Mike Tyson didn’t see anything from IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk that he felt he couldn’t have dealt with if he’d fought either of them in the prime of his career.
A prime Mike Tyson would have been a real problem for Joshua or Usyk if he’d shared the ring with either of them last Saturday. The Tyson that beat Larry Holmes in 1988 would have been a nightmare for Joshua and Usyk.
The former heavyweight champion Tyson feels that from what he saw of Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) and Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), maybe they were both having a bad night.
Joshua lost a 12 round unanimous decision against the smaller former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in London, England.
After watching the Joshua vs Usyk fight, maybe they had a bad day that night. From that performance do you really think they could have beat me in my prime?
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) September 27, 2021
Joshua needed to pressure
“It was a very awkward man, Usyk, and he obviously never fought anyone like that before,” said John Fury to BT Sport Boxing in reaction to Joshua’s loss to Usyk.
“What he [Joshua] needed to do was adopt Chisora’s game plan because he did a better job [against Usyk] than he did.
“If he’d used a little bit more of his weight and a bit more devil in his work, it could have gone better for him.
“I was surprised because he’s [Joshua] a big dude. He might have lost a little bit too much weight. What he needed to do is get all over him [Usyk] and put him under pressure and not let him settle,” John said.
Joshua tried to pressure but Usyk was too fast on his feet, and it was a hopeless caught. Once Joshua realized he couldn’t get to Usyk, he seemed to decide that he would wait for him to come forward to try and land.
It would have worked for Joshua if his timing and accuracy was better. He still could have landed more than enough shots to win the fight, but he was incapable of timing right due to Usyk’s awkward style.
AJ’s corner didn’t switch things up
“When your plan isn’t working, it’s up to your corner to switch it up and they never [did],” said Fury about Joshua’s trainer not changing things.
“They were telling him in the eighth round, ‘Be smart and work behind your jab,’ but it wasn’t working because they were in front of a master technician [Usyk].
“They played Usyk’s game from the beginning and didn’t try and change it. That’s his corner’s fault,” said John Fury.
Joshua’s cornerman Rob McCracken looked like he was out of his element in the fight, and didn’t seem to have the right answers.
Boxing fans have been calling for Joshua to dump McCracken since his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, but he’s stubbornly stuck with him.
At this point in his career, Joshua will probably stick it out until the end. It’s like a marriage. He’s not going to abandon McCrackey out of loyalty.
Usyk was never roughed up
“Throw the kitchen sink at him, press him all the way, make him work until he can’t work no more,” said John about what he would have wanted Joshua to do.
“Make the referee sweat and get him out of there,” said John in what he would have done if he’d been coaching Joshua last Saturday.
“You’re big enough, strong enough, believe in yourself, and get him out of there. Don’t be smart behind your jab.
“Get rough with this man. Rough him up, get him out of his comfort zone. You got to believe in yourself, and I don’t believe he [Joshua] believes in himself 100%.
“So he doesn’t have that self-belief. Does he, though? He didn’t show it that night.
“When you’re losing, you got to say, ‘Let’s get it on.’ A big strong man 6’6″, 18 stone. Your boxing isn’t working, let’s get in the trenches, but he didn’t want to do that because he didn’t have the gas tank,” said John.
Joshua didn’t try to rough up Usyk at all in the fight, and that was surprising. You would think that Joshua would have leaned on Usyk, shoved, elbowed, head-butted, low-blowed and rabbit punched him during the fight.
He didn’t do any of them, but that’s never been part of Joshua’s game. The roughhouse tactics that we saw Tyson Fury doing in his rematch with Deontay Wilder, Joshua would never do because he wants to win by following the rules, not by bending them.
It would have been interesting to see how Usyk would have reacted if Joshua had started cheating by fouling.
We saw Usyk looking at the referee when Joshua hit him with low blows, but we didn’t see AJ throwing the Marquees of Queensbury rules out the window when things started looking bad for him in the later rounds.
What would Tyson Fury have done if he was losing badly against Usyk? Would he have started fouling/cheating to try and win? One would hope not.
Joshua became cautious after tasting Usyk’s power
“He [Joshua] tasted the power early on. ‘I got to watch out, I don’t get knocked out here,'” said John.
“He tasted the straight left down the pipe, and it shook him. I think he tasted the power early on and went into his comfort zone saying, ‘You know what? I’ll box clever and stay on my feet until the end of the bell’ and that’s not trying to win.
“I’d rather get counted out trying to win than doing what he did. Well, listen, it’s was a great fight, I enjoyed it.
