Mike Tyson wasn't even the 2nd best of his generation

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up

Rambo John J

Baker Team
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
73,926
73,428
I will say that Mike is a very small heavy, so even though he is 3rd best of his era, his alltime rating is still strong because he was almost fighting a weightclass up in theory. Like Mike in his prime was probably more of a cruiserweight sized guy, maybe if Mike was at cruiser fulltime he would be the cruiserweight GOAT and maybe top 10 alltime, but due to being the 3rd best heavy, he is more like top 40 alltime or so.


I think Lennox is the heavy GOAT in terms of skill and if you had a tourny of all them in their prime , all alive like a tournament in paradise, Lennoz is the guy I pick to win.
I would take Vitali Klitschko in an all alive tournament in paradise....that guy was amazing

Mike really was a pretty small HW...those short arms really hurt him against big dudes like Lennox
 

SensoriaUtopia

First 100
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
3,353
2,635
I would take Vitali Klitschko in an all alive tournament in paradise....that guy was amazing

Mike really was a pretty small HW...those short arms really hurt him against big dudes like Lennox

Vitali is up there

I go Lennox 1
Prime Ali 2
Vladimir and Vitali 3 and 4
Prime Foreman 5
Evander 6
Larry Holmes 7
Anthony Joshua 8
Joe Louis 8
Riddick Bowe 9
Mike Tyson10

people will scoff at Joshua at 8, again this rank is not about accomplishment, Joshua has a ways to go it is simply about who beats who if they all fought

The top 5 I feel strong about 6 through 10 can go any order

Honorable mention Joe Johnson
 

SensoriaUtopia

First 100
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
3,353
2,635
I wanted to put Deontay on the list, but I need to see a bit more, his offense is up there with all these guys, I just dont know if Deontay has the defense and chin, I think prime Holmes iwth that jab and fundaementals would beat him, Riddick Bowe vs Deontay would be interesting, Tyson vs Deontay interesting also.
 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
73,926
73,428
Vitali is up there

I go Lennox 1
Prime Ali 2
Vladimir and Vitali 3 and 4
Prime Foreman 5
Evander 6
Larry Holmes 7
Anthony Joshua 8
Joe Louis 8
Riddick Bowe 9
Mike Tyson10

people will scoff at Joshua at 8, again this rank is not about accomplishment, Joshua has a ways to go it is simply about who beats who if they all fought

The top 5 I feel strong about 6 through 10 can go any order

Honorable mention Joe Johnson
 

Ted Williams' head

It's freezing in here!
Sep 23, 2015
11,283
19,071
Whenever Tyson is brought up, there's hardly any middle ground: I think most people either severely overrate him or underrate him.

In terms of accomplishments, Tyson's resume will pale in comparison to a lot of other ATG HWs because he was an anomaly: he peaked very young and his best days were behind him when was in his mid 20s. He went to jail and that was the end of prime Tyson.

In terms of actual in-ring ability, he could beat any HW that ever lived on any given night. He was a perfect killing machine. Boxing fans know how rare it is to find a guy who has legit 1-punch KO power in both hands. Then give him blistering hand speed and the perfect technique drilled into his skull since he was a young teenager. This is a guy who is a life and death fight for anyone.

People smash Tyson's opposition, but I think that's unfair. He fought a lot of killers. The name Tony TNT Tucker might not mean anything to a casual boxing fan, but that's a tough night at the office for anyone.
 

SensoriaUtopia

First 100
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
3,353
2,635
Whenever Tyson is brought up, there's hardly any middle ground: I think most people either severely overrate him or underrate him.

In terms of accomplishments, Tyson's resume will pale in comparison to a lot of other ATG HWs because he was an anomaly: he peaked very young and his best days were behind him when was in his mid 20s. He went to jail and that was the end of prime Tyson.

