Is Mike Tyson ready for Lennox Lewis?

By Krzysztof Wawrzonkowski

31.03 - How is Tyson these days? How is his condition? Although nobody knows for sure, with the exception of Mike and his camp, which been saying that that Tyson is training hard and is in great condition. Recently Tyson has been spotted by the National Enquirer, partying with a hippie crowd in Maui, Hawaii at a notorious nude bathing spot in Makena State park where Mike was suppose to train for his upcoming bout with the three time heavyweight champion of the world Lennox Lewis. Tyson was seen coming to the beach with two girls and a young kid who he described as his nephew, Prince. In the photos Tyson is seen smoking something, what appears to be marijuana, which was passed onto him by a bunch of kids. The pipe that he was smoking from was made from a hollowed-out papaya stem and a seashell. After taking a few hits, Tyson laid on the ground and was laughing with a bunch of kids who gathered around him. Tyson looks out of shape and not even close to being ready to fight Lewis, one of the greatest heavyweight champions the world has seen in the last 20 years. Is this another one of Tyson’s pricks to try cancel the fight, like his recent press conference fight which almost cancelled the fight and gave Tyson all kinds of problems with getting the license to box? If this is Tyson’s way of training than, he has got a big problem to face when June 8th comes, when he will fight Lewis.

The ex undisputed heavyweight champion who has cleaned up the heavyweight division in the eighties, won junior Olympic tournament in 1984 and in 1986 became the youngest heavyweight champion when he knocked out Trevor Berbick in the second round. From there on he went on to conquer the WBA and the IBF versions of the heavyweight crown from James “Bonecrusher” Smith and Tony Tucker which has made Tyson become the first undisputed champion since Leon Spinks. Back than Tyson was a very quick and powerful fighter who seemed unbeatable until a 42-1 underdog Buster Douglas knocked him out in the eleventh round in what is known as one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. In his last few fights he has not shown the mighty Mike. His accuracy with his punches not being as good as it used to be, and his speed appeared to be way off. He still managed to destroy Francis in two rounds, Savarese in one and made Golota quit after two rounds and made them look like amateurs, but he has also shown that he is getting old and does not have the conditioning he used to have when he was younger. The Golota fight was declared a no contest after the fight because Mike tested positive for marijuana. The question will remain unsolved until he will face Lewis, who is the biggest test and biggest payday for Tyson since his fight with Holyfield. This will also be Tysons first time going into a fight as an underdog.

If Tyson is to win against Lewis he will have to be in shape of his life. Lewis, who is 6ft 5 inches tall and about 245 pounds, will give Tyson problems with his crushing jab and his right uppercut, which he uses to destroy his opponents. Tyson always had problems with tall fighters, which was shown when Buster Douglas knocked him out. For Tyson to win he will have to revive his old self, and once again become the indestructible force that he was in the 80’s, which he has not been shown in his last couple of fights. For Tyson to win he will have show head movement to dodge Lewis’s jabs and counterstrike them with accuracy and power and will possibly need to knock out Lewis to win, because when the fight goes to judges scorecards Tyson will not have much chance of winning, which I don’t think Tyson will want to happen. I think he will come out early and try to knock out Lewis early, which what he’s usually trying to do. The longer the fight will go on the chances of Mike winning will be decreasing rapidly. In an interview Tyson said “On June 8th, I guarantee I will knock out Lewis out and regain my heavyweight championship”. Lewis said in the same interview “Lewis-Tyson is a match up the whole world has been waiting for. I am confident I will cement my legacy when I dispose of Tyson on June 8th”. Tyson been also saying he’s the best of the best and this fight will be one of Tyson’s last chances to be great and to show to the world that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division.