Greatest Heavyweight Of All Time At Their Peak

The Bomber. :deal (the Brown one)

 

Most Tyson fans will agree that he magically passed his peak the morning after the Spinks fight.

But that only became a "fact" in anyone's mind in hindsight, though. No one certainly believed at the time, because there was no reason to. Take away the Douglas fight and very few would suggest it today either. Why would they? He certainly didn't look past anything blowing away Williams, Tillman and Steward and beating Ruddock to a pulp. And him making a bit harder work of Bruno than anticipated wouldn't by itself be anywhere enough to make anyone think he wasn't peak. Just a bit of an off night.

So the loss to Douglas is really what this "past peak" business rests on to 95%. But that's just the same as saying "peak Tyson was unbeatable, ergo when he was beaten he wasn't peak". Also called circular logic.

I think it's fair to say that he didn't have his best night against Douglas, but that's not the same as he was past his peak.

 

Peak is when the fighter was at their utmost best. Looking back, if Spinks wasn't his peak then when was it?

Not just Tyson fans but most knowoedgable people believe Spinks was Tysons peak.

Tyson was a.big puncher, obviously he continued to.blow guys away even at the end of his career, but you'd have to agree that he would need more than just a punch to beat the likes.of.Douglas and Holyfield etc.

Tucker beat Douglas. Tyson handily.beat Tucker. Douglas was no different to Tucker, why did Tyson totally outbox one and struggle miserably against the other?

Maybe because against Tucker he had a professional organised corner with a gameplan.

Yes he beat the **** out of Ruddock but he also took.uncessary punishment.

Post Rooney, Tyson.relied purely on chin and power to bail.him.through and.yes it helped alot of the time but he needed more than that vs Holyfield and Douglas.

 

I can never get this either. There were strong rumours Rooney wasn't happy with Tyson's lifestyle ( whoring, booze, soft drugs ) so King ever with the dollar in mind told him to fvck Rooney off. So he destroys Spinks in a round ( Rooney gets the Spanish archer ) then destroys Bruno, and Williams, but lo and behold the above excuses come into play when the Douglas defeat is brought up.

 

i personally believe that the 're invented' version of Ali you mention gives a prime Tyson a more competitive fight than a prime Ali. Prime Ali's style would be easier for Tyson to handle compared to the older (but still great) Ali.

 

I think it can be narrowed down to Ali, Tyson and Lewis. Ali given his competition probably deserves the nod, Tyson maybe second, although unlike many I think the Spinks fight was a bit of a farce in the sense that Spinks was scared ****less of Tyson before he even entered the ring, so it wasn't really a good demonstration of his skills. I think the Ruddock fights were a better indication. I think Lewis would be 50%-50 odds for both Tyson and Ali, so I can't say for sure who was the greatest of all time at their peak but I'd say it's one of these three.

 

Not a chance. The dancing Ali, hitting Tyson with right hand leads, fast combos then gone leaving Tyson hitting thin air breaks his spirit inside 3 rounds. Leaving him desperately looking to charge in like a headless chicken and land the money shot, only to hit more of nothing, all the time being taunted, and ridiculed.

Ali could circle in either direction then just plant his lead foot, spring back throw 2 or 3 fast accurate shots and be gone again in the opposite direction. Tyson has no answer for that.

I refer you to the Tyson clip where he is sitting with ( sh it I can't remember the guys name ) and he does his impersonation of the the dancing Ali, throwing unexpected shots from ridiculous angles,( he wasn't too bad actually ) and says " fvck man, no one can live with that sh it, get the fvck out of here "

 

There's a skill difference in favor of Duran, but they have the same type of mental attitude.

We''re here to fight, what's this boxing ****...lol

 

Spinks might be his single best performance, but that doesn't mean he was past his peak after it.

Tucker had the better of the first three rds and then went into survival mode. According to himself because he busted his right hand. Personally I think he felt he had to hard a time keeping Tyson off and was running out of steam.

Douglas, perhaps because somewhat superior size and strength than Tucker, managed to control the middle of the ring better behind his jab and therefore wasted less energy. He was also rougher in the clinches and overall manhandled Tyson in a different manner. He could impose himself physically in a way Tucker couldn't. I just think he pulled it off better on his night with Tyson than Tucker did on his.

Tyson probably came in overconfident and underprepared as well (a bit like Louis against Schmeling), but that doesn't mean he was necessarily past his best in general.

And, yes, Ruddock landed a few big shots on Tyson, but so did Smith and Tucker. But against Ruddock, Tyson chopped him down very effectively to the body and managed to stop him despite his spoiling tactics. Something he didn't manage with Smith and Tucker.

 

It's a gross simplification to say Douglas was "no different to Tucker".
In fact, it's not even true.

If I'm honest, I'm not sure Tucker, despite being 6'5, was particularly good at using his jab and height as a major advantage. There's little to go on, because a lot of his early fights are hard to fight and the quality of opponent was not good. But taking the past-prime version's efforts against some smaller fighters, you can see he's getting outjabbed at times and outboxed by someone as small and un-powerful as Orlin Norris, which suggests Tucker was never very particularly well-schooled on using that reach and height.

Douglas was a different fighter. He dominated fights with his jab, and he simply put on a better fight than Tucker.
You can't seriously believe him and Tucker were clones.

This is true too. Tyson was better in the Tucker fight, and had a better corner man by far.
You might also want to consider Tucker's injured hand, since it was well-documented and mentioned before the fight.

 

Personally, I can't see anything in the Carl Williams performance to say it was a "less peak" performance than the Michael Spinks one.

I'm not sure 90-second fights are great to assess a fighter in.

I'd prefer to view the Tyson-Holmes fight to showcase Tyson at his peak, or perhaps Tyson-Biggs .... and Tyson-Tubbs, which actually lasted almost four times as long as Tyson-Spinks.

 

i disagree, the 'dancing' Ali, while a hell of a match up for many greats i believe Tyson does better against this version of Ali due to his lack of defence. Ali rarely parried shots and often relied on his quick feet and lateral movement to get him out of trouble. I think this is because he possessed a chin made of stone and didnt face anyone anywhere near as fast as him in hand or foot. I believe tyson could match this speed. Tyson would take advantage of Alis tendency to back pedal with his hands down throwing shots from his waist, by jumping in with the left hook. I believe a prime tyson pounds the body of prime Ali taking away his legs, and proceeds to land the devastating head shots that will eventually end the fight. Imo if these two fight at their prime Ali gets ko'd for the first time. Prime tyson is all wrong for the younger version of Ali. The reason i believe the older Ali does better against tyson is because of two things, strength and experience. The prime Ali would dance as you say however it would lead to his downfall. Whereas the older Ali is stronger and would tie tyson up, rough him up. Pick his shots better, and ultimately have his hands up. The younger Ali was too open and too ****y to beat mike.
Prime Ali vs Prime Tyson- tyson Ko
post exile Ali vs prime Tyson- tyson Ud

 

I'd say Biggs, Holmes and Ruddock I. These were fights where he had time to showcase a broader range of skills than during the lightning blitzes that he's most remembered for.

He looked fantastic the short time Spinks lasted against him, but what is to say that it would have been much different against the Tyson who rolled over younger and bigger guys like Williams and Stewart?

 

The Brown Bomber.

 

Yeah, basically that is what Tyson was admitting. How do you handle all this hitting and disappearing sh it?