In terms of actual in-ring ability, he could beat any HW that ever lived on any given night. He was a perfect killing machine. Boxing fans know how rare it is to find a guy who has legit 1-punch KO power in both hands. Then give him blistering hand speed and the perfect technique drilled into his skull since he was a young teenager. This is a guy who is a life and death fight for anyone.

People smash Tyson's opposition, but I think that's unfair. He fought a lot of killers. The name Tony TNT Tucker might not mean anything to a casual boxing fan, but that's a tough night at the office for anyone.

If you read my post on here you will see I am one of the few that does not over or under rate him
 

Ted Williams' head

It's freezing in here!
Sep 23, 2015
11,283
19,071
Vitali is up there

I go Lennox 1
Prime Ali 2
Vladimir and Vitali 3 and 4
Prime Foreman 5
Evander 6
Larry Holmes 7
Anthony Joshua 8
Joe Louis 8
Riddick Bowe 9
Mike Tyson10

people will scoff at Joshua at 8, again this rank is not about accomplishment, Joshua has a ways to go it is simply about who beats who if they all fought

The top 5 I feel strong about 6 through 10 can go any order

Honorable mention Joe Johnson

You have ANTHONY FUCKING JOSHUA at #8? A guy who has 20 fights and has been a pro for 5 years is the #8 HW of all time? Joshua isn't even the undisputed #1 in this era, and you're saying he's #8 of all time?

Above Joe Louis? 26 HW title defences?



Oi vey... preach on Brother Roger
 

SensoriaUtopia

First 100
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
3,353
2,635
You have ANTHONY FUCKING JOSHUA at #8? A guy who has 20 fights and has been a pro for 5 years is the #8 HW of all time? Joshua isn't even the undisputed #1 in this era, and you're saying he's #8 of all time?

Above Joe Louis? 26 HW title defences?



Oi vey... preach on Brother Roger

You have the reading comprehension of a toddler, if you fully read my post, I am not saying Anthony Joshua ranks 8th alltime for heavies, he has a ways to go, I am saying if all the guys where alive right now and in their prime I put him at 8 in terms of who beats who

Joe Louis alltime ranks higher, due to his career but if prime Joe Louis , he was what 6'1" 225 ? fought Joshua right now, I would take Joshua and most experts would agree with me.

Learn how to read, if you have the ability to learn
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,224
Evander Holyfield

Beat more credible guys than Mike Tyson

Worthy named opponents Evander beat-

MIKE TYSON
Buster Douglas
MIKE TYSON
Michael Dokes
George Foreman
Larry Holmes
Riddick Bowe
Ray Mercer
Michael Moorer
Hasim Rahman

You might be thinking of pointing out that two guys on that list beat Evander Holyfield. You're right, they did. And when Evander rematched both, he beat both. Something Mike Tyson has NEVER done, avenge a loss.

Evander Holyfield=beat more credible guys than Mike Tyson, beat Mike Tyson as well, twice, as well as beat Buster Douglas who was the first to beat Mike Tyson just 8 months prior, before Tyson was in prison.

http://i37.tinypic.com/333h254.jpg

It's a bit misleading to frame Evander Holyfield as having 'avenged' his loss to Bowe as he is 1-2 against him. I also can't work out why Bowe is lost in these discussions.

He only lost to one guy, who he bested in a 3 fight series, and is the only guy to ever unify all 4 alphabets. Bowe ducked Lewis and also obviously lost to him at the Olympics but there's also things he has over Lewis/Tyson/Holyfield - unlike the first two, he simply didn't get beat by guys like Douglas, McCall or Rahman and he proved he was the better man at HW vs Holyfield. We can speculate that he would've lost to Golota had Golota not been nuts, but the fact remains he never actually did.

And considering that the argument about Tyson is that while his final record doesn't stack up, his talent did, then the same applies to Bowe as he was simply recognized as an elite HW talent himself.

Holyfield may have had the best two-weight class career, Tyson may have had the most dynamic skills for a smaller HW but quite simply the best two pure HW boxers of the era were Lewis and Bowe.
 

aghof

an person
Apr 15, 2015
2,037
3,813
I agree with some of this.

