By James Slater: A quarter of a century ago this month (on the 3rd of May, 1986 to be exact), an already world famous heavyweight contender by the name of “Iron” Mike Tyson met a former WBA title challenger who was though to be way past his best. James Tillis is the man I’m talking about: “Quick” or “The Fighting Cowboy” as he liked to be known.
The two met in Glen Falls, New York, in what was a very important fight for both men. The unbeaten Tyson, just 19-years-old at the time, was sporting a 19-0 pro record; with all 19 of his wins coming inside the distance. The 28-year-old Tillis held a decent enough record at 31-8(24), yet there were few people who expected him to do what he did on the night of May 3rd – namely give the rampaging Tyson all he could handle.
Prior to the bout, Tillis had lost his last three bouts; all via decision. However, in his losses to good men Marvis Frazier, Gerrie Coetzee and Tyrell Biggs, Tillis had complained of feeling fatigued early on. Seeking medical help, Tillis was found to be allergic to both dairy products and, amazingly enough, orange juice – both ingredients being uppermost in the diet of any prize fighter. It was decided how a whole new diet was needed for the fighter, seeing how his fatigue was judged to have come from his system being clogged up with the wheat and dairy products his body was being force-fed.
Feeling like a completely new man in the run-up to his clash with Tyson, Tillis – as he revealed in his autobiography “Thinkin’ Big” – had radically changed his diet. Fresh fish, calf’s liver, millet bread and, above all, plenty of water were the order of the day for James now, and, boy, did his insides thank him for it!
Recently, with the 25-year anniversary of his most famous fight coming up, I had the opportunity of speaking with Tillis. Always a friendly, approachable person, the Oklahoman who still rides and breaks horses was happy to recall his close loss to “Kid Dynamite” – even if the 53-year-old doesn’t look at the ten-rounder as his biggest fight any more than he looks at it as a fair defeat.
“I won that fight with Tyson,” Tillis told me over the phone from his home in late spring. “That sissy wasn’t nothin’ anyway! The thing with me was, I was getting tired in fights and I never knew why. Thank the Lord I went to see this woman doctor friend of mine. She cleared that mystery right up. I was allergic to milk and wheat and orange juice and stuff. That stuff was clogging my system up real bad and my wind was messed up because of it. Against Tyson, I never once got tired. The boy was in trouble and he knew it. He won two rounds; I won the other eight. No doubt about it. Watch the tape and see for yourself.”
The three judges had it close after the ten completed rounds; two of them anyway. Two officials had Tyson winning by a margin of 6 to 4, the other judge had it a way too wide 8 to 2 for the teenager who would go on to become a boxing legend. Tillis wanted a return bout.
“I did everything I could to get a rematch, but ’ole Tyson wanted nothing further to do with me. I did get to box him in an exhibition (in 1987), but that wasn’t the same. I sent him reeling into the ropes a number of times in that four-rounder in Chicago. I always was a better fighter than him. They robbed me of my win [in 1986]; you ask people who were there.”
As famous as he is for becoming the very first man to take Tyson the distance, Tillis enjoys talking more about his clash with the fearsome Earnie Shavers, who he met in June of 1982 on the under-card of the huge Holmes Vs. Cooney fight. Tillis beat the ageing but still dangerous Shavers over ten exciting rounds, getting up from a late-rounds knockdown to do so. Tillis says Tyson doesn’t even compare with “The Acorn.”
“Let me tell you,” he said sternly. “Mike Tyson hit like a sissy, like a girl, next to that bad dude Shavers! Let me tell you, Shavers hit so hard he turned horse piss into gasoline! He hit me so hard he brought back tomorrow (laughs). When he hit me and I went down in the 9th, I swear, I was seeing pink rats and cats and animals smoking cigarettes. I was in the land of make-believe. I’ll never forget that fight – the hardest night of my entire life!”
Tillis and Shavers are friends these days, and James informed me how he and his former rival (along with, possibly, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton and “maybe three or four more guys,”) will be getting together this year for a U.K speaking tour. That would be some night for fight fans.
Tillis, who retired in 2001 with a 42-22-1(31) record, fought in the middle of what was a magical era for the big men of the sport. Ali had just retired, leaving the formidable talents of men like Larry Holmes, Mike Weaver, Tim Witherspoon, Pinklon Thomas, Tyson and Evander Holyfield to dominate. And Tillis was right there, swapping punches with practically all of them. No wonder James feels today’s heavies would have been in a whole heap of trouble had they been around when he was plying his trade.
“If I was fightin’ today, in my prime, I’d beat all these boys that are around,” Tillis said proudly. “Me, Shavers, the great Ali – all of us from back then, we were from a different era. It ain’t the same today. I can’t get excited about today’s European heavyweights. A guy like Holmes? He’d have cleaned up today. Shavers? He’d have taken ’em all out!”
Comments to be debated to be sure, but when you listen to James Tillis talk, he has a way of convincing you he’s right on a good many things. Me? I’m going now to dig out a copy of that ten-rounder from 25-years ago!