Where Tyson's opponents in the 80's absolute bums or he made it look easy?

On topic. Tyson fought his share of guys who had exactly the same problems he ALWAYS gets a pass for in the 80's. Though bums is probably too strong a word.

 

Well, I actually rate Lemmie highly, he was a excellent fighter however, his chin was not his strong point and his achilles heel. Once is a fluke but two times is a pattern. To his credit he improved and made it difficult to get to his chin but that also let to a lot of boring fights against fringe contenders or old washed up has beens.

Calzaghe ? Out standing fighter, one of the highest Ring IQ and adaptability ever with a iron win to will, does not get any better than that.

 

You're selling a lot of them short, particularly Biggs. Check the ring rankings on wiki if need be. Spinks was, at worst, number 2 and arguably ahead of Tyson. Biggs, Tucker, and Pink were all top 5 or extremely close to it.

 

I did the work for you http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_Heavyweight--1980s

 

Not quite either side, but closer to the latter,

It wasn't a strong era but many HW eras are considered weak in talent.

He basically cleaned out the division and did it in dominant fashion.

 

I wasn't going by their ranking, I was judging them on their actual ability and form going into the fight. Biggs looked terrible against Bey and Snipes and they were his highest ranked pre Tyson opponents. I probably did underrate Tucker, but his only good win prior to the Tyson fight was Douglas and honestly Tucker didn't look like winning until Douglas gassed out and folded up. Pink looked mediocre against Berbick, and terrible in his tuneup fight before Tyson and it was clear he was nowhere near what he had been as WBC champion. Tyson just finished him off. Spinks was probably #2 so I underrated him a bit.

 

You really have to stoop that low to pick out those names?

Theres very few fighters who didnt face that calibre of opposition in their first 10-15 fights

 

Jesse Ferguson - a journeyman Tyson stopped him in 6. Isnt this the guy the 'great' Rid**** Bowe decided to defend his titles against years later?

Berbick, was destroyed in 2 rounds, same Berbick who went the distance with a prime Holmes and gave him a competitive fight.

Holmes - Was KTFO by Tyson, would go on to face a prime Holyfield and make it slightly competitive. Gave a good account of himself against Mcall (who KTFO Lewis). and obviously took Mercers cherry, same Mercer who may have been robbed vs Lewis.

Tyrell Biggs, Tyson wiped the floor with a guy who was meant to be all wrong for him stylistically. Same Biggs would give a very good account of himself against Bowe years later.

Tony Tubbs - destroyed by Tyson in 2, would go on to get robbed vs Bowe. Was also used as a sparring partner by the Klitsckos many years later.

Alex Stewart, beat the **** out of Foreman and gave Holyfield 2 tough fights, was destroyed by Tyson in one round.

Tucker, had all the size and toolset to beat Tyson, Tyson pretty much every round. Tucker would also face Lewis years later and still went the distance.

If people want to label Tysons opposition as bums, feel free, but these same bums were giving decent accounts of themselves against the other ATGs of that era namely Holyfield, Foreman, Bowe and Lewis. I mean Bowes whole career is based on Holyfield, outside of that, his resume is mainly Tyson leftovers.

Tysons opposition was no worse than any other ATGs. Id say Tysons pre prison opposition was much better than Alis pre exile opposition.

 

A good many of them were pretty decent fighters all things considered. Even though none were top notch in all time great lists,Tyson was a pretty good ko artist. Obviously it must be said that if Mike had come along around fifteen years earlier,he would n't have been nearly so dominant.

 

Berbick was competitive with Holmes? One judge has it 15-0.

judge: Joe Swessel 135-150

judge: Chuck Minker 139-146

judge: Lou Tabat 140-146

Tyson also fought Smith, who was beaten by Holmes but avoided Witherspoon for obvious reasons.

I would say Bruno, Tubbs and TUcker were Tyson's best wins. Bruno gave Tyson as scare and rocked him, but lacked the confidence to follow up. Tubbs showed up fat and looking for a place to fall. Tucker likely had an early lead, but opted out of the action and clinched too much in the mid rounds. Had Tucker put his foot on the gas, an upset knowing what we know now was possible.

Tyson had the right style and marketing in the 1980's to take advantage of many opponents on the decline. He made it look easy at times, but there were reasons why some fights were easy. I would not Tyson's 80's opponents were bums. They were contenders who for the most part had seen better days.