“I’ll say one thing. Give AJ a break because it wasn’t all his fault. It was his corner. They never had the brains to get him out of a sticky situation. You got to know if your men in the corner know the fight game,” said John.
What really seemed to put Joshua off his game in the first round was how fast and accurate the southpaw Usyk was with his straight left hands.
Usyk was deadly accurate with his left, and he was able to land it and then get away before Joshua could counter him. Only on a couple of occasions in the fight did Joshua catch Usyk coming forward, but he couldn’t do it often enough.
Joshua tried at times to be aggressive early on but he couldn’t get to Usyk to land much of anything. Even Joshua’s jabs were missing, and that made it nearly impossible for him to get into the fight.
John says he would rather have gone out on his shield than to lose by fighting passively, but I don’t think it would have worked if Joshua had lowered his head charged forward looking to take Oleksandr out.
Joshua was too slow on his feet to catch Usyk, and that’s not going to change in the rematch.
Mr. Me,
Sir Mike Tyson always had problems with tall guys Lennox Lewis and Buster Douglas.
We glorify the legendary greats, let’s honor us, it is we the now generation that are great. We are great because we stand on the shoulders of the ancestors. And great because they handed us a legacy through example.
You decide after the trilogy whether or not Deontay Wilder can box. He’s going against a so called good boxer, watch what happens.
Wrong all of tysons opponents were taller than him and if Lennox would have fought a hungry Tyson in his prime he would’ve been floored..
The klitchkos would’ve been a real problem but other than that Holyfield was the only kryptonite for tyson
You are absolutely correct Tomy, Mike Tyson was a better boxer than Lennox Lewis but we must admit evander Holifield used the head butt as another weapon, maybe that’s why Mike Tyson bit him.
In my opinion Mike was the best, I really think that him going to prison got his career off track. This is just my opinion he would not have lost any of the fights he lost if those fights were Pre-Prison.
Mike Tyson was a small fighter. He was so devistrating because of his training in boxing drills with overall boxing skills. Ali won fights off of god given speed and physical conditioning and prowess. But Mike Tyson was much more knowledgeable about boxing. Ali practically never went to the body.
Oleksandr Usyk is the same size as big George Foreman. And today heavyweights make him look small.
Everyone knows Deontay Wilder is the top heavyweight now, you have to cheat him to beat Deontay Wilder. Especially now
Deontay Wilder will retire with AT LEAST one draw and one loss. That’s the facts.
Both in and out of the ring.
Deontay Wilder is the best heavyweight champion ever living or nonliving with out question.
I Like Deontay Wilder But To Say He’s The Greatest Heavyweight Champion Ever Living Or Dead. Is Definitely Disrespectful To Other World Championships With Lennox Lewis An Exception He Was A Horrible Champion No Class. But Everyone Knows That Muhammad Ali Is The Greatest Of All Time In The Ring And Out.
Mohamed Ali started saying he was the greatest after a professional wrestler impressed him by trash talking and annoying people so much they would go see the fight. He never did believe that.
Deontay Wilder is still an active pro, it’s not over. It is Deontay Wilder who is so mean, “he makes medicine sick.”
That depends on how you define,” class “, a Harvard professor wrote a thesis about how a janitor can have more class than someone born to privilege. How long into the future one can see and plan for defining class.
They had to hire security to protect him from those spoiled rich kids.
Deontay Wilder has plenty of class. And so can you.
What do you youngsters know about life? About loss, or fighting, winning or loss?
You sound like a bunch of snotty nose kids. Pretending to be ignorant by following the crowd so you can have some slack just in case you need backup.
Deontay Wilder knows 1 thing, how to face plant on the mat.
Wow !!!!
You sound like a bitter loser who never made anything of himself. You couldn’t win a bar fight with a drunk college nerd, so stop talking.
Fight Deontay Wilder without padding repositioning advantage steroid use floppy gloves flopping around all over the place camera’s rolling bribed judges and referee’s spiked water holding neck wrenching tripping rabbit punching and eggweight loaded gloves.
Not to take anything away from the legendary greats like Marciano Dempsey Joe lewis Jack Johnson and Mohamed Ali, Deontay Wilder would knock them all out.
Deontay Wilder was giving fury a fair fight , fury had an eggweight in his left glove and no padding in his right glove. Deontay Wilder was knocked down not out under these conditions which were in violation of the Queensbury rules of boxing.
I am a winner. And so is Deontay Wilder.
