Mike Tyson vs James Smith

Mike Tyson added the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship to his World Boxing Council title by outpointing James “Bonecrusher” Smith over 12 rounds at the outdoor arena of the Las Vegas Hilton on March 7, 1987. Tyson, unbeaten in 28 contests, weighed 219 pounds and was still four months short of his 21st birthday. Smith, aged 33, weighed 233 pounds and entered with a record of 19 victories and five defeats. Judges Lou Tabat, José Juan Guerra and Dalby Shirley returned scores of 120–106, 119–107 and 119–107, respectively. Referee Mills Lane deducted two points from Smith for persistent holding.

The contest was part of the heavyweight unification series intended to bring the principal championships under one ownership. Tyson had won the WBC title by stopping Trevor Berbick in the second round the previous November. Smith had captured the WBA championship three months later by unexpectedly knocking out Tim Witherspoon in the opening round. He possessed the advantages of six inches in height and approximately eleven inches in reach, together with a powerful right hand. Tyson was nevertheless a strong favourite before a crowd of 13,851. He was trained by Kevin Rooney and managed by Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton, while Smith was directed by his long-time trainer, Lee Black.

The tactical requirements were plain. Smith needed to use his reach, keep Tyson behind a jab and prevent the younger man from establishing his short hooks and uppercuts. Tyson had to move beneath the taller champion’s arms, work to the body and avoid becoming trapped in prolonged clinches. Smith attempted very little of the first part of that plan. Once Tyson crossed the distance, he wrapped both arms around Lane and held him until Lane separated them. The method prevented Tyson from producing the rapid combinations which had overwhelmed Berbick, but it also left Smith with few opportunities to score.

Tyson advanced from the opening bell with his customary head movement and high guard. He slipped Smith’s hesitant jab and struck with hooks to the body whenever the champion backed towards the ropes. Smith held almost immediately and continued doing so whenever Tyson came within punching range. The first round clearly belonged to Tyson, who landed cleaner, more forceful blows despite being denied sustained action. Smith showed little inclination to test Tyson with his right hand and appeared chiefly concerned with avoiding the exchanges.

The holding became more pronounced in the second. Smith clamped Tyson’s arms and sometimes continued gripping after Lane ordered the men to break. An accidental clash of heads opened a cut near Smith’s left eye, although the injury did not become a serious factor. Lane repeatedly warned the WBA champion before deducting a point for excessive clinching. Tyson remained patient, punching to the body when space appeared and attempting to work his hands free rather than wasting strength wrestling with the larger man.

The third and fourth rounds followed the established pattern. Tyson pursued, bent beneath Smith’s arms and tried to release hooks at close quarters. Smith retreated, held and occasionally threw a single right hand before reaching for the clinch. Tyson landed a firm right to the head in the fourth and continued to score with the left hook to the body. Smith’s tactics reduced the spectacle but did not prevent him from losing rounds. He was neither jabbing enough to control Tyson at a distance nor punching effectively when the challenger entered.

Smith occasionally extended his arms to push Tyson backwards, and there were untidy exchanges after several bells. Tyson showed increasing frustration but did not abandon his method. He continued working forward, behind, side-to-side head movement, and struck whenever Smith’s grip loosened. The younger man was unable to produce the clean finish expected by much of the crowd, yet he remained in complete control of the scoring.

Through the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, Tyson’s superior speed allowed him to land first. He attacked the body with both hands and brought the right uppercut through the centre when Smith leaned forward. Smith absorbed the punches without being seriously shaken and used his greater size to smother the follow-up. His durability was never in doubt, but his reluctance to attack caused increasing dissatisfaction among the spectators. The crowd had expected a contest between two heavyweight punchers and instead watched repeated clinches interrupted by Lane’s commands.

Smith was penalised again in the eighth round after ignoring further warnings for holding. The second deduction removed any remaining possibility of winning a decision unless he changed his approach. He did not do so. Tyson continued to score with short punches before being tied up, while Smith offered only isolated blows from long range. His defensive method was succeeding in carrying him through the scheduled distance, but was failing completely as a means of retaining the championship.

Tyson remained the busier boxer in the ninth and tenth. He moved inside the jab, attacked the ribs and occasionally brought hooks around Smith’s guard. The champion’s face showed the effects of the steady punishment, although he remained physically strong and never appeared near a knockdown. Smith’s corner urged him to use his right hand, but he continued waiting for a perfect opening rather than creating one with the jab. Tyson, despite the one-sided score, could not afford to become careless against a man who had ended Witherspoon’s reign with a single punch.

The eleventh produced little change. Tyson pressed, Smith held, and Lane repeatedly pulled them apart. Tyson attempted wider hooks as he searched for a decisive blow, but Smith’s height and immediate clinching prevented him from setting up a sustained attack. By then, the outcome on points was beyond a reasonable doubt. Smith required a knockout, yet he had spent most of the contest refusing the exchanges in which one might have been found.

The champion finally showed greater ambition in the twelfth. With the result lost, Smith released his right hand and landed the best punch of his night. The blow caught Tyson cleanly and briefly disturbed his balance. Tyson later acknowledged that it briefly affected his legs, although he recovered immediately and was not in serious difficulty. Smith was unable to follow effectively, and the final bell brought an end to a disappointing but decisive contest.

Tabat awarded Tyson every round and included the two deductions in his score of 120–106. Guerra and Shirley each gave Smith the final round but otherwise scored completely for Tyson, producing identical totals of 119–107. Tyson landed 191 of 317 punches according to the recorded statistics, while Smith connected with only 51 of 233. The figures reflected the difference in effective work, although much of Tyson’s success consisted of short punches delivered before the next clinch.

Smith defended his performance by arguing that he had disrupted Tyson’s concentration and demonstrated that the younger champion could not knock him out. That claim was correct in the narrowest sense, but his tactics gave him almost no chance of winning. He had the reach, strength and punching power to ask Tyson questions, yet used those advantages principally to hold. Tyson was unable to display the destructive combinations seen against Berbick, but he remained composed enough to win every meaningful phase of the contest.

The victory made Tyson the youngest heavyweight to hold the WBC and WBA championships simultaneously. He completed the major sanctioning-body unification five months later by defeating Tony Tucker for the vacant IBF title. Against Smith, the performance lacked drama, but it demonstrated that Tyson could remain disciplined through a frustrating 12-round contest and win without relying upon an early knockout. Smith lost his championship without being floored, but also without making a determined attempt to retain it.

James “Bonecrusher” Smith had the size, reach and right hand to give Mike Tyson a proper examination, but he chose survival over ambition. After flattening Tim Witherspoon in one round to win the WBA title, Smith entered the unification fight with genuine danger attached to him. Instead of using the jab and making Tyson earn his way inside, he grabbed him whenever the younger man came near.

Tyson deserves credit for staying disciplined. He kept slipping forward, working the body and trying to free his hands while Smith smothered the action. Mills Lane deducted points in the second and eighth rounds for holding, and the crowd rightly became frustrated. Smith’s tactics prevented a knockout, but they also made victory impossible. Tyson won by scores of 120–106 and 119–107 twice.

Smith finally threw the right hand with purpose in the last round and briefly buckled Tyson’s legs. That only made his earlier caution look worse. The weapon was there, but he had refused to use it.

For me, this was not one of Tyson’s spectacular performances, but it showed patience and maturity. Smith could boast that he lasted twelve rounds, yet he surrendered his title without making a serious attempt to win. There is little honour in merely hearing the final bell.