Who would have beaten prime tyson?

Maybe Ali Louis the rest I'm pretty sure Tyson would have taken them out especially Lewis .Holyfield would have always have been competitive .

 

Lewis, Foreman, Holyfield, Ali, Frazier, Holmes, Douglas, the brothers Klitchko. If you think he was scared in the dressing room before going out in his teens he would have **** himself against these guys in his 20's who would have had NO fear of him, and NO respect for his baddest man on the planet reputation.

Too lacking in mental fortitude to beat any or ALL of these guys. Brave enough to take his licks, but not STRONG enough mentally to fight back.

 

Put it this way the 20 year old Tyson would in my opinion beat every other heavyweight in modern history at a respective age of 20. Shoe me a 20 year old fighter who has what it takes to beat him. Certainly the most precocious heavyweight in boxing history.

 

don't make me laugh. defense, stamina, and conditioning also go to lewis.

 

i don't think the klitchko brothers, or douglas would beat him. add louis and liston to that list

 

You surprise me there. I didn't think you'd be naive enough to fall for the Tyson nut huggers bull**** propaganda. It is common knowledge that Tyson and Rooney split because of Tyson's attitude to training, but tell me were you singing " There Could Be Trouble Ahead " when he was knocking over Tubbs, Spinks, Bruno and Williams in a combined 9 rounds, after the split? I very much doubt it. Fact is he quit when he faced a guy who wasn't old, shot, or scared, and hit back hard and often.

No excuses, he quit.

 

Ruddock?

Lewis & Ali are the only ones I would make favourite against prime Tyson.

 

Actually no thats not true, its well documented, the split was due to the fact that Mike Tyson did not like Kevin Rooney commenting on his personal life and his marriage to Robin Givens.

If he quit...
How did he drop Douglas in the 9th?
How was he still standing toe to toe with Holyfield until the last round?

I take it you've never boxed a day in your life. I have. Quitters dont look for the KO punch up until the final bell, thats called heart, something you know nothing about.

Tyson was the aggressor in both the Douglas and Holyfield fights, if you'd boxed, you'd know someone who mentally folds cannot be the aggressor pushing the action, it doesnt work that way.

Stick to the ****** comments, they suit you better.

 

Ali
Foreman
Lewis
Holyfield
Douglas
Holmes
Vitali
Wladamir
Bowe
Liston
Ibeabuchi

 

When Tyson had his head in the game, all the right people in his corner and no BS going on outside the ring, he was extremely formidable. And I'm not sure there would be many that I'd pick to beat him. Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and George Foreman are the three that I'd give the best chances against him. Vitali Klitscko, Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe would all be very tough fights but not sure I'd favor them. I used to think a prime Holmes would beat Tyson but looking back I'm not so sure anymore. Tyson had fast hands, the ability to slip the jab and was dangerous with both hands. Holmes even at his peak showed vulnerabilities against men like Snipes, Shavers and Weaver.

 

Azzer85
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Care to enlighten us when Tyson didn't have BS going on outside the ring? Plenty of people were paid off to keep quiet about his out of the ring behaviour, both men and women. For instance how old was he when he had a gun pulled on him for touching up a female relative of Atlas?

He quit when faced with sustained adversity, despite what his fanboys claim. You even have one numpty fanboy here ( Ass licker 69 ) who claimed in another thread that he dropped Douglas in the 9th, when in fact it was desperate shot thrown in the 8th.

Some fanboy that is. LMFAO

 

Who would beat prime Tyson? It might not have to be somebody as good as Tyson. It would take a game 15round fighter, in his prime who could survive the first 6 rounds and come back at him. It is a short list however but once you get past the fact that Tyson made his name on so many opponents for the title that had not beat rated opponents themselves for years you can make a case for good champions making that short list.

Tyson, like Joe Louis and Sonny Liston was a phenom from the beginning. Trouble was that their talent was so superior that they bypassed essential seasoning because most decent step up guys could not test them and they lacked enough actual world class rounds when getting tested by a game pro with talent. All three lost in their prime to fighters they were expected to beat. Perhaps because of this reason.

So was Mike TYsons prime before he was prepared enough to actually win a tough fight? Tyson was almost too good. Tyson got all that way without anyone really being able to stand up to him ...apart from Tillis.

Was Joe Louis a better fighter after losing to schmeling? Or was he better having things all his own way? Prime is a difficult thing to decide in the case if a phenom. I guess the way to decide is finding the point where a champ has all of his attributes and can still win a tough fight. For Tyson it might not be where he was blowing guys out left right and centre but about when he beat Ruddock, a time and place where he might have been vulnerable against quite a few super tough old timers.

 

Straight away that narrows the list down to a few.

