Is Mike Tyson the greatest heavyweight KO artist

There was a punch prior to the KO blow that had Tubbs slightly reeling. Considering how slick Tubbs was, I wouldn´t say that KO was worse than others.
Someone might argue that Tubbs strangely chose to switch from stick and move to infighting Tyson and quickly payed for it. He took Bowe the distance later.

 

I agree.

 

I simply refuse to include golota on the grounds that he was neither counted out nor stopped by the ref. He quit. It was still awesome to watch though and there's a 90% chance he likely wouldn't have gotten KO'd had it continued.

Seldon didn't get hit at all. The so called KO punch breezed over his shoulder. It didn't even land. Dude straight up flopped.

I did include Holmes and Tubbs, even though Tubbs showed up out of shape on purpose and Holmes was old and coming off a loss and a layoff. Holmes is easily the biggest name on his list in terms of achievements and he was the only man to stop him so that's an impressive feat.

 

Bull****.

He was 24 years old and ranked in the top 5 in the world with only 1 loss. And this was BEFORE he went to prison. That was a prime fighter. Was it the best version of Tyson? No, but he was in his physical prime and stopped another boxer ranked in the top 5 who waa in his physical prime. The evidence disagrees with nonsensical narrative.

I agree, but we're evaluating his ability to score KO's which he continued to do after leaving prison. He was a world ranked fighter and was beating other contenders before and after Holyfield beat him so it absolutely counts when evaluating his KO ability. Holyfield was 4 years older and had been in some major wars himself (3 with Bowe) while Tyson did nothing for 3 years so it kind of cancels out. It's not like he was a fresh prime guy picking on an old Tyson.

 

Being physically ok is one thing, being in your prime is another. After he fired Rooney, Tyson's skills gradually decreased. That can be observed by anyone who followed his career and knows a bit about boxing.

But that should only be evaluated for a boxer's prime.
Joe Louis was also not as good when he came back, that does not make him less of a fighter.
Ali was not as good in the 70's, and again, that does not make him less of a fighter.

But Holyfield was roided to the gills and that makes a huge difference. And being inactive is not exactly ok, since your match sharpness decreases. Look at SRL when he came back, he wasn't quite the same.

 

Or maybe Douglas and Ruddock simply exposed that while he was a great fighter, he wasn't invincible? Both of them presented major weaknesses in Tyson's style and other boxers did the same thing later on which showed it wasn't a fluke.

Tyson is the ONLY boxer who gets this treatment like he was invincible before him and Rooney split. Some people genuinely thought James Tillis was robbed and that fight occured when he was in his so called prime. It showed a cagey guy with good lateral movement could outbox Tyson. A cocaine addict Pinklon Thomas showed a good solid jab could frustrate Tyson (and again, Douglas showed this was no fluke with his own good solid jab and lateral movement). Ruddock and Tucker exposed Tyson's weakness to uppercuts and strong guys with good chins who won't back up or get bullied and both Holyfield and Lewis later proved those weren't flukes moments. Smith and Green showed how easily he could be tied up and his lack of infighting skill.

Could Tyson have retired undefeated if he stayed focused throughout his career? Possibly, but that's a big if. He was a 5'10 guy with short arms, all the power and speed in the world won't be able to completely neutralize or overcome the weaknesses that come with his aggressive peak a boo style. More realistically, at some point a smart boxer with a good chin and a good jab would have beaten him, or he would have lost focus and slacked off/gone to prison with or without Rooney. He was a ticking time bomb both in terms of the cracks in his style and the cracks in his mental focus.

I disagree.

You'd be missing out on great knockout performances of guys like Ali, Foreman, Hearns, Lewis, Wladmir, Pacquiao etc if you ignored any knockout that happened past their prime. Thus the numbers would be very skewed. Some guys best moments are actually when they're in their 30's. I know not all boxers are in the same physical condition at the exact same age in their careers but you get my point.

Lol you cannot talk about Holyfield's alleged steroid abuse and pretending like Tyson never took anything his whole career. Don't even go there.

I know inactivity can make your speed and reflexes worse. So can having 3 brutal wars with Riddick Bowe and being 4 years older than Tyson. So once again, it cancels out.

 

That title of having the most skilled offense goes to Mr. Tuffy Griffiths

 

K

Tyson only ate steak, potatoes and spinach....no steroids!!

 

A whole LOT of spinach 'cuz

"I yam what I yam..."

 

He also ate his opponent's hearts and their children as a side order.

 

Mike Tyson was a great puncher. But Joe Louis has my vote as the best

 

Makes me laugh how people bring up Tillis, Green, Smith, Tucker and Ruddock as if they provided some blueprint to beat Tyson when out of 60+ contested rounds, they were lucky if they won a dozen rounds between them.

 

If that's all you took from my post then you lack reading comprehension. Makes me laugh that there were several other posters who got exactly what I was saying but I guess there's always a contrarian.

Me bringing up Green and Smith wasn't implying that they dominated Tyson or were winning rounds, they did in fact expose how easy it was to tie Tyson up. You can't beat a guy just by clinching but it did show that if you are better at guard manipulation and clinching than Tyson it could frustrate his offense. Teddy Atlas brought this up when he noticed Tyson's "silent agreements" mid fight. This isn't exactly a conspiracy, you can see this for yourself by simply watching his fights. Incidentally, TYING UP AND BULLYING TYSON WERE TACTICS USED BY LATER BOXERS WHO BEAT TYSON.

As I mentioned, Tillis was an aging journeyman coming off several losses yet some thought he deserved the nod. 2 judges scored 6 rounds to 4. In other words, without the knockdown he could have gotten a draw or even a majority decision over a prime Mike Tyson (it was a 10 round fight). He clearly was doing something right to have that much success despite not having half of Tyson's athleticism or talent--namingly, the lateral movement and spoiling tactics--WHICH WERE USED BY THE 1ST PERSON TO BEAT TYSON.

I mentioned Pinklon Thomas because he was able to keep Tyson at bay for a couple of rounds with his long, solid powerful jab. Angelo Dundee was very confident on that jab to the point he compared it to Sonny Liston's. He felt that would be one of the keys to beating Tyson and so did Larry Holmes. Although Thomas eventually got stopped, they were right because A SOLID POWERFUL JAB WAS USED BY SEVERAL OF THE MEN WHO BEAT TYSON.

I mentioned Ruddock and Tucker because although they both lost, they both showed Tyson could be hurt and frozen by an uppercut--A PUNCH USED BY OTHER BOXERS TO BEAT TYSON.

By all means, disagree with me if you want, but at least make a logical argument instead of bringing up things that had nothing to to with the subject at hand. I never claimed Smith or Ruddock or Tucker were dominating on the scorecards. They offered bits and pieces and clues on how to eventually break down Tyson and it's no coincidence that Douglas, Holyfield, Lewis, etc all used the above mentioned tactics to frustrate and eventually stop Tyson.

 

Mitch Green would clown Vitali Klitchsko