Mike Tyson: A Breakdown of One of Boxing's Greatest Knockout Artists

Through out the years of combat sports many stars have rose and fallen. Many have been considered the best in their division or of their time. Few fighters, however, have been considered as dangerous, as formidable, or as menacing as “Iron” Mike Tyson. Dominating sports headlines during various times and for various reasons, he is now known mostly for his enormous punching power and for the dramatic events that filled his life. Mike is undoubtedly one of the hardest punchers to ever step through the ropes of a boxing ring (and one of the hardest biters), but there was more to his fighting than the brutal knock out power. Forever tied to the stigma of being a “puncher”, little is told of the beautiful, technical, tactical, but utterly devastating craftsmanship that Tyson brought in to the ring.

Mike’s fighting style was a maze with no exit. No matter what route you picked you eventually found your self facing a dead end. His forward pressure and massive power forced you into his maze. Once inside you had three paths to choose from: jab and keep him away from you, move away and avoid him, or clinch him and try to tie up his arms.

In regards to his pressure and power, Tyson had 50 wins in his professional boxing career, with 44 of them coming by way of knock out. He was the owner of some of the most devastating, brain crushing, and terrifying punches that the modern boxing world had ever seen.


He constantly walked forward. Constantly stayed in your face and made you feel his presence. Not necessarily a technical ring cutter, but just simply relentless. Because of his power, holding your ground was simply not an option so, as stated, you had 3 choices.

The first choice was probably the worst. Many fighters tried to use their reach advantage, as Mike was almost always shorter than his opponents, and keep him away with long jabs. The idea was if they could keep him at a distance they could stay away from his power while they poked at him with their jabs and scored points. The problem with this is they ran into one of Mike Tyson’s best, yet most underrated qualities. His highly efficient, and highly effective, defense, He always moves forward, but he didn’t walk in to punches. He kept his hands up and moved his head with great discipline. As he put it: "My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable."



Slipping just enough to be out of the way, but still in position to punch. The reason I️ stated that leading with the jab was his opponents' worst option is because it was against this tactic that mike really did his best work. His short reach kept him from being an outside fighter. However, he wasn’t really an in fighter either. What he was best at was cracking his opponents as he transitioned from the outside to the in. So he would walk forward, and his opponents, not wanting to stand and bang with “Iron” Mike, would commit to a stiff jab. He would then slip the jab as he stepped in to his range and come back with immensely powerful counters.





Since keeping Tyson out with long punches didn’t have an affect, his opponents were left with option two. They tried to maintain distance by constantly moving away from him. The problem with this is if you are constantly moving away you will eventually find yourself against the ropes. Here, you would be stuck for Mike to unleash his vicious and formidable combination punches.





When his opponents hit the ropes they would cover up to avoid the head shots. Mike, however, was an incredibly savvy fighter who would unload the body shots first. Punishing the midsection to pin his opponents' arms down and at their sides, Mike would then come up the middle with his uppercut or around the guard with his hooks.

Many people reading this may be thinking that this would only occur if, while moving away, Tyson’s opponents forsook lateral movement and only moved backwards. This is, after all, one of boxing's most well known fundamentals. This too was only a false glimmer of hope in the futile struggle against Tyson’s style. Mike employed coordinated and balanced footwork that allowed him to shift from stance to stance or position to position while still being able to dish out incredible power. If they circled to Mike’s left, he would give them what would later become known as the Tyson hook. Loading up on his left side he would leap forward and bring his hook around to cut off his opponents escape.



If his opponent exited towards Mike’s right, he would simply shift in to southpaw, using that step to close the distance, and then loose what was now his lead hook.



As I said... trapped.

The predicament we’re unraveling here left Mike’s foes with their third option. Which ended up actually being their best option. Mike was a great combination puncher and counter puncher, but he never fought much in the clinch. His opponents would often find some success by simply grabbing on to him when he got close; tying up his arms and denying him the opportunity to throw big punches. The opponents using this tactic would often last in to later rounds than most. Unfortunately for them, this too was a false hope, and Tyson had an answer for it.

Game planning and tactics in a fight is about taking your opponents away from their comfort zone. If this happens to take you to where you yourself are most comfortable then great, but as long as you're leading them away from where they want to be you’ll be one step ahead.

When Tyson’s opponents had a mind to hold on to him for the whole fight, he had an interesting way of taking the fight away from where they wanted to be. When his opponents would bring him in to the clinch, he would actually reach under their arms and trap his own hands. When a fighter's hand gets stuck or trapped the referee usually breaks the clinch. So Mike would start at a distance, walk you down, and attempt to hit you on the way in. Once he was in and his opponents grabbed on, he trapped his own hands and the ref would break them apart, starting this process over again.







You can only have Mike Tyson walk you down so many times before you start catching hard shots. Sooner or later they all fell.

So whether they jabbed, ran, or clinched, the first 37 opponents in his professional came short. Succumbed to the little noticed subtleties of his game. Eventually though, things would change.

Mike Tyson was the perfect balance between brute force and technical skill. However, as all good things must come to an end, all great fighters must eventually lose. With the death of his lifelong manager and father figure Cus D’Amato, the scales began to tip towards brute force alone. Without the guidance of his mentor to keep Tyson disciplined and grounded, we saw less and less of his technical brilliance as he began to rely more on his power to carry him through fights. Regardless, in his younger years, under the tutelage of Cus, and using his mind as well as his muscle, he was near unbeatable.

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Until next time,

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