Why Mike Tyson will win in under a round
 By Bobby Jones (June 8, 2005)  
Photo © Tom Casino/ SHOWTIME
As Mike Tyson, 50-5-2NC (44), prepares to head to the ring for the 58th time in his career, it is apparent that he hasn’t faced this type of confidence building match since very early in his career, with the exception of Peter McNeeley after his release from prison in 1995. Kevin McBride, 32-4-1 (27), while coming into the match as Tyson’s tallest and perhaps heaviest opponent, seems to be lacking any of the tools he would need to last longer than my – and most of the boxing community’s – predicted first three minutes of the pay-per-view bout. But before I just seem like I’m a crazy Mike Tyson fan that thinks Tyson can relive some of the magic he had 15 years ago, let me try to explain my position as to why the second bell Kevin McBride and Mike Tyson will hear in this match will be the bell announcing the end of the fight, and not the second round.

Kevin McBride seems to have a very respectable record, and thus, be a formidable opponent for Tyson. After all, since his loss to heavyweight contender DaVarryl Williamson he has won seven fights in a row, all by knockout. But, just for the sake of my argument, let’s take a closer look at McBride’s last seven opponents. Combined, they had a record of 140-83-8, for a winning percentage of just over 60.5 percent. Now, when I was in high school, anything under 70 percent was failing. By no means am I comparing high school grades to two men fighting, but this isn’t the combined record of opponents you hope to see from a man fighting Mike Tyson, no matter how rusty the ‘Iron’ has become.

By comparison, over Mike Tyson’s last seven fights he has gone 4 and 2 with 1 NC. While McBride’s personal winning percentage over these last 7 fights is obviously better, let’s take another close look at the numbers and check out Tyson’s opponents combined records. They read like this: 249-21-2 or a winning percentage of 91.5 percent. Let’s be honest though. One of those wins was against Brian Nielsen who somehow handpicked his way to 62 wins going into the Tyson fight, so it does fudge the numbers a little bit. But even with that, it’s still obvious to a tune of over 35 percent that Tyson, while losing twice, has had the much tougher opponents.

In Kevin McBride’s last fight against Kevin Monity, which was shown on ESPN2 only because Kevin McBride was being touted as the next opponent for Tyson, McBride looked painfully slow. Ultimately, although McBride did his job by beating Monity by 5th round knockout, it was apparent that McBride also lacked punching power and any kind of head movement whatsoever. Once again, I’ll be honest, Tyson doesn’t have one tenth the speed he had in his prime, and his head movement appears to be non-existent. Nevertheless though, Tyson’s remaining speed makes him look like ‘The Flash’ compared to the lumbering McBride. Head movement, I guess you have to call even. Chin, without a doubt goes to Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson took beatings from Holyfield and Lewis before finally going down, and against Williams he took some outstanding shots that made that one of the most exciting heavyweight bouts over the last few years. McBride has been knocked out by Louis Monaco (career record of 14-29-4) and Michael Murray (career record of 16-26). Murray knocked out McBride for his only win in a stretch of 18 fights. That alone is something to consider as McBride tries to hear the bell starting the second round of this Saturday’s fight.

Mike Tyson, at nearly 39 years old, is many, many years removed from his prime. But even with that it’s hard to take him out of the top 20 or 25 of heavyweight boxers in the world today. McBride, at 32, supposedly in the prime of his career, would be hard pressed to find himself in the top 100 heavyweight boxers in the world. If McBride pulls off a huge upset by not just getting out of the first round but actually winning this fight, then everything I’ve wrote here is a moot point, and I go down as just another dumb boxing writer that has no idea what he is talking about (perhaps I already am that, according to some of my ‘fan’ mail, but that is also neither here nor there). With that though, I am going on the record in saying that Mike Tyson will be the ghost of himself one more time for one more round for one more night in Washington D.C.

 SPECIAL: Kostya Tszyu vs Ricky Hatton MASSIVE News Section DHB
More Headlines From Today:
 ‘Baby’ Joe Mesi: “Boxing is My Dream, and it’s Being Pulled Out From Under Me” Sean Newman
Hail Britannia: The Rise of King Ricky Julian Kasdin
For Mike Tyson's next act, he's fighting a bearded lady Dp
Tyson: A Neutral Breakdown of the Tyson of Today Aaron Imholte
For once, all quiet on Tyson front Dp
Ricky Hatton's Mum: I Couldn't Watch Him Win Dp
Khan to fight in Belfast Dp
World Top 10 - Pound- For- Pound Dp
Cotto & Gatti up for Hatton fight Dp
British Top 10 - Pound-for-pound Dp
Arum Keeps An Eye On Tyson Dp
© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2005