The couple fights (Green, Tillis, etc.) that went the distance did so IMO cuz Thson fought too frequently so when he encountered a wise, older vetern, who was determined to run and then hold in close , he would take the decision since he was clearly winning almost every round. Not like he was getting dropped and barely surviving those fight, the scorecards show his dominance. Hell, Ali went the distance with quite a few "bums."
Tyson with Cus and Rooney was a machine who never had a chance to mature so we never saw how great he was. It causes me a question why people (mostly non-boxers BTW) always cite his lack of head movent after Cus and Rooney. Maybe it did decline, he seemed to be chasing the KO more with wide hooks and overhand rights, but it didn't disappear. And how could it just disappear?!? You think a dozen plus years training to move your head on a daily basis, with multiple pieces of equipment (mitts, shadow box, drills he is shown doing with Rooney, sparring, speed bag, bobbing & weaving under a rope, walking across floor moving side to side [as seen in his old teen training videos], and last but most important the slip bag [the little sand bag he used in all his training videos--a tool few gyms today even have!], etc.) and you change trainers and BOOM, more than a dozen years of 2 a day workouts for 10's of thousands of hours just evaporate your entire skill set in head movement?!? And if you still think that, why would top notch trainers later brought in, not revert back to the formula which made him so successful according to arm chair experts? He had Freddie Roach and Fenech training him among others and those two IMO are 2 of the best trainers not named Mayweather!
I grew up a Holmes fan (went to his gym, saw him train for Tyson fight actually) and later Holyfield (I loved technically sound boxers who always came to fight in shape, like B-hop now ;-) so I'm no Tyson fan flunkie. But last 5-6 years I've re-watched his fights and have a lot more appreciation for what he did. He is only man to KO Spinks and Holmes, think about that, like 100 fights between 2 ex heavyweight champions and both only ever KO'd by Tyson, and in his early 20's before he fully matured his style. Re-watching him now I see how effectively he uses his jab to close the distance and how he punches so hard and accurate with both hands , and his body assaults may be the best in the heavyweight division, ever...
To me his legacy is problematic due to losing a lot of his prime by serving time for a set up, drug use, and the emotional and financial wringer Givens, her mom and King put him through. These factors, I believe led to him fighting sporadically, and missing the opportunity to fight some names of that era that would have cemented his legacy: Foreman, Morrison, Mercer, Bowe, etc. those fights should've happened, and now we will never know how great Iron Mike truly was...
