He fought every fight he ever faced the same way. He never adjusted his style. When something didn’t work, he’d go right back and do the same thing again and again.
There’s a reason very few boxers use the peak-a-boo, especially in the way that Tyson utilized it. You needed to be able to switch your stance and lead foot at the drop of a hat, be mostly ambidextrous and comfortable leading with either hand, sometimes completely square your stance even.
It necessitated constant head movement, rapid shifting footwork, lots of very low weaving and squatting, very sharp angular/lateral movement, aggressively cutting the ring, using multiple leaping punches (generally a leaping hook or even jab), was dependent on a high volume of punches delivered at multiple angles – utilizing multiple body shots, yet also avoid taking too much punishment from your opponent’s shots while you fight firmly within striking distance.
In order for this style to be successful, you needed to be both fast and strong. To have both great offense and great defense. To be both aggressive and tactical. It was an aggressive counter-punching style that needed a swarmer’s work-rate, a slugger’s power, a counter-puncher’s timing, and a boxer’s speed.
And if you need proof on just how difficult this style was, look no further than Tyson himself. Once he got into a lifestyle of partying and drugs and didn’t train quite as rigorously as he once had, we saw a very steep decline in his skillset. This wasn’t a style that you could just lazily cruise with. The matches he lost weren’t exactly a failing of his style, it was mostly due to him not having trained enough to utilize his style properly.
So yeah, Tyson only knew one style but it was one of the most complex styles around which very few boxers could pull-off successfully.
Does that make him one-dimensional?