If there was any doubt that I'm a New Yorker, this sports editorial is from the Sunday NY Daily News:
Ironclad Prediction: Tyson Will Win
by Bill Gallo, NY Daily News
I read a headline on the cover of a reputable magazine and it says, "Alex Rodriguez Is Underpaid." Wow, that makes you do a double-take at the newsstand. The man is earning a quarter of a billion (that's billion) for playing that wonderfully simple game we all delighted in as kids, and he's underpaid?
This is not a "ballplayer making all that money" column. I use it to illustrate that today in sports you can make a case for almost anything. The fellow writing the A-Rod piece makes his case to support the headline and that's what got me to thinking about something I said last week.
In a cartoon I brazenly came out saying that if a Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis bout ever takes place, Tyson will knock Lewis bandy-legged. Well, it didn't take three days before the calls and letters came saying I didn't know what I was talking about. The general theme from the critics was: Tyson is a washed-up guy who never gets in shape anymore and Lewis is at the top of his game. Lewis will murder him, no contest.
So, in the face of all this, I make my case:
Let me start with the most basic of premises in boxing, which is that styles indeed make fights. This is a rule that responsible matchmakers of years past kept uppermost in mind. The great matchmaker's chief concern was to make as good a fight as possible, thus giving the fans their money's worth. The late Teddy Brenner was one who adhered to the styles theory. So did Duke Stefano, who assisted Brenner. And when Bobby Goodman held that top job at the Garden, he followed suit.
For a close look at Tyson we have to go back to the first time this seemingly invincible heavyweight lost. In 1990 in Tokyo, James (Buster) Douglas knocked Tyson cold in what is still being described as the greatest upset in heavyweight history. Tyson was 23 with a 37-0 record and riding high before the knockout.
There was a funny twist to this bout that is rarely brought up today. In spite of it all, Tyson nearly kept his crown. After leading in the early rounds and putting his man down, Douglas took a terrific Tyson right hand in the eighth round and landed flat on his back. It looked as if he wouldn't get up. Douglas did get up but videotapes clearly showed that the official timekeeper started counting the moment Douglas hit the floor and when his count reached three, the ref started at one. That made it 12 seconds Douglas was down. Had the ref's count been with the timekeeper, Tyson would've won on a knockout.
That eighth round was Tyson's last bid to win. The next two rounds, Douglas did a thorough job on Tyson and put him out in the 10th. Now Douglas was the new heavyweight champion and that was the beginning of all Tyson's troubles. He went down hill very fast after that.
I don't believe, in this case, styles entered into it. Style-wise, Tyson should've easily beaten Douglas since the challenger was a "walk-in" fighter, usually built to order for Tyson.
We were to learn after the fight that Tyson didn't train for this fight. He was having his troubles with his new wife, Robin Givens, and wasn't even eager to fight.
This fight could be defined as a simple case of the favorite not having any gusto and the underdog fighting the fight of his life.
But to get back to the upcoming Lewis-Tyson bout — Oh, it'll happen, money dictates it — I see a Tyson who will know he has that one good fight left in him. He will train like Marciano used to train.... He will focus.... He will stay clean and out of trouble.... And, he will knock Lewis out. Here's a paragraph you might want to save. Either I'll eat these words or crown myself, "Boxing Expert No. 1."
Just how will Tyson win? Remember, styles. These two are the same age, 35, which for fighters makes them "old guys." So, rule out the age factor.
No question some of Tyson's skills have eroded, but he can still bang. And he can still work his signature combination of a right to the side followed by the right-hand uppercut, coming back with the left-right to the head.
Lewis is big — very big — and that's the type of fighter Tyson never had trouble with. He's a stand-up fighter who walks in and I can still see him walking straight into Oliver McCall's right hand. McCall, an ordinary heavyweight, put Lewis out and keep in mind that he doesn't hit as hard as Tyson.
There's my case. I'll have more later. You think it's absurd? Well, it makes more sense than somebody saying Alex Rodriguez is underpaid. |
