MIKE TYSON: THE LEGACY OF CUS D’AMATO
young heavyweight I’ve seen in years,” said veteran matchmaker Teddy Brenner. “He’s a great offensive fighter, highly competitive. He doesn’t know about ‘feeling out’ an opponent in the first round. He goes for the kayo right away. He’s a good puncher and a good finisher. “I only have two questions that remain to be answered,” continued Brenner. “One, how will he do when someone takes him five or six rounds? Is he musclebound? If you remember, George Foreman was great in the early rounds, but then he used to run out of gas. Two, how well can Tyson take a punch?” Brenner also helped put into perspective the sometimes questionable quality of Mike’s opponents. “Some of the guys he’s beaten have been bums, but guys like Donnie Long and Conroy Nelson usually give you rounds. Tyson took them out early. I have problems getting him opponents for Atlantic City because guys know that if they get knocked out, they’ll be suspended and have to take a lot of expensive medical tests before they can fight in New Jersey again.” Others are not so charitable in their evaluation. “In the way he’s been handled, it’s almost like he’s a ‘white hope’ in a black man’s skin,” opined The Ring’s own Jack Obermayer, who has had several opportunities to observe Tyson in action in Atlantic City. “Tyson has an honorable man behind him in Jim Jacobs, but I think everyone is making far too much of him, far too soon.” Jacobs would be the first to agree that it is premature to start talking about a title fight. “Take a look at any fighter who comes to your mind, Joe Louis, Ray Robinson, anybody, and look at what they did in the first 10 months of their careers,” challenged Jacobs. “They weren’t even in the embryo stage of their careers. They weren’t even getting started in the first 10 months. That’s why Bill and I get hysterical when people ask us when Mike is fighting for
the world title.” Jacobs also has an answer for those who criticize the caliber of opposition Tyson sees when he looks across the ring on fight night. “I take that as a supreme compliment. The more we are criticized, the more I read in the papers that we are moving Mike too slowly, the more I’m pleased. I look on it as a badge of honor. The people who try to suggest the pace a young, 19-year-old fighter with enormous talent should be moved at are probably brilliant sports writers, probably excellent television commentators, but whether or not they are qualified to be boxing managers is a different question.” “I find it amusing,” adds Cayton, whose production The Legendary Champion was nominated for an Academy Award. Part of D’Amato’s method of building a fighter is predicated on never, never allowing one of his fighters to face a man Cus wasn’t absolutely sure he could beat. Needless to say, D’Amato was less than enthralled when Patterson finally decided to defend his title against Sonny Liston. And you better believe that Jacobs and Cayton are following the D’Amato method with Tyson. “I talked to Cus for thousands of hours about Mike,” revealed Jacobs. “Cus would repeat himself. He would tell me, in great detail, over and over, every step to take with Mike. When I think about what I’m doing, I just press a button in my head and I can hear Cus talking to me. What I am doing is precisely and exactly what Cus told me to do.” But in the final analysis, it doesn’t really matter what Jacobs does, or what anybody says or writes about Tyson. We have come full circle in our search for the answer to the riddle the untested Tyson presents – back to the fighter himself. Eventually, Tyson will step into the ring with someone capable of administering the final exam, and then, only then, will we know whether Cus D’Amato was right.
Top 10 heavyweights in the February 1986 issue
5. Greg Page
6. Gerrie Coetzee
Champion: Michael Spinks
7. Trevor Berbick
1. Pinklon Thomas
Tyson was never more centered than he was around Cus D’Amato.
and other fighters we’ve managed,” said Jacobs. “When Bill and I got involved with Wilfred Benitez and Edwin Rosario, it was exciting, but it was business. It is completely different with Mike. Our relationship with Mike is, first and foremost, a family relationship. It just so happens that he is a professional boxer. Cus adored Mike and that love and affection is contagious.” Despite Tyson’s remarkable transformation from street punk to a young man on the threshold of possible athletic greatness, he remains partially hidden behind a screen of suspicion. “I don’t trust anyone,” claims Mike. “People want to do me favors. They want to take me out to dinner. But they didn’t want to buy me dinner five years ago when I didn’t have any food. “Every day of my life I look in the mirror and I know I’m not Mr. Black America. I don’t have the most charming
8. Carl Williams
2. Larry Holmes
personality in the world. But girls continue to call and want to go out with me. And eventually, they’re going to look for something in return.” This bitter residue from the past will probably benefit Tyson as he swims boxing’s shark-infested waters. It certainly doesn’t sound like any camp followers will be draining Tyson’s coffers. And those gnawing memories of his deprived childhood just might provide the catalyst to make D’Amato’s formula bear fruit. As Tyson’s knockouts continue to mount, so does the number of people who tend to agree with Jacobs’ glowing assessment. “Right now I think he’s the best
9. Mike Weaver
3. Tim Witherspoon
4. Tony Tubbs
10. Michael Dokes
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