Life is like this, it looks like Deontay Wilder lost the war, but he recouperated from a sneak attack ambush with dirty tricks a bunch of piling up cowards, he turned the tide and now there will be redemption.
The UK boxing fans will learn about American pay back, revenge.
Deontay Wilder is a Canastonia New York international boxing Hall of fame inductee with 10 consecutive title defenses in 5 years
Deontay Wilder knocks out Mike Tyson and Ali.
Deontay Wilder knows how to get knocked out!
Hell to the naw really wish he’d try it now set a fight for 8 rounds But Mike Tyson right now would knock both of them on their asses right now why because he dangerous! No because he more cautious than anything now and would know when to strike blows they wouldn’t recover from!!! Iron Mike no more Dangerous yes ferocious not to the point that their scared but stupid yes for even stepping in the ring with someone who say they’re going to knock me out not happening and I’m 51yrs old!!! Still 52-0 that’s two golden gloves n three terms of prison and I’ll still bite chumps heads off who still think their younger n quicker than me!! Hell I’m a bad man in my own right!!!
Deontay Wilder has never been knocked out. He was knocked down with a body punch, but he got back up and was still fighting. It was a disloyal Mark Brealand who threw in the towel. That fight was fixed, Deontay Wilder was robbed.
Spiked water holding neck wrenching tripping rabbit punching and eggweight loaded gloves , fury failed his drug test for every fight he had, he cheated so much the British boxing board of control suspended permanently fury’s boxing license.
Not on your life. Wilder is a terrible fighter he’s looking for the knock out punch the whole time which puts him so vulnerable… You obviously don’t know much. Wilder couldn’t do 15 rounds. And before that the boxers would fight all night long 20 + rounds..no way is he as tough as the old fighting dogs.. Plus TYSON in his prime. He would have eaten wilder
No way, they could never stand up to Mike Tyson in his prime
There must be cure for whatever you’re suffering from, I blame gump for getting people to believe fairy tales. 🙄🙄🙄😂😂😂😂😂😂
Deontay Wilder knocks them all out
Oleksandr Usyk was ranked in the pound for pound rankings, so was.fury. Deontay Wilder, the baddest man on the planet, was nowhere on this list. Deontay Wilders hated so much by the main stream Medea they can’t think clearly. Deontay Wilder was robbed in both fights. Deontay Wilder all the way.
Oleksandr Usyk is a pretty good fighter, Anthony Joshua should not be ashamed of losing to him. Oleksandr Usyk will beat fury too. The problem is Luis Ortiz and Deontay Wilder. Those two are the best, the most avoided and the most trashed and put down in print. But they will stop there short of stepping in the ring with them.
How do you think Muhammad Ali would do. Joshua doesn’t have the heart of a champion.
Joshua clearly hasn’t recovered from being knocked down from Andy Ruiz’s fight , even after the rematch. The long time effects of your brain being knocked around only looks as if its only a matter of time before he falls badly in the ring from a vicious punch. Look very close at the Ukrainian fight and please tell me Joshua doesn’t look as if the knockout punch is coming . He looked out of gas and about ready to go from the 7th round
3
Joshua is from a long line of Brit heavyweights who are good, but not great fighters. Big and strong, but don’t have durable chins. Reminds me of Bruno. AJ should have used his size to his advantage. After Ruiz, he will be forever gun shy.
Mike Tyson said “, .From that performance, do you really think they could beat Deontay Wilder?”
Deontay Wilders great, trust me I know what I’m talking about.
After this interview iron Mike Tyson was overheard saying that Deontay Wilder was the baddest man on the planet.
Anthony Joshua will never fight fury.
Deontay Wilder will regain his belt by force which was robbed from him after Deontay Wilder defeated fury in the first fight.
Dillian Whyte will never fight Deontay Wilder after Deontay Wilder defeats fury in the trilogy.
Deonte’s going out on his back
The only way Deontay Wilder will lose is by cheating tactics again and again and again.
Tyson Fury’s wins the next fight. Deontay Wilder is great, really fast and powerful., but that’s all. He trains like a boxer but all his drills he forgets and starts fighting like he’s on the streets tryna stab someone with that right hand. He fought easy competition that gave him a hard time, like eg. Eric Molina. Most of his fights he was losing until he threw the right hand. That’s all he has. No boxing skill. He was losing to Szpilka b4 he threw the right hand. He’s very tough but that doesn’t cut it. He’s been a pro for so long yet still can’t fight like one. Tyson fury actually trains and fights like a pro. He’s also young and athletic and as big as Wilder and that’s why he will beat him again. Wilder never fought good prime competition until Fury showed up.
