There was something very wrong with that fight last night. Tyson was not himself. Before the fight when interveiwed, he was so calm and docile it seemed like he was on some type of medication. During the fight, he was a zombie - i woulda sworn he was on thorazine or something. And even after the fight, after he had sat there for 8 rounds not throwing a punch, not blocking… just sitting there dazed and confused (but not tired) … he was docile; talking like a zonked out zombie.
There are so many people who hate tyson and want him out of boxing. The only place that would even allow him to fight was Memphis, TN. Vegas, Atlantic City - they all hate tyson and want nothing to do with him, despite the revenue a huge fight like that brings to the community. For years, so many people have felt Tyson was a thorn in the side of the sport of boxing, constantly turning a respected profession into a circus. I think those people finally got rid of tyson last night by drugging him before the fight so he had no chance but to go down in disgrace, forever ruining his career.
I think there are two possibilities - either:
someone slipped something into his pre-fight food/water/gatorade.
or
it was actually contractually REQUIRED that for Tyson to fight, he had to be taking some medicine. They kept that part of the fight contract secret.
Tyson was not himself. It was not that he was too old (lewis is a year older than tyson) … it was not that tyson was out of practice. It was clear that tyson was zonked out on some medicine. I dont know what… xanax, valium, verced, thorazine… who knows. Before the fight, Teddy Atlas was talking about whether or not tyson should be allowed to fight without being on medicine, and they quickly changed the subject. Something is rotten here… i realize boxing is the most corrupt sport there is… but I really think this fight was fixed… fixed in the sense that Tyson was given some medicine against his will (here mike, take your vitamins) and had no chance of fighting back.
Tyson wasn’t medicated. He was simply exposed as a “boxer” of limited skills, who historically had relied on his reflexes and devastating power shots to destroy opponents. Tyson was never really a “boxer” but a slugger (albeit an effective one in his day). Tyson is known for going belly up (or going nuts) when he knows he is on the verge of losing. Tyson had ducked Lewis for years and had resigned himself to getting pummeled before he even entered the ring. That’s what you saw. Resignation at the knowledge that compared to Lewis he was just a sideshow bum who’'ll be fighting Butterbean before too long. That was his “medication”.
There’s a discussion of Tyson’s meds here–mostly anti-depressants, it sounds like, but his camp isn’t talking, and evidently they don’t have to, as anti-depressants aren’t banned by the boxing commission.
I don’t think he was forced to take medicine so the fight could be fixed–I think his lithium, or whatever, just wasn’t doing him any favors, boxing-wise.
Oh, wait. We are talking boxing (a “sport” where “winning” means to deliberately cause brain damage in your opponent), and we are talking Mike “The Bully, The Biter, The Convicted Rapist” Tyson.
Tyson went on medication a couple of weeks ago, which would account for his change in demeanor, from the manaic who acted like he would have eaten a tv camera during the whole “staredown incident” to a fairly mellow person. I think that it’s fair to say that it did affect his fighting, but as boxing as a whole has become less then a dog and pony show, who cares?
