Mike Tyson will go down as one of the most fierce champions of all time.
The way he dismantled the minds of fighters before he even stepped in the ring was a tactic that couldn't be taught in a gym. He would scare the pants off other fighters, making his night in the ring an easy one.
Out of his 44 KOs, he managed 22 of them in the first round alone. Which was astonishing. Riding high, and considered invincible until his untimely KO loss to James "Buster" Douglas in 1990.
A bout that would have pitted him against a prime Holyfield, who was undefeated and searching for his first title in the heavyweight division after cleaning out the cruiserweights.
After one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing, Mike Tyson vowed that he would become champion again in six months. But he wouldn't become champion again for another six years.
Not because he couldn't get it back inside the ring; but because he wasn't allowed to due to a rape conviction that took away four years of his career.
But what if Tyson would have never been convicted of rape? Before he was sent to prison, he was scheduled to fight Holyfield.
Holyfield was then the undisputed champion; dismantling Douglas quickly by KO. Tyson would have went against Holyfield who was flying high at the time.
A Holyfield who was light years better than the version that shocked the world in a match with Tyson in 1996.
Tyson would have lost this fight as well with Evander. After losing for the first time, Tyson came into his bouts sluggish and without the aura of invincibility that once defeated his opponents before he even stepped into the ring.
His two fights with "Razor" Ruddock before prison showed Tyson's decline mentally as an unbeatable fighter. Ruddock more than held his own, delivering crushing blows to Tyson.
Tyson showed little skill in these two fights, and defensively he began to take a lot of shots because of his aggressive nature offensively began to arise. His tactics were sloppy and the Cus D'Amato-acquired confidence and skills had officially left him.
He became a head-hunter and threw all that tactical knowledge he had out of the door.
The other contenders in the pool of heavyweights that Tyson missed because of his time in jail were light years ahead of the caliber of fighters he faced that flooded that flooded dry heavyweight division of the 80's.
To get back to his championship ways, he would have had to obviously go through Holyfield. Even if he had defeated him at that time, he would have had Michael Moorer. A fight that would have been very difficult tactically but I think Tyson would have KO'd him in Foreman fashion.
George Foreman was also standing in the way. A fight with Foreman was talked about after his imprisonment but his "bite" fight with Holyfield got him suspended for a year, and upon his return, Foreman had retired.
Riddick Bowe was the ruler of those four years that Tyson was out of action. Also a fighter that he'd lose to down the road, Lennox Lewis, would also have been a gate keeper to the throne.
This road back to boxing supremacy would have been so tough for Tyson. Especially after the most devastating defeat in his life. He might have been able to do it. But there was one thing that was intriguing about all but one fighter in the group that was just named.
They were all in their primes. At the time they were all considered future Hall of Famer's.
Tyson escaped the deep waters of the last great heavyweight class of fighters in their primes, through a rape conviction. During Tyson's stay in prison, he saw the defeats of Holyfield by Bowe. Moorer's KO loss to Foreman. Holyfield's decision over Foreman. Moorer's win over Holyfield and loss. And Bowe's ducking of Lewis, which resulted in him throwing his championship belt in the trash relinquishing his title eventually to Lewis.
After prison, those fighters had pretty much been through WWIII, and Tyson missed it. Regaining his title from unworthy opponents. And losses to Holyfield and more controversy delayed a fight with Lewis upon his return.
Tyson could have been considered one of the greatest heavyweights ever with spirited wins over these opponents in their primes, or his accomplishments in the 1980's would have withered in sorrow due to him being exposed by a stable of more than capable champions.
It was clear that Tyson was not in his prime when matched up against the likes of Lewis in 2002, or even Holyfield in 1996. But a fight with them while they were all prime fighters is what boxing needed to validate the true talents of these great warriors.
What a great four years of heavyweight boxing that would have been if Tyson was involved.
Who knows? Maybe Tyson would have run through them all. Or maybe that rape conviction saved him of further disappointment.
Physically, he could have beaten anyone, but mentally after the loss to Douglass he wasn't all there; evident of him admitting that his "career ended in 1990."
Bryant Maxwell can be reacheed at maxwritings@gmail.com
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