16.06.05 – By Michael Amakor: On Saturday, June 11, “Iron” Mike Tyson received another humiliating shocker to his well publicized comeback, in a bout were he was supposed to win, he got repeatedly cloned by punches that felt like the whole of Ireland hitting him on the chin by underdog Kevin McBride, who pressured him into quitting on his stool at the end of the sixth round, convinced that there was no way to get past the colossal force in front of him.. Before the fight, we caught a glimpse of the old Tyson uttering vile invectives about the “Cloned Collossus,” Kevin McBride, describing him as a tomato can.”
I’m gonna gut him like a fish”. When harangued by his critics, Tyson exclaimed “People, they call this a circus, I’m not a circus, I’m an icon,” further firing away “I’m an international superstar, if they don’t know my name they’re from another planet.” Which made us all reminiscent about past bombast from a younger Tyson, who once declared “There is not a man alive today that can beat me?”
Everybody was pumped up and excited, because this was the trash talking Mike Tyson we had come to love and we all jumped on the roller coaster ride predicting all kinds of victorious scenarios against McBride.
Unfortunately, this comeback turned into another disaster as the exertion of fighting at this level, at this stage of his career was too much for Iron Mike Tyson to handle and he quit the fight on his stool. Going by his past antecedents, we have come to expect him to knock everybody out, but those days are long gone, it is now time to gut it out, something he would have done if he had not gotten derailed all these past years.
So what if you lose a fight, you suck it all up go back to the gym to fine tune your skills for the next fight with the conviction that it will never happen again. George Foreman’s comeback in 1987 was no easy task either, as he fought over twenty opponents before gaining a title shot against Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield in 1991. Foreman lost that fight, but went on to later beat Michael Moorer for the WBA Heavyweight title.
So you can imagine my rage when Tyson degenerated into giving us another one of his self pitying tirades about how he no longer had it in him to continue boxing post fight, repeatedly hinting at retirement and all that. It is not the first time that I have been exasperated by not only Mike Tyson, himself, but by boxing fans and critics alike in their theories about fighters leaving the sport with his legacy intact supporting as he claims that he will not disgrace the sport by continuing. But Tyson’s legacy will forever remain intact, as nobody can downplay his past achievements, his story will just simply be told in two segments – Pre-Buster Douglas and Post-Buster Douglas.
We should be aware that hasty pronouncements about Tyson can break his spirit and derail the Baddest man on the planet onto the frightful path of permanent retirement, We cannot allow this to happen as he has no other apparent skills to fall back on, it is quite possible that he will self destruct and end up like the late great Sonny Liston as he once foretold, so we better start beating the war drums to stop him from doing so in spite of himself. Our expectations in the McBride fight underscores the poor analysis we received from most boxing analysts and armchair experts who led us on. Scant attention was paid to potential or to the fact that he was once a former or current champion of a less coveted belt otherwise known as trinkets out there.
We paid for this so it is now time to change that mentality about how trinket holders are perceived because the won these belts in competitive fights. In my opinion, these champions are on the same level as any of the champions of the more recognized IBF, WBA, WBC or WBO titles, simply because they have benefited from the politics of the game. If not, how does one explain Andrew Golota getting three title shots in a row? Just think about it for a minute, boxing would be a joke if anybody, including a 39 year old Tyson, could come back from oblivion and knock out a live 32 year old former IBC Heavyweight Champion, who outweighed him by more than 30 pounds. Tyson definitely had this a$$ whopping coming, and we should have known better as he made the same mistake in his previous fight against former WBO Intercontinental, WBU International and British Heavyweight Champion Danny Williams.
It must be bewildering to Tyson, as it is too me, that both comebacks have ended disastrously in spite of his seemingly intensive training regimen he underwent to prepare for these fights. He will always be disconsolate until he is made to understand that he is coming back to the ring against fighters, who are now way above his skill level, period. He should follow the example of Shannon Briggs, who continued his comeback against Abraham Okine, a fighter with only 15 fights under his belt. Briggs was able to score a couple of knockdowns en route to knocking him out in a move that has inflamed interest in his desire to fight his way back to the top of the division. In my opinion, a fatal mistake by Tyson on the comeback trail has been his long standing break up with legendary promoter Don King, who has been bragging to anybody who cares to listen ever since how, Tyson made much more money under him, he has also pointed out how Tyson’s career has spiraled downhill due to poor management.
After excavating through Tyson’s history, I have to agree with the King. It is very important to note that Tyson has been
terribly mismanaged by a team of senseless opportunists who know nothing about the sweet science and have taken Tyson on a roller coaster ride of inglorious disasters. In light of his age and lack of real experience recently, he should have fought
against fighters from the very lower echelons of the division, his team could have picked virtually any opponent for Tyson to fight, as boxing fans simply wanted Mike to make a comeback in knockout fashion. Instead, able fighters were selected, who were in their prime. The end result was that poor boxing fans, who purchased this pay per view event, seeing Tyson getting humiliated for no reason.
However, I think, Tyson needs to continue fighting, but he better get his game in order, because there is still more loot on the table, along with several dream fights to be made. Already, I can hear the whispers for a trilogy against Evander Holyfield. Soon after that fight, the drums would start beating for a Bronx Heavyweight title fight against Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe. These fights could happen in the future, as Holyfield is still determined to, once again, become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Bowe is back to prove something, and Tyson needs to pay off his numerous debtors. Tyson should realize there will be no escape from his debtors, who will still have to be paid, which means that Tyson will likely have to get back into the gym and work himself into shape, regardless of how poor of a showing he made against McBride last Saturday night.