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

Considering his massive size disadvantages and his young age,has the ever been a fighter at 20 years of age as good tyson

 

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.

 

Benitez was the 1st one that sprung to mind for me but I think if you take size into consideration I think his disadvantages to his opponents would be like Benitez fighting in higher weight classes.plus just the sheer speed power movement and general all round talent I think I'd go for mike

 

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.

 

Proving yourself against great fighters is obviously a great achievement but I don't think you can put it to a fighters detriment if there isn't an atg around at a certain time to fight.tyson was clearly leagues above who he was fighting.while he was rooney you could count the amount of rounds he lost on one hand he was phenomenal,as was Benitez,it's all opinion based I know I think there could be arguments made both ways

 

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.