"Weighing in at Two-Hundred and Fif-TEEN Pounds! Out of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn by way of Catskills, New York... introducing The ONE, the ONLY- IRON -Mike- Tyson!!!!" I got goosebumps just typing that. Michael Gerard Tyson was for much part of the mid to late 80s not just the most dominant man in boxing but in ALL of sports. He brought heavyweight boxing back to it's peak and made it the center of the sports world. He was a destructive force with a purpose that had no weakness at the time. He was a heat seeking missle that never missed it's target. Even if you didn't watch or follow boxing at the time you would stop what you were doing if Iron Mike was on the tube. You praised him and prayed for his opponent (well kinda). When he defeated Trevor Berbick on November 22, 1986...uhh when I say "defeated" I meant destroyed him, he unified the heavyweight title it changed boxing. It was the beginning of the "Tyson Era".
I remember..yes.. I'm having a moment..ahem! I remember the first time I ever saw him fight on regular TV. I don't remember the day or the year. It had to be around 87'. What I do remember is poor Marvis Frazier, son of the boxing legend "Smoking" Joe Frazier and at the time a real "test" for Tyson. I know it wasn't live and it was being re-broadcasted on ABC. They had this big promo about Tyson before the fight. So naturally I was intrigued. My dad came out of the kitchen and asked me what I was watching and why the Yankees game wasn't on anymore. I gave him a quick briefing as only a 7 year old could and he sat on the couch and watched. Little did I know he already knew the outcome. (In a 7 year olds voice)"Then the bell rang and then the flurry came and Marvis got hit with a left hook and his body twisted like my GI JOE and then the referree stepped in and then...." you get the picture. Well, that picture followed Tyson many times after that. He was the Piccasso, if you will of those pictures. His battles with Donovan "Razor" Ruddock were both brutal and beautiful to watch. He beat some tough guys on his way to the top. Including Tony Tucker, Terrel Biggs, Frank Bruno and a clearly outmatched Michael Spinks. Then came Tokyo when he met Jame "Buster" Douglas and lost what in my opinion was the greatest upset in all of sports history...YES...all of sports history. Douglas was an underachiever who had an outer body experience that night. Tyson was sluggish and clearly had not trained or prepared properly. His corner faltered and had no idea what to do when Mike was actually in a real fight. It was terrible to watch as a Tyson fan. Watching Tyson reaching for his mouthpiece on the canvas was an image I could not believe. After Douglas beat Tyson he lost the title in his very next fight to Evander Holyfield. By then "Buster" had become a mere "Bust".
Tyson ended up coming back to fight after he served his jail sentence and win a share of the heavyweight title. Until he lost to Evander Holyfield twice and became infamous for "Ear Gate" where paper wasn't what was being shredded. The second demolition of Frank Bruno prior to Holyfield was the reason I ended up at the boxing gym at the Boy's Club of New York on 10th street. Later that week I took up boxing. I must've watch that tape a million times. I would try to mimick and set up whoever I sparred with to throw the same combination Tyson finished Bruno with to the dismay and ire of my then trainer George. "You can't try to kill everybody" he say in his spanglish accent.
Tyson never regained his old form and quite frankly, I don't think anyone else will. Because it just wasn't human.
"El Leon de Culiacan" or the lion from Culiacan. Julio Cesar Chavez was as great a fighter as there will ever be in the sport. He won titles at Jr. Lightweight, Lightweight and Junior Welterweight. He is regarded as the greatest Mexican born fighter in their proud and illustrious history. Chavez would hunt down his opponents with a goody bag of accurate and heavy handed punches. Although not fleet of foot (no one will ever mistake his footwork with Usher's) he was a master at the cutting the ring off and shrinking it by about 10 feet. His body attack was legendary and feared. The man could fight in a phone booth if he had too. He was very hard headed also. Not in the stubborn sense, although he would will most foes into submission. I mean he was literally "hard headed". His last name should've been Flintstone. opponents would always complain about how hard his head was.
His record of 107-6-2 86 KOs is also as remarkable as JC. For a stretch in his career he was regarded as the best "Pound for Pound" fighter in the world. I still remember my dad and uncles collection of "Guantes" magazines. Guantes (spanish for gloves) was a spanish boxing magazine that often featured the best fighters of the day on their covers. I remember seeing Chavez and Robert Duran on the cover quite frequently.
Some of his most notable wins came against - Roger Mayweather, Hector "Macho" Camacho and Edwin Rosario. But his 3 most notable fights to the casual fan would be 3 controversial ones. One was his lost to a then young Oscar De la Hoya. De la Hoya said he grew up idolizing Chavez as a Mexican-American growing up in Los Angeles and was widely criticized for basically doing his job. He beat a much older Chavez and opened him up early in the fight. With blood flowing everywhere the fight was eventually stopped. Many Mexicans lost alot of respect after the fight and it changed alot of their views on De la Hoya.
Chavez eventually met De la Hoya again a couple of years later and lostby TKO. Another fight was against young budding star Meldrick Taylor of Philadelphia. The 2 met in a fight that was stopped late...how late? Try a couple of seconds before the final bell rang. Taylor boxed early but the weight of Chavez' fist and constant pressure of JC caught up to Taylor. Taylor took alot of heavy shots during he fight and quite frankly was never the same. Today Taylor suffers from slurred speech and shows signs of being a bit punch drunk.
A true tetament of how great and yet how brutal this gladiator's sport can be.
Chavez also met Pernell 'Sweet Pea" Whitaker only to stay undefeated via a very controversial unanamous draw. Many felt Whitaker had won that fight and the outcome was widely criticized by various media outlets. I still remember the cover of the Sport's Illustrated cover showing 'Sweat Pea" with the headline 'ROBBED".
Still, Chavez will go down as the one of the greatest fighter in history and in the modern era few did it better than Julio Cesar Chavez.
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