Mike Tyson definitely had an aura about him.


For most of my adolescent life and early adult life, I was like everyone else thinking that Mike Tyson was just so fiercesome and imposing and surely the best hw around.

I think like majority of most fans, Don King is who we should credit for the Hype of Mike Tyson. Don King, say what you will, could promote fights. Sure he's probably a scumbag, but without Don King, I doubt Mike Tyson would be thought of how he is today, which is one of the greatest hw boxers of all time when in reality he's not even best of his generation. That's Don King's doing, not Tyson's. Tyson beat whatever bums King lined up for him and did so in brutal fashion making it easier to promote him. Once Tyson stepped up his competition, you saw what happened.

Conor McGregor however, I feel did more self promotion for himself. Conor also came along at the perfect time. UFC/MMA needing superstars, no big named Irish fighters, his charisma and ability to hype fights coupled with actual legit skill, his road to stardom was a little different than Tyson's.
King definitely helped, but "Kid Dynamite" was on the cover of SI (when that still meant something) well before King got involved (I think)
 

Dirty Harry Potter

The smartass formerly known as Geezer
Apr 5, 2018
464
569
True but Mike was able to capture the attention of the masses. His fights were events that people came together to partake in...many who couldn't have cared less about boxing. That is what made him so intriguing...well that, and him being a straight up killer.
Not killer ; rapist :cool:
 

D241

Banned
Jan 14, 2015
4,384
4,741
This is a good thread. Amazing now that works when people don’t shit them up.

I was going to joke and say this looks like a challenge, but then I see two posters on page 2 done shittied up the thread, so you jinxed it before I could even kid about it lol
 

D241

Banned
Jan 14, 2015
4,384
4,741
Whenever Tyson is brought up, there's hardly any middle ground: I think most people either severely overrate him or underrate him.

In terms of accomplishments, Tyson's resume will pale in comparison to a lot of other ATG HWs because he was an anomaly: he peaked very young and his best days were behind him when was in his mid 20s. He went to jail and that was the end of prime Tyson.

In terms of actual in-ring ability, he could beat any HW that ever lived on any given night. He was a perfect killing machine. Boxing fans know how rare it is to find a guy who has legit 1-punch KO power in both hands. Then give him blistering hand speed and the perfect technique drilled into his skull since he was a young teenager. This is a guy who is a life and death fight for anyone.

People smash Tyson's opposition, but I think that's unfair. He fought a lot of killers. The name Tony TNT Tucker might not mean anything to a casual boxing fan, but that's a tough night at the office for anyone.
Tony Tucker


There's a name you listed as a credible win for Tyson.

Congrats.

Please continue. Lets look at how Tyson's worthy opponents beat stack up to Holyfields and Lewis's and maybe give Mike Tyson an edge in this discussion once we can see who you think he beat that's worthy of being mentioned.

You started off with Tony Tucker, now please just go down the list as I have done for two other HW greats of that era.
 

Pitbull9

Daddy
Jan 28, 2015
9,832
14,087


Tyson was sick because of things like this. He was a monster in every way at one point. His power was just unbelievable. He almost took a guys head right off with an uppercut. That shit wouldve popped if it was a normal man. He was incredibly skilled, incredibly damaged, incredibly taken advantage of by everyone and much more.
 

SensoriaUtopia

First 100
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
3,353
2,635
I was going to joke and say this looks like a challenge, but then I see two posters on page 2 done shittied up the thread, so you jinxed it before I could even kid about it lol

Who are the 2 posters shitting up your thread on this here page 2?
 

Dirty Harry Potter

The smartass formerly known as Geezer
Apr 5, 2018
464
569
I was going to joke and say this looks like a challenge, but then I see two posters on page 2 done shittied up the thread, so you jinxed it before I could even kid about it lol
I don't know shit about boxing, so it wasn't me .