A Brutally Honest Look at Mike Tyson versus Muhammad Ali

norseamd

Lifer
Dec 13, 2013
13,990
180
106
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If you ask someone with no interest in combat sports to name two boxers, there's a good chance that they will name Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. They are the two great heavyweights who are so easy to recall and they are often painted as polar opposites.

At the height of his popularity Ali was probably the most recognizable person on the planet. You could take his photograph to parts of Africa and children there would know him before they recognized the president of the United States of America. His exile from boxing through three years of his physical prime for his refusal to be drafted to the US military, and his support of the Nation of Islam made Ali one of the most divisive figures of his generation and served to see him transcend his sport in a way that no other athlete has to this day. Many remember him for his comeback and his out-thinking of the seemingly unbeatable George Foreman, though he is just as easily remembered for not knowing when to call it quits and his brutal shellacking at the hands of Larry Holmes.

Mike Tyson is remembered primarily as a villain. Or rather as a lost cause and wasted potential. The greatest fighter who ever lived, mislead after the loss of his father figure. Under the charge of Cus D'amato and Kevin Rooney, Tyson won the world heavyweight title at the age of 20 by knocking out almost everyone in his path. Then it all fell apart. Convicted of rape, Tyson was sent to prison and remained out of the ring from June of 1991 until August of 1995. When he returned he wasn't the Tyson of old, he was just a flat footed brawler. The fights became grinding slogs and when he met the best of the best in Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, he was convincingly bested.

There's more to both men's stories. It would be easy to turn Ali heel by recounting his misuse of his stature in the black community to turn it against Joe Frazier. It would be equally easy to show Tyson in a positive light. But simplifying a man into print will compress him into a one-dimensional cliché. What was captivating about each was their approach to the game of fisticuffs—each so unique that it could draw in the most casual of observers. Let us examine these styles and play with that most important of hypothetical match ups—Muhammad Ali versus Mike Tyson.

Living and Dying By the Jab

Classical boxing is lead by the jab. In fact the terms 'jab' and 'lead' are often used interchangeably. As a 5'10” heavyweight, Tyson was always going to be at a disadvantage in a straight up jab-off. Working with Cus D'amato, who trained fighters in “elusive aggression”, Tyson was built around drawing the jab and getting past it. The jab that is expected and prepared for is easily countered—and through aggression, paired with constant, disciplined head movement, Tyson was able to draw panicked jabs and counter them.

Due to his extensive use of hooks and uppercuts rather than the traditional straight blows, Tyson is often remembered as an infighter. The truth is that Tyson's best punches connected on the way in. He wasn't the kind to press into his opponent's chest and chop away with grinding, short blows to the body. The opponent jabbed, it flew over one of Tyson's shoulders, and he immediately retaliated. It could be a left hook, it could be a right across the top of the jab, it was the timing and the movement of Tyson that made it more than the power of the blow.

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The more Tyson's opponents became concerned about not letting him close, the more they'd pump the jab. And the more often they pumped the jab, in hopes of a solid connection to keep him away, the more openings they exposed for Tyson to score through.

But the fact that Tyson was Tyson didn't undermine the principles of boxing. He was still a short heavyweight, and the jab was still a problem. He was just exceptionally well trained and disciplined in getting around it and using his opponent's jabs to his advantage. In the worst performances of his career, when Tyson tired and couldn't maintain the constant head movement through the rounds, Tyson found himself on the end of the jab and unable to get inside.

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Tyson lived and died by his opponent's jab, and his ability to manipulate and draw it through intimidation and crowding.

Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali

Young Cassius Clay meanwhile, as a 6'3” heavyweight, with a seventy-eight inch reach (seven inches on Tyson's) recognized the jab as his key weapon from day one. He didn't throw out the piston-like jab that had been the fashion though. He wasn't Liston or Foreman, driving a railway spike through his opponent's head. No, Muhammad Ali's jab was more sinister: flicked out with his hand loose inside his glove. He targeted the eyes like no-one else in the game and made a habit of cutting his opponents in his early career. Poor Henry Cooper's face seemed to be coming apart at the seams when Clay was done with him.


Ali's best power punch was always the right hand counter as his opponent retracted their jab. He called it the Anchor Punch when it became the focal point of his controversial second fight with Liston (which Liston likely threw), but it had been winning Ali fights for years. He laid out Zara Foley with the same blow, and Ali's sparring partner Jimmy Ellis made his mark timing the same counter through the heavyweight tournament to decide a champion during Ali's exile from boxing.

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When Ali returned from his three years away from the ring, he looked shoddy. He couldn't coast on his speed against the grinding journeymen, and against the best fighters with the best coaches, he found his flaws being exposed to the world. The change in Ali was noticeable. He went to the clinch more and he would conserve his strength. There would be brief periods of activity from Ali, and then periods where he would deny his opponent activity through the clinch.

Where there was a point where one could clearly say “that's complete Tyson”, there is no such point for Ali. When his speed and footwork were there, his ability to tie opponents up and wrestle with them were not. Ali's shortcomings on his return forced him to grow and adapt in order to stay relevant, and in that we saw him become a more complete scientific boxer. Had he come back to the ring with the speed and dazzle of his youth, or had success with the same style he had used back then, we might not have seen him grow to out-think George Foreman or take many of the biggest victories of his career.


http://fightland.vice.com/blog/a-brutally-honest-look-at-mike-tyson-versus-muhammad-ali
 

KLin

Lifer
Feb 29, 2000
29,499
124
106
ffs, tyson would kill anyone on here with that 2 punch combo.