One of the most important aspects when ranking fighters all time is their ability to come back in tough fights to win. This is a true measure of heart and will to win. Tyson never exhibited this ability. As such very difficult from an historians perspective to rank him over those that did exhibit these qualities. Like it or not it's the truth.
No, it's not the "truth." It's one person's clouded opinion. Your truth is not universal. Just because you lose a fight (take the Douglas example) doesn't mean you have no heart. The fact that you couldn't somehow "rise above" the slaughter to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in no way means you don't show mettle or courage in the loss. History is chock full of examples of courageous losers. That's part of what makes boxing so noble.
Then forget Douglas. Where did he show heart and will to win by coming back to win in a hard fight? Historians look for this since it's a top characteristic in ranking a fighter an ATG. Tyson never showed this ability and like it or not this is why he is not rated highly by most all time. And yes my friend it is the truth.
Yeah, but I think the ear bite quit job against Holyfield kind of cancels out any credit Tyson's gains for losing nobly against ordinary Douglas. Over all, Tyson doesn't exactly score tremendously in the noble warrior category, does he.
Let's not forget that Tyson sat there in dark sunglasses, completely battered, with King and Sulaiman .... them all trying to claim that in fact he hadn't lost to Douglas at all. Very noble.
It shouldn't be held against a fighter that he made so many high level fights look easy. In fact, it should be in his favor.
Eff that. He took a man-sized beating in there, and he's not responsible for what his airbag promoter says. He himself never claimed the things they did about him being robbed. That's on Sulaiman and King. So fvck yes, it's noble. You take that kind of punishment before going down, I'll tip my hat to him every time. So should you.
I remember Emmanuel Steward saying something along the lines of "He was really great for a small heavyweight" a man of his size. He backed Lewis in their primes.
Forget Douglas? Fine, what about the beating he took over 11 rounds from Holyfield? How many examples do you need? :huh Don't tell me what historians look for. We have plenty of people here that are every bit as qualified to talk about boxing as some officially tabbed "historian." We will have to disagree on what truth is. I wish you luck in expanding your ability to absorb knowledge. You seem to think you have the market on truth already cornered. Later.
To be fair, Tyson's second loss to Holyfield especially, plus his last two losses (D.Williams and K.McBride), do have a taint of quittage in them. How many examples do we need ? On the other hand, Duran, this forum's apparent God, did the biggest quit job in boxing history. Even Nigel Benn quit late in his career. And old-timers like Langford did it more than once. So, I agree with the gist that this particular subject of argument is not important to debate Tyson's greatness. He definitely had enough heart.
True enough, bud. :good And I will totally agree that by the time of McBride and Williams, he was mailing it in. Many fighters we all write about here and admire so much fought for no more than the payday in the waning days of their careers, however.
Oh well then...that settles it, some fat ass at home knew better than those around him all through training camp, Ill never doubt your eyes again..
Again you are wrong. As with Douglas he was beaten up and stopped in Holy 1. As mentioned by another poster not only did he not mount a plan B to come back in these losing fights he pretty much quit fouling out against holy and then in his last two bouts. Whether you like it or not Historian do in fact look at these aspects closely. If you have ATG that show the guts to come back in hard fights to win you don't rate them (typically) below fighters who do not show this attribute.