrainian convincingly (which was more than Lewis actually managed) would of added to his legacy even more, although this is nothing more than a theory it if it happened it would most likely changed the scene of heavyweight boxing today as we know it, If Tyson had of carried on fighting till he was 45 (which is the age he will be turning on his next birthday) and obviously considering my theory Tyson carried on training and winning could have go on to fight and defeat any popular heavyweight name since his demise and of course he wouldn’t have gone onto lose to average fighters like McBride and Williams.
But imagine the dream match ups that could of happened against boxers like James Toney, John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman, Corrie Sanders, Shannon Briggs and Chris Byrd.
Up to current heavyweight names like Vitali’s younger brother Wladimir, Tomasz Adamek, Nikolay Valuev, Alexander Povetkin, Cristobal Arreola, Ruslan Chagaev and the WBA title holder David Haye.
Despite his age George Foreman won the IBF and WBA title at 45 , 20 years after losing the WBA belt to Ali, if anyone had the talent to reigned supreme and even battling father time it has to be Mike Tyson.
Myself and I’m sure many of you believe prime Mike Tyson had the skill and talent to beat them all and be known as the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight king of all time, but it’s a shame things didn’t happen that way.
Its all good and well explaining my far fetched theory but the fact is I’m afraid its not reality and reality is a harsh factor especially in Tyson’s life, the fact is, we will never know how things could have been so different for ‘The Baddest Man on The Planet’, but as they say things happen for a reason but it doesn’t stop us wondering, what if?
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