The Mike Tyson legend revisited

[spacetime]

I wish to make it clear at the start that Mike Tyson is far and away my favourite boxer of all time. That being said, having watched him again now, with more experience and maturity, I honestly don't feel he could ever be rated among the top 10s of all time, or that he was as great as many made him out to be.

First: If you play close attention to matches were Tyson got resistence, he didn't really do all that well until he actually knocked the fighter out. Most people don't seem to realise that he swung and missed quite heavily many times. Failed to dominate Bonecrusher Smith and Tony Tucker et.c. Beat an old Larry Holmes who was a shadow of his previous self.

What is your opinion about prime Mike Tyson? Would you rate him a top 10 of all time?

 

[PivotPunch]

Prime Tony Tucker was a very good fighter and would have a chance against any HW today. Lewis also struggled with an older Tucker who made a comeback.

An even older Larry Holmes beat Ray Mercer and gave Holyfield a very ugly fight. And Tyson still ended up being the only guy to stop him.

Tyson wasnt unbeatable no one is a few fighters throughout history would have a chance vs prime Tyson. But ability isnt the reason to argue if hes top 10 its resume.

He also wasnt in his prime vs Smith he improved up to the Spinks fight in '88 and even then he was only 21. Again think about it the best version of Tyson we saw was 21 until drugs, lack of focus, parties and changr of trainers made for an early decline in skill.
We might never see a 21 year old HW champ again let alone a dominant one with p4p status with wins over not great but very good HWs.

Most likely he wouldnt have been at his peak for another few years had everything went well

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Prime Tony Tucker was a very good fighter and would have a chance against any HW today. Lewis also struggled with an older Tucker who made a comeback.

An even older Larry Holmes beat Ray Mercer and gave Holyfield a very ugly fight. And Tyson still ended up being the only guy to stop him.

Tyson wasnt unbeatable no one is a few fighters throughout history would have a chance vs prime Tyson. But ability isnt the reason to argue if hes top 10 its resume.

He also wasnt in his prime vs Smith he improved up to the Spinks fight in '88 and even then he was only 21. Again think about it the best version of Tyson we saw was 21 until drugs, lack of focus, parties and changr of trainers made for an early decline in skill.
We might never see a 21 year old HW champ again let alone a dominant one with p4p status with wins over not great but very good HWs.

Most likely he wouldnt have been at his peak for another few years had everything went well

Damn, great post ... I have nothing to add

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

1985-1988 Tyson is one of my favorite fighters. He was great while Cus was alive, and still great while Rooney was coaching him - he only started losing after firing Rooney, starting his crazy party life and stopping following the peek-a-boo principles in the ring like he did before. The Spinks fight Tyson was just awesome.

He was never mentally very stable, and I don't mean that in the "he was a psychopath" way. I wish he was. But the truth is, he needed Cus to make him into that killer he was in the ring.

 

[NVSemin]

Watch any interview, Holyfield does not talk about Holyfield, he only talks about fighting Tyson (and Bowe). Lewis talks only about Tyson, because nobody nowadays are interested in Lewis himself ...

Tyson was special

 

[Fire of Youth]

As much as I love Tyson, I think he was already on his downward spiral when he became champion. He started getting seduced by the knockout which meant he threw less combos. His feet also started slowing and he wasn't sitting as low in his stance, which made it even hard for him to control range and angles. To me, he was his at his best when he was being nurtured up the rankings by Cus.

 

[spacetime]

Say what you want, Tony Tucker is not an all time great. Tyson never proved superiority over someone truly great, when they actually were great.

 

[PivotPunch]

Say what you want, Tony Tucker is not an all time great. Tyson never proved superiority over someone truly great, when they actually were great.

99% of all champs and 99.999999999999999999% of all boxers in the history of prizefighting aren't all time greats. Wlad lost to Ross Purity, Sanders and Brewster who were worse than Tucker, Lewis lost to McCall and Rahman who were worse than Tucker.

Tucker was very good, complaining that a boxer isn't an ATg is kinda funny.
And that tyson never beat an ATg in his prime is something you can say about a lot of fighters.
Wlad never beat an ATG in his prime hell he probably hasn't even beaten an ATG past his prime (or fought) and Lewis only win over an ATG in his prime is Vitali.
Do you even grasp how unlikely it is that 2 ATG boxers fight each other in both their primes?

The only time stuff like that happened was in the best eras of boxing and only ever in single divisions.
It was the case with HW in the 70s with Foreman, Frazier and Ali and it was the case with the big 4 (Duran, Hagler, Hearns and Leonard) those are the only 2 examples of several ATgs fighting each other regularly I can even think of.

Tyson doesnt have an ATG resume but it isn't that bad either the only thing that seperates him from guys like Wlad resume wise is longevity but even then you have to consider that Wlad hasn't even fought any ATG let alone ATGs in their primes. And I mean that in no way as an insult to Wlad he is a great even if not very spectacular HW champ but who knows how long his winning streak would have been had he fought some of the guys Tyson has fought

 

[wilddeuces]

Tyson is gonna polarize people. Tucker (worthy, very worthy, even gave guys hell in his comeback), Holmes (during his later comeback gave Holyfield a lot more trouble than he gave to Tyson when he was much younger and more able), Spinks (blown out in 91 seconds, but that's a testament to what Tyson did to guys) are all worthy wins. Bruno (beaten by top guys but a competitive fight for many) and Ruddock (never looked the same after Tyson) are worth mentioning too.

I can't argue with anyone that wants to put Tyson in their top 10, hell even top 5. These ATG lists are more subjective than we like to admit. I got him in my top 10, probably. During the 90's and early 2000's when he was power-lifting and doing cocaine all the time he still only lost to Holyfield (competitive first fight) and Lewis (deducted a point for holding Tyson like a dance partner). Not bad for a guy that was slipping since '88.