Boxing: Iron Mike -- Nothing left to believe in

I watched him from the beginning.

I watched the speed, the power, and the discipline with which he attacked an opponent.

He was once, for a brief two or three year period, possibly the best to ever get in a ring.

He had no real weakness during that time. He always was susceptible to a very good jab, but it had to be a very good jab.

People seem to think he won as much by intimidation as anything else. I disagree. This man had the skills to beat anyone.

It wasn't just his power or just the speed or just the precision. It was the combination of the three.

Combination.

It was the key to his game. He didn't hit you with one bomb, as he tries to do now. He hit you with combinations. Every time he threw a punch.

D'Amato, Kevin Rooney, and Teddy Atlas had a numbering system for Mike to throw. At times they would yell out combinations for Tyson during fights. Never did they yell just one number.

I admired this kid from inner city New York. He had beaten his demons, so we were led to believe. He had become a soft spoken young man with a love for boxing and pigeons and the discipline to understand where those demons could lead him. Turns out it was all hype.

Despite the loss of Teddy Atlas and D'Amato, Tyson charged his way through the boxing ranks. His debut was on March 23, 1985. Tyson fought 28 times in the next 18 months. With his 29th fight, he become the youngest heavyweight champion ever. The pace kept him fresh and moving forward, but as a champion he couldn't keep up that pace. He fought four times in 1987, three times in 1988, twice in 1989, three times again in 1990, and twice in 1991.

He continued to get better as a fighter until 1988. Between his destruction of Michael Spinks in 1988 and his lackluster performance against Frank Bruno in 1989, Tyson fired Rooney, broke his hand in a street fight, had well publicized marital problems, drove into a tree, and reached an uneasy truce with his manager Bill Cayton.

It was the beginning of the end.

Tyson was never better than the Spinks fight, no one may ever have been.

It was easy to tell the training difference after the Spinks fight. Tyson no longer bobbed and weaved, he went for the one, big, bomb, and the combinations became fewer and fewer.

The spiral continued right up until his jail time and then began again afterwards as if no time had been lost. He was not getting better. He wasn't even maintaining the same level.

Make no mistake, he was, and probably always will be, a huge box office draw because of the magnificent power that he still possesses. But he is a shell of the pugilist that dominated heavyweight boxing in the mid- and late-eighties.

So we come to the kick-off of the fight hype earlier this week. This is going to be the fight to end all fights when (and if) it happens. Tyson approached Lewis and all hell broke loose. Tyson claims he was told the "face off" was pre-arranged. I did think it odd that Tyson's first punch was not at Lewis, but at the handler/bodyguard who came out to protect Lewis. The bodyguard and Tyson had words then the punch was thrown. Mike had plenty of opportunities to swing at Lennox, but he didn't. In fact, Tyson had his hat in his hand. He took his hat off as he walked over to Lewis. Why would he do that if he was looking to throw punches? I don't know. Something sounds a little fishy. Was Mike set-up by his handlers, who have to know by now that Tyson probably has only three chances to beat Lewis: slim, none, and less-than-none. I wouldn't put it past them.

I watched this man from the beginning and hoped for the best. I bought his HBO tape in the late eighties. I believed in him. I felt sympathy for a man who was betrayed by many people who claimed to care about him. I thought, in the end, he would end up understood and at least respected as a boxer. I thought he could overcome all that life has thrown at him. I thought he could one day find people who have his best interests at heart. I thought one day he could conquer what eats at him night and day.

Sadly, I thought wrong.