Yeah, so was I. But, what great heart shown from Douglas!! It was th opposite to Tyson's effort against Lennox Lewis when they fought.

Tyson was in deep decline by the time he fought Lewis. His personal life was in shambles and his boxing career was lost by that time.

It's a shame. Tyson had a lot of rage in him, and if it was handled properly he might have been one of the greatest champions of all time.

Yes, indeed! That was the same strategy that Evander Holyfield followed with Tyson, leading to the same result. Mind over matter.

Yes, unfortunately. A very troubled guy.
During a nostalgic tour of my old Brooklyn neighborhood, Brownsville, about 8 years ago, I stopped by "Nanny Goat Park," a little vest-pocket, asphalt-paved park on Christopher Street near Newport Street. A Department of Parks plaque noted that it was now called "Floyd Patterson Park." Floyd grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, miles from Brownsville. But the 'ville had two heavyweight champs: Tyson and Riddick Bowe. Neither merited having a park named after him, I guess.

Speaking of Carbo, do you remember a light-heavy from Jersey named Frankie DePaula? He fought in the late 60's and was a real hard hitter (not much style but he could HIT HARD).

He had a lot of dealings with Carbo, and eventually was killed (shot) for allegedly having an affair with a wiseguy's wife.

I saw him fight Dick Tiger in the Garden in one of the best fights (action-wise) I've ever seen. (Tiger won in a split decision).

I watched a Mike Tyson documentary the other day and it showed that when he fought Lewis, he hardly threw any punches!! Also, at one stage when he was in his corner, he was saying " I can't do it..it's too tough".

He couldn't handle the fact that he was hated by everyone he later said.

You have to remember at one stage, Tyson was 35 w 0 L 31 KO!! That's an Impressive record!! !5 of those fights he won by knockout in the first round!!

He could have been THE GREATEST!!

Doubtful. He certainly would have been on the short list of the best, but not THE best. He simply didn't face the competition that Ali did.

I tell ya, though, I would have LOVED to see him fight George Foreman when both were in their prime.

Yes it is (an impressive record)! There's no doubt that he "owned" the heavyweight division at that point.

Yeah I guess so. He could have really been something though. Don King, ruined it for him. That guy is Satan in disguise. Tyson used to train rigorously. When DK took over, he cut back on the training and focused on the Limelight.

Don King is a fucking pimp.

Tyson had a particularly close and good relationship with Cus D'Amato, a classy, knowledgable and well-liked trainer (he also trained former champ Floyd Paterson). Tyson was flourishing then, but D'Amato died just before Tyson became champ. It was a few years later that Don King took Tyson's career over, and the rest is history (it went downhill pretty quickly).

I just read online that Tyson squandered away $300 million in earnings and eventually filed for bankruptcy. $300 million!!?!

Cus D'Amato is a LEGEND!! A great guy and a Legendary trainer. The footage of him and Tyson training is brilliant!!

So he blew 300 Million?? Geez!! What the hell??!!

You guys certainly seem to enjoy the sweet science, yet no one follows it today? What gives?

I can only speak for myself.... it's become too much of a comedy for me. Fucking Don King lead this change and there's too much infighting (too many different organizations fighting amongst themselves).

Maybe I'm becoming too cynical, but I'm losing interest in ALL pro sports as I get older.

I still follow the sport.

I don't follow boxing much at all. I enjoyed the Mayweather-de la Hoya fight last year, but I can't exactly say why I don't follow it any more.

Who's worth watching now? I really don't know any of the names.

I could drop names, But I follow a lot of the Australian fighters.

Although, De La Hoya can still fight. Mayweather. Zab Judah can be impressive. My all time favorite fighter, Kostya Tszyu, knocked Zab Judah out in the second round a few years back though.

There's plenty of names, But it just ain't the same. I'm getting back into it though, so I'll be keeping an eye out.

Anyone heard of Kostya Tszyu AKA "Thunder from down under"?

Best Boxer Australia ever produced.

I thought Kostya was Russian, Whisper?

I am a big boxing fan also.

Did you see Jeff Fenech is fighting Azumah Nelson again?

Both guys are in their late 40's

SC,boxers to follow at the moment?

