Would Mike Tyson have become the greatest heavyweight of all time without prison and his demons?

No gratitude.That what I get from being the only one that remembered you here? Hey you weren’t that guy who was harassing Tyson on that plane a few months back an got beaten up by him? Ha

 

No, cos I would have knocked him in to Bolivian if he tried to put his hands on me.

 

Lol! Precious.

 

Best ever he had a chance. And it’s not hyperbole to say that. Tyson really captured the Public’s imagination, you need that more than anything to ascend to a type of mythical ranking. He was the biggest star in sports. No boxer has come close to that since.
Even after the Douglas loss, if Tyson could of stayed out of jail and cleaned up his act, he could of defeated Douglas in dominant fashion in a rematch, and then had he defeated Evander in an epic fight or blown him away quickly after, his star power would of been on fire. Depending on what he does after that, he would def have some claiming that he’s the heavyweight goat. And he’d be a lock for most people’s top 3.

 

Boxing is in large part a mental sport. With a better team around him and with better self discipline he would undoubtedly be one of , if not the best HW of all time.

 

Usyk is going to look human against everyone he fights at Heavyweight. Just like Tyson did. It's tough to always fight bigger guys. Tyson was only 5'10. Too small.

 

Divorcing circumstances external to boxing and Tyson’s mental health issues for a moment - Mike’s style wasn’t one that was ever going to be sustained at its highest level for an extended period anyway.

Due to Tyson’s height/reach disadvantages and necessarily high fuelled style in supplementary support (similar to Frazier in terms of energy required), anything less than 100% output from Mike saw a notable drop in his overall effectiveness.

 

Ah, the old strawman argument:-

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That's it, he was on the decline in his early 20's ffs. If this and if that, you could say that for any fighter in history.

If Lennox Lewis had a better chin he would have never lost, if Ali hit that bit harder the same, if Audley Harrison had a great chin he would have been a great.

Again, watch the Ruddock rematch, Tyson was in great shape and under the tutelage of a great trainer and yet he was on the verge of getting stopped by a one punch fighter, that much so he had to foul out of desperation and for survival.

 

If he beat Holy, Bowe and Lewis I believe he'd have a good claim to be greater than Ali and Louis. That said I'm not sure he could. Holyfield's style is problematic for Tyson, Bowe's size and gameness is problematic for Tyson and Lewis could be problematic for anybody. I'm not saying he'd have no chance but I wouldn't bet on it either.

 

I think if we are going off the reality of things back then he would have probably lost to all 3 in 92-95.

 

When was Tyson in danger of being stopped?

 

Yeah, probably. Might have had a chance of pulling out a W from the series, but asking for 3W against that lineup is a bridge too far imho.

 

I think you need to watch the fight, it was very similar to the end of the Douglas bout before the knockout, he was very vulnerable to say the least.

 

Tyson knocked people out cold, Usyk ain't got that firepower.