Famed boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas doesn’t know if former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, aka “The Baddest Man on the Planet,” was ever great. Is Atlas right, is Tyson’s aura now overrated?
“I don’t know if he was ever great,” Atlas said of Tyson on the “Lex Fridman Podcast.” “I know he was sensational. I know he was the greatest mix of maybe speed and power ever. I know he was one of the greatest punchers from either side of the plate, left or right. There’s been great punchers with just the right hand like Earnie Shavers and Deontay Wilder and Max Baer. I don’t know if there’s ever been anyone who could punch as good as he did on either side with either hand other than Joe Louis and a few others.”
Atlas And Tyson Have History
First, anything Atlas says about Tyson has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Atlas worked briefly under legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, Tyson’s first trainer, at the Catskill Boxing Club. In 1982 there was an incident between a then 15-year-old Tyson and an 11-year-old female relative of Atlas’. Atlas put a .38 caliber handgun to Tyson’s ear and told him to never touch his family again, or he would kill him if he did. Atlas was fired from the boxing club.
All that is to say, there is history between these two men.
That being said, Atlas is an astute boxing commentator and aficionado. He has seen a lot in his 40+ years in and around the sport.
The question of “greatness” is semantics. At 20-years-old he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. He was the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, as well as the only heavyweight to unify them in succession.
He went 37-0 to start his career winning 33 by KO or TKO.
As Atlas noted there has never been a fighter with Tyson’s combination of speed and power and he could hit hard with either hand like very few fighters in history.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been such a combination of speed and power to that pure level that he had, and it was a pure level. I don’t know if there was ever as good a fighter as Tyson was for maybe 1 night he was great. He wasn’t tested, but he might have been ready to be tested that 1 night against Michael Spinks— when he took him apart in 90 seconds. I think I saw a great fighter that night.”
In Atlas’ mind Tyson was great in one fight, the June 1988 bout against Michael Spinks whom he destroyed in :90 seconds.
Tyson Cheated Himself With Personal Decisions
Tyson was successful in his next two title bouts and then came the legendary February 1990 title bout in Tokyo, Japan against Buster Douglas. Tyson opened as the overwhelming favorite at 1:42 and was knocked out for the first time in his career in the 10th round, losing his heavyweight titles.
Tyson’s personal life leading up to that fight was in disarray and he fell victim to the trappings of fame, celebrity and riches. Things turned darker when he was convicted of rape in 1992 and served time in prison.
He did manage a comeback and won the WBC and WBA titles before losing in consecutive bouts to Evander Holyfield, highlighted by the infamous bite incident.
You could argue Tyson was a excellent fighter that possessed skills like almost nobody else. But his career didn’t live up to the early promise. Had he stayed on the straight and narrow and never got into any kind of trouble would he have retired as the only undefeated heavyweight champion?
Given boxers’ inability to let go maybe not. Maybe he never loses to Douglas and enters the Holyfield fight undefeated and has a proper camp and buildup for the first fight.
There are a lot of what ifs when it comes to Tyson. But he is one of the more legendary sportsmen in history. Was he ever truly tested early in his rise? Maybe. Maybe not.
His personal decisions robbed the sports world and himself of ever truly knowing what a fully focused champ at the peak of his powers would do when tested.
