With his self proclaimed 'impregnable defense' and unstoppable offense, there were moments in the ring when Tyson seemed like a god. It wasn't solely the fact that Mike Tyson finished the opponents, it was how he finished them. Most battles were won far before Tyson even had to step between the ropes, his resume and acumen were more than enough to show his 'iron' ill and hellacious punching power.
20 years and 56 fights made Mike the fighter he was, and with his style, he was a true 'live and die by the sword' warrior. Of Mike's 6 losses, 5 of them were by knockout. He was never afraid to engage in live fire whether it be inside the pocket or at range. Once Mike started to lose a bit of focus once his train Cus D'Amato passed away, he seemed to lose the precise fundamentals that made him an absolute terror... and the arguable greatest of all time.
Kevin Rooney was also a big part of Tyson's life, but once Cus died, again, it was all downhill. The partying and substance abuse took away the speed advantages Mike had because he was no longer a strong and sound specimen. Tyson almost faded away in the latter part of his career becoming more known for his antics as opposed to his surging prime. Mike is still one of the most recognized fighters in the world for how 'one of a kind' he was.
At heavyweight, there were not many technicians in any of the golden eras. Nobody used head movement like Mike, nor did they work their way inside of the pocket and unleash hell with perfect timing and raw power. Prime Mike was a blend of everything that made a human dangerous: power, speed, timing, deception. To understand the power of this man, you must truly see it in action. In 1986, when Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick for the WBC title, you can see what the man at his best truly looked like.
The speed, the head movement, the footwork.. it was all there in spades. Berbick was on a 9 fight win streak over the course of 3 years, but Tyson with Cus was a practically unstoppable combination, and the world found out that night they took the title home. Remember the legend in Mike Tyson, he is one of the greatest 'what ifs' in sports history... he could've been so much greater than he already was.
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