Foreman is 50/50, he has the size, power and strength to make things difficult for Mike. But then again Foremans never fought anyone close to the likes of Tyson. Although Foreman was mentally not what he once was, Lyle gave him a tough time and theres nothing to say Tyson cant do the same. When Tyson fought his 'Lyle' in Ruddock (x2) Tyson traded shots and uncessarily took some on the chin just to land one. He was never knocked down or in any danger at all and he fought 12 tough rounds.

Ali, Holyfield wholly due to their durability, chins, heart and recuparative skills

Lewis/Liston due to all round reach/boxing ability and respectful power.

Johnson, because of his hugging/clinching, something Tyson was prone to.

Vitali is a bit of a wildcard for me, yes hes known as big and durable...but who's hes he ever fought? Sanders had him down, Byrd made him miss like hell and we know what happened with Lewis. In some ways Vitali is more of a myth than Tyson was.

Bowe. Possibly could survive IF he fought a disciplined fight ala Douglas, but i dont think Bowe ever fought a disciplined fight his whole career, in some ways he was the complete anti-Lewis.

Holmes is 50/50 because he was dropped quite a few times by lesser fighters so as with Bowe, Holmes would need to fight a disciplined fight because if Tyson gets him down, he aint letting him off.

Wladmir, same as Johnson, but Johnson was cool calm collected, whereas Wlad panics and he does that in most of his fights against lesser opponents, i dont expect him to suddenly turn up completely fearless against Tyson.

Any names i havent mentioned are for a reason.

Id argue that Tysons pre prison opposition was a notch above Alis pre exile opposition and Tyson at his peak (under Rooney etc) looked much better against his opposition than Ali did with his.

Tillis is a great example, people knock Tyson for the Tillis result. But what people forget is that a) Tyson was just a green kid stepping up for the first time and b) Tillis was a very experienced journeyman.

Before facing Tyson, Tillis had already shared the ring with the likes of Biggs, Coetzee, Frazier, Witherspoon, Williams, Page, Thomas, Shavers and Weaver. That is an experienced journeyman.

Many a time we have seen journeymen take the new kid all the way or even expose them. Look at Fury/Mcdermott 1, Brook/Jones, Price/Thompson or an even more extreme example Purrity/Wlad

Tyson was too good for his opposition at his peak 86-88, this is where the Tyson myth comes from, at that period of time yes he was unbeatable. Whether this translates into him beating other ATGS is open to interpretation.

The Tyson of the Ruddock fight showed us a glimpse of what a slightly past his peak Tyson could still do. In fact the Ruddock and Douglas fights showed us parts of Tyson we'd not seen prior, chin, heart, desire and stamina etc. Sometimes one loss tells us more about a fighter than 30 wins.

And Tyson himself recently said that he believes Douglas was his best fight, because he was able to show that he could take punishment and still fight back.

 

No I don't think so. Patterson beat Chuvalo to get that shot and it was a fight of the year. Terrell was his one outstanding contender of the reign and Ali outclassed him. Chuvalo was a substitute but always fought at least one rated guy most if the years he was active. Same with Foley. London, Williams, Mildenburger were hand picked but not as far away from the form of Thomas, Holmes and Tubbs so far as wanting to win as people realise. Spinks was possibly TYsons outstanding contender but some argue Tyson was actually the challenger in that fight and since all great fighters are expected to win their world title chalenge it cannot be included as a fight showing how Tyson dealt with his best challenge.

I agree. If the journeyman has not got too many miles on the clock and has recent form and ready to want to win he absolutely can catch out a green prospect. You never know when they are just going to put on a "going through the motions" performance. Tillis wanted to win that night. I am sure Tillis would have been competative for almost anyone on that effort. I think Tillis was harder to beat on that night that Tubbs was against Tyson yet a lot of people think the Tubbs fight represents progress or a step up from a Tillis level work out.

For his resume Holmes, Spinks, Tubs and Thomas look good but they had not beat rated fighters for years and were ill prepared for Tyson. I'm not saying anyone was better during those two years, Spinks was unbeaten for example but I don't think Cooney and Tangstad were good prep. Smith had been knocked out before yet Tyson could not do anything with him. Maybe because Tucker was current he gave him a better fight? I wonder if Tyson might have had more Tucker and Smith type performances if Tubbs, Smith and co had recently beaten rated competition to earn their shot? I'm not saying Tyson was a hype job because the Berbick and Williams performances were evidence that he could outclass fighters who had better recent form than Larry Holmes, there is just not enough of it for him to be as great as those names look on paper.

Exactly. I want to know how he gets on in a competative fight like that earlier in his career. I can't decide if it was the competive resistance itself that made him lose focus within a fight. He went quiet for a few rounds in the Pinklon Thomas fight.

I think Tyson was right because apart from Smith, Berbick, Tucker and WIlliams the rest of his world title opponents were inactive and had not beat a rated heavyweight for years. This was a live challenger who could come back at him, take him into deep water with seasoning and recent pedigree at world level.