Was Mike Tyson the best 20 year old fighter in the history of boxing ?

Yes

 

No. But it's a very short list ahead of him. Mr. Wilfred Benitez and Mr. Fidel Labarba had both beaten HOF/ATG caliber fighters by the age of 20.

 

Wilfred Benitez and Tony Canzoneri for sure. Benitez winning the JWW title 3 months after he tuned 17 from perhaps the greatest fighter in the divisions history is pretty much unparalleled. Cuevas accomplished an awful lot very early on too.

 

Tyson is for me. I mean being 5'10 and dominating a division with no weight limit is amazing.

 

What disadvantages? Height certainly, but go through Tyson's first 33 fights and you will find he was outweighed on only 9 occasions. The notion of Mike being small in terms of weight is overblown.

And the quality of opposition between he and Benitez is simply not comparable.

 

:thumbsup

I can't see how Benitez's achievement can ever be beaten to be honest mate.

 

I'd vote the other way - easier to punch down as Wlad and Vitali have proven time and again against shorter opponents.

As for the original question posed in this thread - yes, I'd say Tyson was the best for his age.

 

No..

 

Tyson was genetic freak + an animal = BEAST

 

Benitez was a novice when He became champion against a very good champ in that time. So Benitez for me.

 

Benitez comp was alot better than Tyson's by far and that's coming from an Iron Mike fan.

 

Benitez wins it for me too quite handily I might add.

Duran might also be in the mix, I believe he was 21 when he won the lightweight division title from Buchanan and given the competition in that division, that's no small task and in addition to that, he beat Marcel and Kobayashi, both former/future champs prior to that.