Nachfolgend ein sehr interessanter Artikel von Ron Borges zum größten Fight der Schwergewichtsgeschichte:
Tyson-Lewis
March 29, 2002
John Russell knows how to beat Mike Tyson. Eleven weeks from now, he believes Lennox Lewis will know how to beat him too.
Russell was the man who first exposed Tyson's vulnerabilities when he trained an underdog named Buster Douglas, giving him a battle plan that Douglas executed perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that Douglas destroyed Tyson in Tokyo 12 years ago, knocking him out in 10 rounds with a style that Russell says is the blueprint for what Lewis needs to do when he faces Tyson June 8 at the Pyramid in Memphis.
You don't want to stand in front of the guy,'' Douglas' now retired trainer said this week from Florida. You want to use your jab and turn Mike a lot. When you turn Mike he's offbalance and he can't hurt you. He can't punch unless he's set to punch.
Mike is powerful with both hands so it doesn't matter which direction you move in but you have to keep firing on him so he can't get set. Once you turn him, you either have to throw punches or back off and re-start.
We told Buster Tyson could only hurt him when he was set to punch. Every time you turn him he has to re-set before he can punch. I never thought of Mike as a great athlete. He's a great puncher but I never could see him as much of a basketball player, for example. He was taught right but he was programmed. Get him out of that program and he doesn't have other options he can go to.
So when you turn him, that's when you can hurt him and he can't hurt you. But if you stand in front of him, you're in trouble. Buster didn't do that.''
Russell doesn't think Lewis will either in part because he has a good idea how Lewis and trainer Emanuel Steward will spend most of their evenings in the months leading up to this most anticipated - and frankly unexpected - match. Watching an old war movie.
I'm sure they'll watch a lot of Buster Douglas tapes,'' Russell said, laughingly. ``Lennox is cautious as hell. He won't stand in front of him and let Tyson attack. One thing you can't do - and we kept telling that to Buster - is you can't stay in front of Mike and lean in when he gets close because he'll hit you with that uppercut. The one time Buster stopped punching to admire his work and leaned in Tyson dropped him (in the eighth round). Buster got lazy and he got caught. Lewis will see that too.''
One guy who knows both fighters well is Tommy Brooks, who has been training Tyson the past several years before being dismissed after his most recent bout with Brian Nielsen last October after refusing to take a paycut for what is expected to be the richest fight in boxing history, the showdown with Lewis.
Brooks has always insisted Tyson would knock Lewis out and he still believes that's a possibility but he also believes Tyson's decision to go with inexperienced Stacy McKinley and Jay Bright as his trainers for one of the biggest fights of his life calls into question his seriousness and puts him at a disadvantage he may not be able to overcome.
If Mike is fed the right information he'll be okay,'' Brooks said. The problem he has is closing the range on Lewis. He has to find the right distance and get inside. If you can't bring the dynamite to the target it doesn't matter of you're explosive.
He can't stay on the outside and box with Lennox. If he do, he'll get killed. For Mike's sake I hope he wins but with those guys in his corner I think he's got no shot. If Lewis can keep Mike at long distance Tyson won't ever touch him. Lennox is good at that. He did it to (David) Tua. He did it to (Hasim) Rahman in the second fight. They never touched him. If Mike doesn't fight his way inside, he's in a lot of trouble.''
But what if Tyson does get inside Lewis' long jab and longer arms? What if Lewis can't do to him what Douglas did by constantly jabbing him and stopping him in his tracks before he was ready to punch? According to another of boxing's best trainers, if that happens Lennox Lewis will taste the kind of power he has never felt before.
I've had a lot of success with guys who sparred with Lewis,'' said Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, the former light heavyweight champion who fought under the name Eddie Gregory and now trains a stable of fighters in Las Vegas. ``I had Monte Barrett in his camp and I told Monte he had to stay on top of Lewis. Just throw two or three jabs and then when you get close hit him on the arms, on the biceps, anywhere. If you put a lot of pressure on Lennox you can back him up and then you can hurt him.
If you stay on the outside and try to box him you can't beat him. Mike has to be willing to throw two and three jabs at a time, keep his hands up and roll inside. Then he has to keep the pressure on Lennox when he's inside, throw hard body punches and look to do some damage. If he does, Lewis will slow down after a few rounds and go to the ropes. That's when Tyson could get him in trouble.
Mike should have no problem with him if he does that but he has to be willing to pull out all the stops. If he doesn't, Lennox Lewis is a major problem for him. It's up to Mike now.''
Perhaps so but is Mike up to what has to be done for him to defeat Lewis? Don Turner was in the corner the two times Evander Holyfield defeated Tyson and was there when Holyfield fought a draw and lost a close decision to Lewis and so he has a unique perspective on both fighters. What he sees, frankly, is not much of a contest unless Lewis freezes or gets old in the ring that night.
Lennox should beat Mike,'' Turner said from his North Carolina manse. ``Tyson won't get as close to Lewis as he needs to be to hurt him. Lewis won't fight with reckless abandon. He'll fight a very careful fight because the only way Tyson can beat him is if he gets close and bangs him out. Tyson won't throw enough combinations to do that.
For Mike to win, the minute there's contact he's got to throw combinations and let his hands go. If he could sustain what he had the first time around - any of what he had - he could put a little fear in Lewis but he hasn't shown the willingness to do what he did when he was younger for a long time.
If Tyson would cast caution to the wind and fight the way he did when he was young he'd be dangerous to Lewis but you seen him do that lately? He hasn't done that since 1988. It might happen, but I don't think so.''
Neither does the first man to show the world how to beat Tyson. Like Turner, Russell has seen no sign that Mike Tyson is willing to pull out all the stops any more in an attempt to win. Nor, more importantly, has he seen any reason to believe that Tyson can solve the kind of problems anyone following Douglas' game plan throws at him.
Tyson has lost a lot of his skills,'' Russell said. When he fired Tommy Brooks it made me think, `How much does he want to fight any more?' Mike needs someone to discipline him for a fight like this. He knows that but he wants yes men around because his confidence level is in the toilet.
I never thought much of Lennox as a fighter but he's honorable. He'll be ready. He'll know what to do. I'm not sure they'll fight but if they do, Lennox Lewis should stop Tyson.''
All he has to do is follow John Russell's plan...and not make a single mistake.
Quelle:
http://www.hbo.com