Better head movement; Tyson or Frazier?

Tyson at his peak was better defensively than Frazier one reason was he was quicker

 

I'd take Joe Frazier on this one he went 15 rounds in 1971 with Muhammad Ali constantly bobbing and weaving so he proved he could relentlessly pursue his opponent for the entire fight all the while ducking, rolling and slipping. Mike Tyson skills were on display against James Tillis (a typical boxer and trained by Angelo Dundee) so you could see what Tyson was capable of but I'd still go with Frazier.

 

Frazier easily had the better head movement.
Tyson was quicker but his head movement was much more predictable and easier to time

 

With all due respect, I think Frazier got hit far too often to say Tyson was easier to time.

 

Douglas would disagree with you ,, and guys like Holmes, Liston, Ali, are all just a massive style nightmare for Tyson
Frazier fares better here imo

 

Tyson.

But Frazier had tremendous stamina and rythm.

 

You have to account for how much Mike’s defence was actually comprised by his attack. As Surf referenced - Douglas nullified Mike’s D, and, as such, Tyson presented as a not so difficult target.

 

I really don’t see that as a gotcha when you’re looking at all the fights where Frazier was getting hit and busted up tons across a whole career.

 

Frazier had excellent rhythm that was great to watch as he rolled on his left hook.
Tyson had the better feet movement as he swapped from orthodox to southpaw and back again to land his body punches.
Head movement I'm not sure about.
Frazier was called the Black Marciano early on in his career but the 3 of them only have height in comparison

 

Frazier much less predictable

 

I hear what you’re saying but I just had a quick look back on the first minute or so of the opening round.

Mike was moving the head and he in fact caused Buster to miss several punches - but then Mike attacked, landed and Buster immediately fired back when Mike wasn’t in any position to avoid the return fire.

I know that’s an insufficient snapshot but I do I think Busters immediate taking away of the play from Mike had a lot to do with how Mike fought as the rounds rolled on.

I think Busters ability to land was more about his overall skills, reach, hand speed (backboned by a fantastic jab) than any glaring deficiency in Mike’s D.

Also, as Mike famously said - everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - and Buster wasted no time serving it up to Mike like no one had before. Just my opinion of course but that’s how I saw it.