Greetings and welcome to this blog wherein I hope you'll join me delving through the archives of boxing, kickboxing and other combative sports' greatest fights. I hope to provide a good number of tear ups for those fans who love back and forth action, and a few technical breakdowns of some of the greatest finishes and techniques of all time. Everything stated on this blog is absolutely my own opinion or interpretation and I stand to be corrected by readers, and would love to hear the views of all those who make their way here on the footage I link.
A Mike Tyson knockout is a good way to start any day - viewing one that is. Maintaining one of the highest knockout ratios of any fighter, the stocky heavyweight is one of the best known and most divisive personalities in boxing history for good reason. The second match in Tyson's comeback following release from prison in 1995 for rape charges, Mathis was undefeated at the time of the fight and gave Mike some problems in the first and second round, but only in so far as remaining on his feet against Tyson's fury.
While Tyson's comeback is remembered mainly for Mike's abandonment of the slick combinations, head movement and footwork that made him so fearsome in his prime; this fight had a couple of truly phenomenal moments. Those with more than a passing familiarity with striking martial arts or the sweet science will be well familiar with the term "angles". Angles, referred to seemingly constantly by colour commentators but are rarely used in the modern boxing game, are a position where a fighter can land blows on his opponent without them being able to throw back at him. If an opponent acquires an angle on a fighter, the latter has no choice but to 1) back off, or 2) turn to face his opponent again, leaving time and space for the former to punch him.
Mike's angle in this fight is one you'll rarely see used. At 0:24 and 2:15 Tyson leaps to his opponent's right side, switching into a southpaw stance and loading up an enormous right hook. While moving into an opponent's right hand is not encouraged by most good coaches, Mathis is squared up so that he cannot put much power behind his right hand, and Tyson is able to move safely past his opponent's right shoulder; leaving Mathis to simply cover up. Surviving the first attempt through his wits alone, Mathis is too slow to adjust the second time and is sent sprawling to the canvas by one of the finest unique blows I've ever witnessed.
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