Thirty-one years later, the Mike Tyson loss still bugs Tony Tucker
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FORMER IBF heavyweight champion Tony Tucker achieved plenty, yet the tall, athletic and naturally gifted boxer should have achieved a lot more. Tucker was denied the opportunity of winning an Olympic medal when the 1980 Games were boycotted by the US, and later, in his biggest fight, against a peak Mike Tyson,
“T.N.T” broke his right hand in the early going – this not long after staggering Tyson with a left uppercut. What followed that August night in 1987 failed to top anything that came before. He retired in 1998 with a record of 57-7 (47).
All these years later, does it still hurt that you couldn’t box at the 1980 Olympics, due to the boycott?
Oh, of course. I know I would have won a gold medal. A lot of the guys I beat, in the Pan-Ams and in other tournaments, I would have fought them again and I would have beaten them again. I’d have won a gold, for sure. And the Olympics, everyone watched, so I would have been so much more well-known all around the world. But I carried on and I went pro.
You were 34-0 and the IBF champion before you fought Tyson. Looking back, did you fight enough top guys to equip you for that fight?
This story is from the August 09, 2018 edition of Boxing News.
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This story is from the August 09, 2018 edition of Boxing News.
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