Is Mike Tyson a Top Ten heavyweight alltime?

Seems like I have to stress the obvious again.
It is not just that Tyson was a dirty fighter.
Ali was a dirty fighter.
Tyson's cheating was far more blatant, criminal, damaging and offensive than Ali's, and hence, more effective.

And I do not include Sandy Saddler in my top 15 featherweights.
I, unlike most of you, am not a hypocrite.

The repeating mantra with cheaters: "Yes, he cheated more than once, but I admire him because of it."

Some get praised for cheating (Hopkins, Tyson, Ali, Mirena), some get banned for life (Luis Resto, Panama Lewis).

 

No...

 

I voted a yes but he's only just made it IMO. The main factor for me is his inability to stay at the top for very long and the lack of quality opposition on his resume.

 

Holyfield fould Tyson in those two fights more times than Tyson did in his whole career. Holyfield was a disgrace in those fights. Those antics would push any man over the edge.

Tyson fouled when he was being fouled. No mention at all about the guys who used blatantly fould him, like Jesse Fergusson getting DQ'd for exissive holding and Smith getting away with it all night.
Every fighter threw fouls here and there. Tyson was nowher near the worst. Some bitter pullers in this thread.

 

Lets.

Tell me all these fights that were won by throwing elbows. I have youtube in one window and you in this one. All the elbows. Show them to me. Shoot.

 

Absolutely.

After Ali, Liston and Louis I think he's the next best.

 

People desperately clutching at straws claiming Tysons whole career is overshadowed by his use of elbows. Gtfo.

We know you hate Tyson, but that's just desperation.

And to answer the question, yes Tyson is a top ten fighter and on his best day hd beat most of them too.

At his absolute peak he probably was the greatest. Imo his pre prison opposition was better than Alis pre exile

 

Yet many of these deniers will rate Dempsey over Tyson by virtue of the retreads he beat in a 24 month period (including getting cold ****ed in one and losing a 4 rounder) before sitting on the title and hiding from the best opposition. That is a logic which is profoundly irreconcilable in any objective sense.

 

Azzer.. i dont like the guy.
A repulsive person.
A dirty fighter beyond the norm and Don Kings Refs turned a blind eye.
HOWEVER.. my answer to the original question is a definite yes (see my original post).
That's not 'desperation' ...that's a balanced view !

 

What is my top ten?

Ali
Louis
Liston
Tyson
Lewis
Holmes
Bowe
Foreman
Frazier
Dempsey

The rear is brought up by Vitali, Rocky, Johnson, Walcot and Patterson.

 

It comes down to whether you give more weight to an incandescent flash of a career (Dempsey, Marciano, Frazier, Tyson) or a sustained dominance with some hick-ups (Louis, Ali, Louis)...

 

Nice adjectives there.

I go off h2h personally.

 

I would like to hear if others agree with the 3 opinions that Tyson got away with murder.
Enabling victories he may well not have had. I am unsure if this is true or overstated & want to keep an open mind.

However this question is odd & phrased in a heavily biased way:

"And does anyone suspect that Tyson never received exogenous anabolic treatment?"

I think it is iunusual for anyone to assume he DID cheat with steroids. Why phrase it like there is any common belief or eveidence that he cheated?

Tyson was a keg/tank by his early teens when he was mugging people around Brownsville Brooklyn. He did not even gain that much weight after that, while most men naturally do just through growth/filling out. It would be absurd to say he was using PEDs as a poor kid & not even an athlete. To assume he was using absent any evidence shows great bias.

 

when I think of dirty heavies, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis and Marciano come up with Tyson… I don't know where this bull**** about him being unique in this regard is coming from...

 

I have him in a group of three, 7,8,9, sharing the group with Liston and Frazier.

Behind Ali, Louis, Lewis, Foreman, Marciano and Holmes.