Why Tyson Isnt An ATG

Any fighter who dominates a definable era is an ATG.

Period.

 

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Marciano
4. Holmes
5. Foreman
6. Lewis
7. Holyfield
8. Wladamir
9. Vitali
10. Tyson

 

Whilst not the best I've got to say Tyson is an ATG.

 

While I have utmost respect for the klitchkos, who are very classy sportmsmen and carry themselves like champions, theres no way id put them in the top 10.
for what its worth id have
Ali,
Louis,
holmes,
Dempsey
foreman
Tyson
Holyfield
Marciano
johnson
frazier

while I accept that the huge foreman may have beaten Dempsey head to head, each has to be assessed in the era they fought and Dempsey ruled his

 

Well if Tyson is considered an ATG, than Wladimir has to be seen in the same regard.

They both were longstanding dominant HW champions in their eras with Wladimir still on his current active reign, but both of them also suffered from the fact that they took on weak opponents at their respective primes. I rate Tyson's fights with Razor Ruddock as his best wins in his career. He was most dominant in the 80's, but who exactly did he beat in that decade aside from a well past his prime Larry Holmes who came out of retirement for a big payday?

I love Tyson, I grew up watching him in the 80's and buying his PPV's fully knowing that they wouldn't be worth the money considering he was a threat to KO his opponents in the 1st round. But the wins on his resume are unimpressive outside of Razor Ruddock and I guess Frank Bruno. His dominating run in the 80's was filled with mid-tier fighters, I think the best of them were guys like Smith and Berbick.

And there's nothing wrong with that, you can only face who is available in your era. But all the great HW's that Mike fought (albeit when he was a bit past his prime,) he fell short against- specifically with Evander and Lennox. He was a great fighter no doubt, but his resume could be picked apart for what it is- a very good resume, but IMO not an ATG resume. A 1st ballot HOF'er? absolutely. An ATG though might be a stretch. ALmost every ATG HW has a big time win against a top tier HOF'er. Tyson's resume is devoid of that accomplishment.

 

Tyson underachieved given his god gifted abilities which most boxers would kill for

 

Average fighters don't take the heck of a punch or beating he took noon stop from douglas and Lewis

 

To be fair Wladimir longevity at the top has far surpassed Tyson. At 38 Tyson was losing to Kevin Mcbride while at the same age Wladimir is still the heavyweight champ.

 

Tyson was horribly out of shape against Lewis. He was breathing heavy by round 2 and was out of gas by round 4. He mentions all the partying he did in the lead up to the fight and not being in the right frame of mind.

It was shocking unprofessionalism on his part given that he was going up against the best fighter at that stage

 

You have to account for fighting styles. Low work rate fighters wear out very late compared to high work rate fighters

 

A reminder of why you're on my ignore list.

 

There's no question that Wladimir has the longer reign, it's factual at this point. I believe Joe Louis is the only HW that has a longer reign than the one WLad currently has.

Tyson is such a unique case due to the fact he was incarcerated in his absolute prime for several years. I tend to believe he was underprepared and poorly trained in his only loss prior to getting incarcerated with Douglas. He looked like he was destined for long term greatness prior to going to prison and that Douglas debacle.

When he got out, he was obviously a different fighter. And even though he clearly took on the superior competition compared to the Klitschko's, he always came up short in the biggest of his fights (kind of similar to De La hoya in that regard.) The fact he won the HW title at such a young age and recaptured it after getting out of prison makes him a sure fire 1st ballot Hof'er type of guy.

My point to my posts was if Tyson is considered an ATG, than Wladimir surely has to also. And I personally don't think either man is an ATG, they don't have that signature win on their resumes.

 

I know what youre saying about wladamir klitchko, but I cant get over those complete collapses against extremely limited opposition.
These guys conceded every possible physical advantage and still had him
crashing all over the ring like bambi.
His opposition since has been terrible but that's not his fault and the way he turned his career around is an inspiration to all boxers. but those losses. to those people. in that manner.
That's why lennox lewis is out of the top 10. woeful prime kayo losses to very limited opposition. if corrie sanders and oliver mcall could do it, I shudder to think what a sonny liston would do.
Tyson had big, dominating wins against tucker, smith, holmes, Thomas, tubbs biggs, bruno and Williams, Ruddock, and Michael spinks. Does klitchkos list of opponents even come close?
Despite being 20ft tall and outweighing everyone he fights, he tip toes round tiny sub standard heavies like theyre the ghost of jack dempsey

 

Tyson's career was one of incendiary greatness that burned very bright and faded quickly... the same can be said of Dempsey, Marciano and Frazier... In part, his small size and very active style (when in prime form) took their toll in the big man's division. However, he laid waste to the division and re-inspired the public regarding the sport.

 

I'll be honest, I don't think anyone from the 90's or 2000's outside of Lewis would be in my top 10 HW list. The guys on my list were fortunate enough to fight in the golden eras of the HW division- especially the 1970's that was littered with terrific HW champs. I never formed an actual top 10 HW list but I'd assume guys like:

(no particular oder) Louis, Ali, Foreman, Marciano, Johnson, Dempsey, Charles, Holmes, Tunney, Liston, Lennox would be my top 11. 12-15 would be Liston, Frazier and probably Wladimir or FLoyd Patterson.

If we're going to talk about KO's, how can we forget what Buster Douglas did to Tyson? Mike has a lot of baggage on his resume, how about his antics with Evander in the 90's? He also got destroyed by Lennox Lewis.

Tyson is one of my favorite boxers of all time regardless of weight classes because he's a fellow New Yorker and he was one of the first boxers I actually watched. But he never lived up to his expectations. Look at Ali, he had a similar situation to Tyson in that they both were removed for several years in their absolute primes. But obviously we know what happened in the 2nd scene of their boxing careers after they got back into boxing.