Prime Iron Mike Tyson against the 1960's heavyweights how would Mike have fared?

He’d have to be the heavy favourite against anyone but Liston and Ali

 

How about a 60's prime Mike against a handful of 60's HW fighters prime Tyson's prime?
One example: A prime 1990 Liston would have destroyed a prime 1960 Tyson.

 

I know it is the Halloween season, Sonny Liston died in 1970.

 

I have one, yes, but ...do I owe you that? Weird sense of entitlement, to suppose that my observation can not be a valid standalone piece of meta commentary on the subject without you demanding that my pick (and the corresponding thought process behind it, no less!) be shared with you.

 

In 1966, Footwork, stamina, and speed would have been too much for Iron Mike, even if Cus D'Amato and Kevin Rooney were in his corner. Ali dancing non stop, no Rope a Dope. Ali getting into Mike's head, It has been well documented that Mike had several unexplained bouts with crying out of nowhere. D'Amato did not care for Ali, because of what Ali did to his fighter, Floyd Patterson, on Nov 22 1965, TKO 12. Tyson would not be mature enough to handle being psyched by a prime Ali. Angelo Dundee would have Muhammad Ali well prepared.

 

I could easily see Tyson clearing out everyone to be honest. Prime Tyson say 87-88 with great head movement, clean fast combinations and ring IQ. Now the thought in my mind is about the gloves. In the sixties they were pretty damn different. They had a much, much smaller profile than the ones used today and pretty much all of them were filled purely with horsehair. Sonny Liston’s power is measured using those gloves. Tyson’s is measured using safer foam based gloves of the late eighties. QUESTION: How much harder would Tyson’s punches have been? Would it have been significant?

 

I do think that the 1960's gloves like Everlast, G and F, and Frager would have made a huge difference, horse hair stuffing. As I have mentioned on my prior post, Liston had to have special made gloves, because he had 14 inch fists, this is per corner man Milt Bailey, and Head Trainer Willie Reddish. Safety back then was not a concern, despite the ring death of Benny The Kid Paret. It should be noted that Bailey, also served in the corner of Joe Frazier, in his prime.

 

Great, educational video.

 

Liston knocks Tyson out in 3 rounds because Tyson is just a tiny bit bigger than Floyd Patterson, eh?

Cleveland Williams got to Liston early. Put a prime Tyson in Big Cat's place...does Liston survive? If so does he turn it around and get Tyson out of there within 9 minutes?

 

Tyson would've beaten them all with the exception of Muhammad Ali and maybe Liston.

 

I think Tyson was always going to be red hot for a period no matter what decade he gets put into.

Tyson really was able to reach his full potential really quickly and he earned that. He was an example of a really great fighter who was developed the right way. But that concentrated effort can only last so long no matter where you put a guy like that. The optimum can only last so long.

 

Mike was on some potent vitamins and minerals in the late 80's and early 90's.