Mike Tyson.overated or underated.

Depends on who is doing the rating

Tyson is a rather extreme case where he gets both overrated and underrated a lot.

 

Louis and Ali....absolutely, but Big George? Really?

 

Are you the next Steve Bunce?

Jesus, talk about exaggeration of facts.

 

mike is the greatest thing since sliced bread

 

I view Mike Tyson as the best B level fighter assassin in the history of the sport.

He was exceptional in what he did, but imo he would have major issues against the elite heavyweights in history.

I say overrated!

 

Overrated by some and underrated by others. My opinion is on his best night he is a top 10 all-time Heavyweight.

He had speed, power in both hands and with every kind of punch that can be thrown, strength, durability, accuracy, footwork, defense (his good head movement made him elusive), good combination punching, an excellent finisher who was good at cutting off the ring, and he had good overall skill. He was intimidating and even those who couldn't be intimidated still respected his power. He was usually the shorter guy with the sorter reach so he was accustomed to getting inside of his opponent's reach and power.

He only beat two Hall of Famers in M. Spinks KO1 (91 seconds) and L. Holmes (KO4) but for the most part he beat who was worthy and available.

He also beat world title holders:

Alfonzo Ratliff KO2 (CW Champ)
Trevor Berbick KO2
James Smith W12
Pinklon Thomas KO6
Tony Tucker W12
Tony Tubbs KO2
Frank Bruno KO5 and KO3
Bruce Seldon KO1
Frans Botha KO5 (IBF belt before the fight result was changed to a NC)

Orlin Norris NC1 (CW Champ)

He also beat:

Jesse Ferguson KO5
James Tillis W10
Mitch Green W10
Reggie Gross KO1
Marvis Frazier KO1
Tyrell Biggs KO7 (Olympic gold medalist)
Carl Williams KO1
Henry Tillman KO1 (Olympic gold medalist)
Alex Stewart KO1
Donovan Ruddock KO7 and W12
Buster Mathis Jr. KO3
Lou Savarese KO1
Brian Nielsen KO6
Clifford Etienne KO1

Andrew Golota NC2 (was KO2)

Not bad

 

The best fighter on the list that he beat imo is Razor Ruddock.
Ruddock who essentially fought one handed and who gave Tyson some problems.

 

People need to remember the timespan in which he basically cleaned out the division. From james tillis to micheal spinks we,re looking at a 2 year period. Would love to see a list of guys he beat in that time. It was basically most of the division.

He didnt just beat them either...he mostly destroyed them. Sure he beat tillis then 17 days later beat green at 18/19 years old. 17 days. People go on about them staying the distance. But thats probably the reason. 17 days.

Tyson was an elite level talent. No two ways about it. Definetely underrated nowadays. Its a case of casuals coming onboard and declaring him the greatest ever. And the know it alls trying to prove them wrong. The truth is the casuals got it more accurate than the know it alls. He just basically imploded. Regressed massively quickly. But at that point in time he was up their with any of them.

 

Had the ability but only lasted about 2 years before going off the wall 1987-90...The fact he is alive and a functional human bieng right now is a bigger achievement than anything he did in boxing. Still the most known boxer of all time next to or probably above Muhammad Ali. Prime Tyson is a handfull for anyone.

 

If anyone was in position to be able to read someone, it was Teddy Atlas of Mike Tyson who called it accurately by stating that Tyson would implode when a good fighter is able to stand up to his bullying tactics.

As I said, destroyer of B level fighters, but step up to A level competition, as Atlas said, "Implosion!"

 

The problem with that is he didnt implode against an a level fighter...he actually imploded against a b level fighter in douglas. He beat better guys. You just have to watch the tapes...by the time of douglas tyson...tyson had regressed massively for a hundred different reasons.

We could argue about it all day but the guy in the ring with holyfield and douglas was a long way off from the tyson who was coming through. I dont care enough to argue about it anyway mate. Just thought i d get my opinion on it out there.

 

George foreman was great when he was younger people forget that he knocked out joe fraizer in just 2 rounds with ease

 

George was undoubtedly a great heavyweight early on and even late in his career making a comeback. I doubt anyone overlooks or forgets his 2 round demolition of Frazier....that was the highlight of his career. But that isn't enough to be considered amongst the best all time at heavyweight. He is maybe top 15 all time as a big man but no where near the top 5

 

Great heavyweight champion without a doubt, but not really among the very top.

He was explosive and scored spectacular knockouts against solid opposition, but didn't have the right mentality when things didn't go his way, even against non-elite opponents.

I'd say that prime Lennox Lewis would always be on another level to Tyson.