Ron Lyle V Mike Tyson?

I think so too. But prime Mike and Lyle would have been pretty terrific to watch imo. Both men would go down, but Mike would probably have got Ron, caught up to him via stamina like George and Ali did.

Lyle was underrated...if there hadn't been a George Foreman, Ron would have been even more terrifying back in the day.

 

Lyle was a strong guy a solid puncher but not an elite puncher and he was not particularly fast - in fact I had ringside tickets in NYC and Quarry who was not fast beat Lyle to the punch.


Tyson would stop Lyle before the 5th in my opinion. The Foreman - Lyle fight was one of the best heavyweight fights I have seen live, however it revealed 2 things - 1) Foreman who was a protected fighter coming up was easy to hit with right hands and hurt 2) Foreman had heart and the will to win in that fight. Tyson KO Lyle 1-5 rds

 

Foreman was a protected fighter? Lol so he fought and did beat the best guys in the world except for Ali and he was protected? He fought and destroyed Frazier twice, Ken Norton was destroyed, he finally destroyed Lyle, and jimmy Young did beat by decision a version of Foreman who was horrible mentally with no confidence in himself and changed his trainer and his style from an aggressive sluger to a cold boxer-puncher. I don't care if he did not fight Quarry, he did beat guys who did beat him. And quarry is not beating Foreman despite any history you can say. And of course that Lyle was a tremendous puncher, shavers and Foreman rated him in the top 2 hardest punchers that they ever fought

 

Norton never beat a puncher, Frazier was not the same as FTOC Frazier but I am not talking about Foremans power which was ELITE, his best opponents leading up to Frazier was George Chuvalo (who was a tough guy but a catcher) and Peralta, Which was stopped with Peralta on the ropes doing the rope a dope.

The Lyle fight was after the Ali loss and Lyle while I said Lyle had a solid punch guys that were KO'd many times by Lou Bailey, Wendell Newton, Bob Stallings, ther fighters managed to go the distance with Lyle and better fighters like Bonavena , Peralta, and Jimmy Ellis went the distance with with Lyle , Peralta was a draw (and when Ellis lost to Lyle he was already ko'd by Shavers in 1) and had only 1 winning fight out of 7, Lyle being the 5th loss and Frazier being the 7th and a TKO by Frazier

So while Lyle was a good puncher like many heavyweights, I would not put him as Elite, I think the Foreman fight showed more about Foreman being hit by right hands then it did Lyles power after all Ali KO'd and Jimmy Young dropped Foreman with right hands.

 

I agree with this.
We´ve had this some times in other topics, with the conclusion that Foreman in fact came in very open, using his agression to some extend to his own defensive, because most boxers did not exploit Foreman throwing like that. I´m pretty sure some others who could punch might have dropped Foreman that night too.

I´m not sure about Foreman beeing protected until Frazier. He should have fought more rated boxers before going for the title? But then, who else did more until going for the crown undefeated? Keep in mind he won that gold, too.

 

it is not truth at all, Foreman took every shot from Ali and Young early in the fight like nothing. It had nothing to do with Foreman being vulnerable to right hands. He was gassed. Lyle was the only guy who really did hurt Foreman early when still he was not tired

 

Ali took down a totally gassed Foreman, and Young was more or less the beneficiary of something very similar, combined with a stumble, from which Foreman immediately got up.

Lyle, on the other hand, is the only opponent in Foreman's career to have stood toe-to-toe, traded with and decked Foreman (twice) with genuine powershots.

 

Foreman was a great product and great guy but if you look at his record he probably was the most padded of all to stay undefeated- he was 37-0 leading to the Frazier fight and his last 9 fights leading to the title shot were Terry Sorrell 4-15-0, Clarence Boone 3-25-2 -Murphy Gordwin 1-14-1, Ollie Wilson 21-39-0, Ted Gullick 15-5-1, Vic Scott 1-2-0 , Luis Pires 18-7-1, Miguel Pires 48-15-13, and Leroy Caldwell 11-9-1

Later on under the tutelage of Archie Moore he became a better fighter, much wiser with age, he rolled with punches and had the front arm defense so when I rate him I rate both careers- his power was elite and smart man

 

what other contenders did he fight that were fair punchers? - Frazier really didn't land anything of merit and Chuvalo as well and both were not prime

 

Well - I can either review every one of Foreman's opponents; have a stab at estimating what a "fair" puncher means and then try to sum up a number. Or, I can look at Foreman's come-forward style; his record; consider he was a heavyweight, whose opponents, in the main, weighed over 200lbs and see that he only got stopped once in 81 bouts (and only officially knocked down in three of them).

Foreman took a fair few shots, during his career; particularly, in his return run. Holyfield landed a considerable amount of times on Foreman, but couldn't stop him coming forward, let alone take him down - and, even nearing the end of this second career, Morrison couldn't even move the 44 year old Foreman, with anything he threw.

From where I am sitting, that makes Lyle's effort a little out of the ordinary.

 

What is the best fighter in the class of even a washed up Tyson Lyle beat ?

Trading with Tyson is suicide, even with a faded version, too fast hit too hard too good of a chin still text book technique........after frustrating a disinterested washed up Tyson Botha got cute and .........waxed with ONE six inch punch....and Botha could take a punch.

Holyfield did not trade with Tyson.............Lennox Lewis did not trade with the Ghost of Tyson.............Ron Lyle would trade with Tyson and get hit with every punch in the book due to his poor defense, a Tyson not firing on all cylinders anymore still had very fast hands....a lot faster then Foreman.....Tyson will beat Lyle to the punch every single time and will put him down for good.

To trouble Tyson you need size, lateral movement , a strong jab and a chin and still that does not mean that you are beating him.......Lyle might have the chin but he aint got the Ring IQ, talent, jab or lateral movement.

Frank Bruno was a much more accomplished fighter with flaws then Lyle, Ramrod jab, immense strength, size and upper level right hand..... and he got Mack trucked twice by Tyson.

 

Who was in prison for what is a non sequitir and red herring. Tyson hit harder than Lyle, was faster to the punch and had a better chin. Even an old, shop worn Tyson was teed off on by Lennox Lewis for 8 rounds before he was finally put down. Tyson stops Lyle in the same manner he stopped Bruno, just takes a few more rounds. 1988 Tyson gets rid of him in the same time frame he got rid of Berbick.

 

I recall Foreman being staggered in the 4th round by an Ali right hand.

 

That '1-2 and he was drunk' was at the end of the tenth round after 'a comprehensive whipping for many many rounds' as TBI stated. If that had happened in an early round it would have been worth you posting it. As is stands, you've just proved his point yer big weapon.