Why was amateur Mike Tyson not as ferocious and powerful?

spacetime said:
Tyson was beaten up as a kid before taking boxing. I don't find it strange that a 16 year old trained boxer can beat grown men. As for myself, I did beat grown ass men in arm wrestling as a 16 year old. All I did was pull-ups at home.
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Ur analogy is completely irrelevant unless u meant u beat grown ass men in an official arm wrestling tornament, which i doubt u did as there is technique(same as a boxing match , pull ups wont be enough.)

I’ve had the pleasure to spar with some fucking good teens that have been trained in boxing everyday for over a decade by parents who want to live their unaccomplished dreams through them. They could outbox the shit out of many men but no way would they get a stoppage. There is common sense.

U really didnt read up well on tyson’s life.. he was beaten as a kid cause he was a friendless shy introvert spending his time raising pegeons. When the older kids snuck in and killed his pegeons, Cus saw him almost murder the bigger kids single handedly and thats why he adopted him.

I hope u realize u had a troll reputation for a very long time on the forum, second only to the guy with the tiger face avatar that only makes manny threads and thinks TKD is the goat martial art.
 
spacetime said:
I'm the only one reflecting on how someones in a year goes from a beatable amateur to a 30+ winning streak??
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I thought Tyson himself admitted to PED use? In any case, in an era when it was easy to cheat the testers, why wouldn't he have been using? Why wouldn't everybody?
 
KillerIsBack V2 said:
Ur analogy is completely irrelevant unless u meant u beat grown ass men in an official arm wrestling tornament, which i doubt u did as there is technique(same as a boxing match , pull ups wont be enough.)

I’ve had the pleasure to spar with some fucking good teens that have been trained in boxing everyday for over a decade by parents who want to live their unaccomplished dreams through them. They could outbox the shit out of many men but no way would they get a stoppage. There is common sense.

U really didnt read up well on tyson’s life.. he was beaten as a kid cause he was a friendless shy introvert spending his time raising pegeons. When the older kids snuck in and killed his pegeons, Cus saw him almost murder the bigger kids single handedly and thats why he adopted him.

I hope u realize u had a troll reputation for a very long time on the forum, second only to the guy with the tiger face avatar that only makes manny threads and thinks TKD is the goat martial art.
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Tyson said in an interview with Howard Stern that he lost street fights as a kid before taking up boxing.
 
Noveltymortar said:
I thought Tyson himself admitted to PED use? In any case, in an era when it was easy to cheat the testers, why wouldn't he have been using? Why wouldn't everybody?
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Never said he did. I asked if bulking up, be it naturally or artificial, was the reason.
 
Well, some people claim that amateur boxing and professional boxing are completely different sports.
 
I dont know about this. I always thought young tyson was probably the scariest 15 year old of all time..
 
droolingliver said:
Tyson had a lot of KOs as an amateur. I've never seen a comprehensive record of his, but most sources cite 48-6, 38 KOs, so a higher percentage than average.

@DeJulez posted a few of his bouts and his style wasn't too different to his pro years. Bigger gloves and breaking up any clinch prevent the likelihood of a KO.

Also, using his fight against Tillman isn't a fair gauge. That was against a top amateur who then went on the win Olympic Gold. So, when Tyson turned pro he was against easier competition. He also got his revenge for Tillman making fun of him!

Age and development play a factor too. Mike started at 15 so had some time to catch up to other amateurs. Also, the body can change a lot from mid to late teens.



Hearns was also a case of maturing physically. Steward said he went from one of the weakest to strongest at the Kronk.
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Hearns didn't sit on his punches early in his career, which is why he could box with the likes of SRL. Backwards compared to most. If you have power, you usually fight with power and learn to box later. Fury is kind of like this too in that he has size and range but boxed most of the time coming up not taking advantage of it.
 
Sambaking said:
Briggs?

Casual.
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biggs, you're right but i'm no casual, just tons of info in my head. I once accidentally called henry armstrong louise armstrong because i'm a musician too.
 
spacetime said:
Tyson said in an interview with Howard Stern that he lost street fights as a kid before taking up boxing.
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I do not see how this is relevant. Are you sure you’re replying in the right conversation?
 
just ignore the dude
 
@spacetime This was Tyson at 16 and just a single example of what he could do even back then. Mike gets his man (Winston Bent) out of there with a big bomb of a right that sent his mouthpiece flying out in the final of the Empire State Games (3rd & final round). The slow motion replay of the finish starts at 11:38.



He looked ferocious and powerful in plenty of his bouts especially when he knew his man had been hurt. Bent even had the benefit of recovering from a left hook prior which is where I start the vid, during his count. When he smelled blood he pounced with explosive single shots and combos. Early stoppages weren't uncommon with him because he could catch opponents cold (11 seconds, etc) or stop them late, as this bout shows.
 
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Prefect said:
Hearns didn't sit on his punches early in his career, which is why he could box with the likes of SRL. Backwards compared to most. If you have power, you usually fight with power and learn to box later. Fury is kind of like this too in that he has size and range but boxed most of the time coming up not taking advantage of it.
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Yeah, having natural qualities can come through later in the career. That's how Hopkins kept going when he was late 40s against athletic fighters twenty years his younger.

Fury I think doesn't employ power and would rather stay loose and conserve energy to throw lots of punches and active footwork. BJS is the same.
 
Because when he was an amateur, he didn't have the experience of an amateur career to fix the holes in his game and learn how to fight different style.
 
You kidding me? Tyson was an animal by the time he was in his mid to late teens. Plenty of amateur bouts where he looked like vintage mike. If anything the bigger gloves head gear standing 8 count and point sparring style of amateur boxing was the different maker. to this day the US ammy team struggles cuz they're way more similar to pro fighting than the fruity euro fencing style shit that gets wins in the olympics.

Also doubt it was peds. He wouldn't have burnt out so quick if he was using. His physique pretty much looked the same since he was a teen. Also lets not forget Cus made a killer out of a young Floyd Patterson too. Not like it was unprecedented for Cus to mold a youngin into a beast.
 
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