David Haye,Ricky Hatton,Kelly Pavlik,Miguel Cotto and Filipino whirlwind Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather has "allegedly" retired and de La hoya is over the hill a bit now!

Man, I REALLY feel out of it now.... I've never heard of any of them.

It's a commonly said thing but boxing was better in the old days. To many belts,organisations and to much politics spoiling the sport!

I still love to watch it though.

I can't even remember the last fight I watched, and I used to go to Madison Square Garden regularly to the fights (but that was 40 years ago).

Current UK favourite Ricky Hatton is being lined up for his next fight at the Garden against Paulie Malignaggi of NYC.

Thousands of Brits will be making the trip but i will not be one of them even though i would love to be

Tszyu was born in Russia ,But he became an Australian early on in his career and represented Australia. Hence "The thunder from down under" .

Yeah, The Fenech vs Nelson fight happened a few days ago. Fenech won on points.

Yeah Ricky Hatton is a good fighter. He took it to Tszyu a couple years back. It was an even points fight, But Hatton was too strong and Tszyu couldn't fight on at the end of round 11.

Is anyone else looking forward to Cotto vs Margarito (July 26)? With Mayweather retired, these are the two best fighters of boxing's deepest division (welterweight). Zab Judah vs Joshua Clottey is another excellent welterweight fight this summer (August 2).

Other scheduled big fights for the rest of the year are...

Manny Pacquiao vs David Diaz (June 28, lightweight title)
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Tony Thompson (July 12, heavyweight title)
Ivan Calderon vs. Hugo Cazares (August 30, junior flyweight title)
Joel Casamayor vs. Juan Manuel Marquez (September 13, lightweight title)
Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga (October 11, junior middleweight)
Oscar De La Hoya vs. TBA (December 6, junior middleweight)

Big fights still in negoitiations...

Kelly Pavlik vs Sergio Mora (Fall 08, middleweight title)
Joe Calzaghe vs Roy Jones Jr (Fall 08, light heavyweight title)
Ricky Hatton vs Paulie Malignaggi (Fall 08, junior welterweight title)

I'm hoping I have some spare cash to pay for the Cotto vs Margarito fight.

I'm looking forward to watching Hatton fight again.

Zab Judah isn't as great as a lot of people think.

True about the belts and the politics, Yogi. But one benefit is that the proliferation of belts, divisions, organizations, etc., has provided incentives for more fighters to compete. At least some of them, mostly in the divisions through Middleweight, are as good or better than many in past decades. Freddie C. named quite a few: Cotto, Pacquiao, Oscar, Floyd, Kostya, Hatton, Calzaghe, etc.

The worst effect has been in Heavyweight--a bad joke overall. Only Klitschko is worthy of being called "a contender," and he could easily have been knocked off by Tyson or Lenox Lewis in their prime.

I read an interesting article on the decline of Heavyweight last year:

The writer said the reason that Eastern Europeans dominate is because Americans just aren't hungry enough anymore. But he cited another reason: The emphasis on personal bests and records (same phenomenon that drives steroids use) means that any American kid who's big and has some athletic abiity is going to be steered into baseball, hockey, soccer, or other team sports that formerly didn't depend on large physical size and strength alone--rather than toward boxing. In boxing, only a very few top contenders make any real money, and it's likely to be stolen from them by crooked managers and promoters. In the team sports, an average-to-good player can make very decent money and play for years without having the s**t pounded out of him in the process.

I read a similar article somewhere Turnbull. Dead right in my opinion. Much as i love boxing i would hate to get punched in the head repeatedly for a living

You said it, Yogi! The US boxing programs on TV often have interviews with former champs, commenting between fights. Not many of them look and speak like anyone you'd want to change places with.

The one former champ who's reasonably ok and made out like a bandit is George Foreman. One of the appliance makers hired him to front for a new line of electric grills they sell as "George Foreman Grills." Commercials had George making fun of himself--on training runs wolfing down hamburgers and sub sandwiches handed to him by admiring fans on the way, etc. The grills sold like wildfire.

George was paid a percentage of gross sales. The company finally bought him out--after he'd made $135 million in royalties.

Now: what's your choice? Make $13 million by having 260-lb behemoths pound the s**t out of you? Or make ten times that amount by eating hamburgers on TV?

Ah yes, The George Foreman fat reducing grill!!