Joshua Anthony you need to be the beasts in boxing.don’t think about anything else about mike Tyson .just be your self .you are better than this ok .I like all types of sports .so you have to believe in your self your are the world champions in boxing you are know this .I want you to better than all the greatest and all the boxers.And god blessed you who ever you fight.
LMAO!🤣
I Honestly think AJ is not that good. He can’t beat anybody good. AJ can only beat hand picked fighters which are fighters that are expected to lose. But he obviously can’t beat someone that knows how to fight and someone with great foot work and speed which AJ lacks. It definitely showed he can’t keep up with foot work or hand speed. Maybe a new trainer could help. If there is rematch you will see much of the same and Usyk will win again.
No disrespect to Mike but he beat an over the hill Larry Holmes. A 28 yr old Holmes would have beat Mike rather easily in my humble opinion.
Don’t reckon you know too much about boxing
Your humble opinion is rooted in garbage. But that’s just my humble opinion, rooted in reality 💁🏽♂️
Lol these generic fans and refined internet trolls haven’t a clue of the garbage flowing from their face asses 💩🤮😆Mike Tyson is God rank in his prime. He put A level boxers out within 3 rounds routinely as f ING 19 yr old. Ppl talking about holy fields wins. Tyson began to decline when Cus passed, who was like a father to him and ripped him away from the slums of New York. That man was his everything. There isn’t a heavyweight on the pro roster alive today or in the last decade, who gets out of 6 rounds with a prime time Iron Mike. Anyone who says otherwise is just hating for their own biased reasons that only they and their delusions will ever understand. Even from an objective standpoint, there’s no way a rational assessment, by anyone who is actually knowledgeable about boxing, denies the fact that Prime Iron Mike decimates the entirety of the heavyweight ranks with relative ease. You’d be reaching for planet Idtard if you genuinely support the nonsensical ramblings that have been conveyed here. In my humble opinion, your humble opinion is hot steamy 💩 with a sprinkle of 🤮 cooking in the hot summer ☀️beside a 🐖enclosure that shares space with a family of 🦨who all feel the same about your humble 🐄🥧of a 💩opinion🤙🏽🙏🏽Good day my friend, may you find your way through the delusions in which you have succumbed, as a result of your own blissful ignorance. I wish you all the best, because you are the worst. Toodlez ✌🏽
Not then or now would larry holmes beat tyson sorry..mike tyson beat him easily and it would of been same if larry was younger ..tyson would would win at 54 yrs old now against younger holmes .tyson just as furouis now as was when younger only reason tyson lost matches because at first tyson lived and breathed boxing after that he wouldnt even hardly train for matches hed party all night every night then go fight ..thats why he list though few he did. But tyson would in his prime whoop either of these joshua or other guy easily in his prime .and i say he could right now as well .
I see you know your boxing, I agree totally
I agree totally but Holmes would mop the floor with AJ he would have jabbed him to death he’s so soft and would bebooed to death AJ is afraid and a fraud anyone his size with heart and chin take him out based on simply having the desire to win AJ is no “SPARTAN” just this amateur boxers opinion
Mike would have beat Larry Holmes in his prime 2 would of knocked him out
People have an excuse for an excuse on top of another excuse wtf can anyone jus win and we jus move on to the next fight.. excuse I mean 🤭
Same here.
Do they even check their articles for grammar. Lol
Tyson vs Joshua next
Tyson wins, and knock chump Joshua out in 7th round.
Later, Joshua announces his retirement, a washed up has-been.
Tyson cheats right you’re an ass sounds like another excuseful loser
Mr. Bingo,
The British boxing board of control has stripped fury’s license forever. Talk to the judge, it’s one thing to be a loyal fan and another To suggest such a meaningless and ridiculous rebuttal. And he got stripped of the belt and license for doing the same exact thing.
I thought I was reading about Mike Tyson not John Fury 😂
Same here.
Jon Fury is a bumb and so is his son!!! Limey bumbs!!
Big respect to Tyson Fury – he’s on the top of his game. John Fury is 100% on target about Joshua. A knockout in the first round would’ve never drawn so much negative or positive criticisms. Joshua needs a very good trainer.
Lennox lost then switched trainer and Fury scored a draw then switched trainer; that’s how good boxers conduct business and become big winners.
Bum, them 3 letter words r tough