Mike Tyson Freak or Trained Hard and a Freak
Ok I am not saying Tyson is hands down the Best but he was one of the most exciting boxers to watch because we all love knockouts i've read about 3 books on him and several articles now i want other people opinions.
Also i think under Kevin Rooney He was Tyson under the Mind control of Don Kind i think he was a putz with heavy hands :D
ALSO i loved watching his perfected Peek-A-Boo style of boxing and the awesome number system of punches his trainers used to teach combo's that could be thrown lightening fast, with this Superior hand speed
Here some stuff i question
at age 13 or 14 he benched 225 10 times
Cus D'amato made him run with a 50lb weight in his back backpack so he wouldnt grow any taller
Ok yeah both are possible maybe even true now here some of his size stats at i think age 18 or 19..............Also he became the youngest Heavy Weight champ ever at age 20 previously held by floyd patterson also trained and mentored by D'amato
Height 5-11?- then say 5'10 1/2 or 5'11 1/2. i say 5'10 sounds about right
Weight 218-This veried he fought at 225ish 230 a few times
Reach 71
Chest/Norm. 43
Chest/Exp. 45
Waist 34
Biceps 16- now i believe this changed and im sure they got up to 17ish maybe close to 18
Neck 19? also maybe 19 3/4 of inch the say which is like a BULL!!!!!
Wrist 8
Calf 18
Ankle 11
Thigh 27 this also was supposed to have been 26 3/4
Fist 13
Forearm 14
Also they said his bodyfat was 5.5% i say no Fing way. id give him 8-14% varying fight to fight
Now For his workout schedule 6-7 days a week under Kevin Rooney untill after the 1st Bruno Fight
Got this off a boxing Site i like:
Up until he fired Kevin Rooney in 1988, his ONLY diet was steak, pasta and fruit juice. How's that for discipline?
Daily Regime (7 days a week):
5am: get up and go for a 3 mile jog
6am: come back home shower and go back to bed (great workout for those huge legs of his)
10am wake up: eat oatmeal
12pm: do ring work (10 rounds of sparring)
2pm: have another meal (steak and pasta with fruit juice drink)
3pm: more ring work and 60 mins on the exercise bike (again working those huge legs for endurance)
5pm: 2000 sit-ups; 500-800 dips; 500 press-ups; 500 shrugs with a 30kg barbell and 10 mins of neck exercises
7pm: steak and pasta meal again with fruit juice (orange i think it was)
8pm: another 30 minutes on the exercise bike
then watch TV and then go to bed.
(Before jogging in the morning he did a lot of stretching followed by 10 jumps onto boxes and 10 bursts of sprints, then he went jogging. At 12pm he sparred. At 3pm he did focus mitt work or heavy bag work inside the ring. He warmed up for all ring work with light exercises such as skipping or shadow boxing or speed ball. At 5pm Tyson did 10 quick circuits, each circuit consisting of: 200 sit-ups, then 25-40 dips, then 50 press-ups, then 25-40 dips, then 50 shrugs, followed by 10 mins of neck work on the floor. What an animal! Tyson said that the shrugs "built his shoulders up" to help unleash punches with his short arms whilst at the same time building endurance in the neck. It should be noted though that Tyson couldn't do any more than 50 sit-ups a day and 50 press-ups a day when he was 13, but gradually increasing the reps each week got him to a higher level over many years, so that he was doing 2000 sit-ups inside 2 hours every day by the time he was 20.)
Mike told Ian Durke (Sky commentator) his above workout regime when he visited England to watch a Frank Bruno fight in March 1987. Durke told Mike that Bruno trained like a bodybuilder and asked Mike about this, but Mike said that floor exercises and natural exercises work better. Mike explained that his punch-power comes from nothing more than heavy bag work "works your strength through the hips" he said, despite doing shrugs with a barbell he said that lifting weights has about as much resemblance to punching as "cheesecake" (contradicting himself though due to doing shrugs). But his mentor Cus D'Amato realised that, due to Tyson's style, he needed punch-power (not that he didn't have it naturally anyway). So Cus got Mike very heavy bags to hit for a 13 yr old, and Cus gradually increased the weight of the bags Tyson used over time so that by the age of 18-19 Tyson was banging bags that no other man could budge! Also, Cus used to order Tyson to go jog 3 miles with 50lbs on his back because he didn't want Mike growing any taller (because it didn't suit his style)!
There will never be another Tyson, he has the quickest ever knockout in amateur history (6 seconds or something stupid) at the junior olympics in 1981, then he became the youngest ever heavyweight champion of the world (20 years old, 1986). It's a shame that a number of events caused his downfall - Jimmy Jacobs dying, falling out with Bill Cayton, firing Kevin Rooney, Don King entering his life, Desiree Washington messing his head up, etc. But let's not forget that Iron Mike saved a dying sport!
So Now Gimme your .02 cents Please
:7up:
-AJ