Why is Tysons competition poo pooed

I don't think Greg Page was ever realistically in line to fight Tyson, by the time Tyson become champion Greg Page was finished as a top 10 fighter losing to journeyman like Mark Wills.

And Witherspoon could've fought Tyson had he beat Bonecrusher but we all know what happened there and he blew his chance at that.

 

Agreed! Bizarre how it works.

 

Yeah

I dunno about that . Holyfield was probably at his heavyweight peak when he won the title in 1990 against Douglas and then made 3 successful though not very impressive defences against ancient Foreman an Holmes combined age 134 years an then a late substitute bert cooper who knocked him down for the first time in his career.. He then lost against Bowe before winning a return a year later and then losing the title against Moorer. So while I think that Holyfield at his best would have had a chance against any heavyweight in history, it’s hard to argue that his title reign was more Impressive than Tyson’s

 

I feel like some of them would have beaten Buster Douglas.

Evander did, for one.

 

Guys like Pinklon Thomas (former champion with a great jab and good chin) and Biggs (tall athletic guy with a good amateur background) were good opponents on paper, but were dealing with drug issues. Tubbs, again good opponent on paper but showed up out of shape due to pure spite (he was offered a bonus if he lost weight and refused).

On the other hand, Ruddock, Berbick, and Carl Williams were flat out good opponents in their primes and didn't have any ongoing health/drug issues. They'd be decent contenders or belt holders in most eras. Douglas was always a good fighter but rarely fulfilled his full potential or got into his best fighting form, but Tyson happened to catch him on the night he was on fire. No shame in losing to Holyfield who'd be an ATG no matter what era, but Tyson certainly might've done better had they met when they were younger. Few of Tyson's opponents were just bad. Smith gets incredibly overrated, ironically even more than far better boxers Tyson beat, but he was pretty terrible. Marvis was ok but probably would've been better off as cruiser and had a style more suited for amateur boxing. Tillis was trash and Bruno was a decent boxer but he suffered from the same issue as Norton, freezing up when nailed by a hard punch.

They were decent and a mixed bunch. Overall an above average era with a few mid level opponents, some low, some high.

 

I didn’t say his title reign. I’m talking about his opposition at heavyweight. He fought a better list of fighters than Tyson with arguably better results.

For instance, he KO’d Buster, who KO’d Tyson. He drew with Lewis. He fought Bowe three times, winning one (whom Tyson didn’t fight at all). Tyson also missed Moorer. And Big George. I could go on. (Tyson should get credit for besting Ruddock twice for sure.)

 

I’ve always considered his title fight opposition as “ good”. But not “ great.” That said I credit him for never facing obscurities like Chuck Wepner, Scott Ledoux or Jack roper.

 

It's revisionist crap .. Berbick was coming over his career biggest win vs then undefeated Pinklon Thomas
Thomas was a year out from being the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world and a hot property
Bonecrusher has just KO'ed Tim Witherspoon in one round.
Tony Tucker was huge, undefeated with a terrific amateur pedigree and had just stopped Douglas
Briggs was an undefeated , highly touted, former Olympic gold medalist
Tony Tubbs was a highly talented former heavyweight champion , only once defeated in a close loss to Witherspoon and never before stopped.
Spinks was an undefeated former light heavyweight champion, a heavyweight champion that twice defeated Larry Holmes ..

Tyson was a devastating fighter for a short time .. this group of contenders in my opinion was better than the men that fought Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Ali in either reign or Holmes .. Tyson destroyed these men and its absurd that they are airbrushed by Tyson haters ..

 

Page was at least as viable as Quick Tillis at that point and going forward til Mike won the title. Moreso than, say, Marvis Frazier, who had been blasted out in one already by Holmes.

As for Tim, he lost to Bonecrusher in 1986 and didn’t lose again til 1992. That’s a long time to hold a loss over a guy … others who Tyson fought had losses in that span and it didn’t stop him fighting them. And didn’t lose again after that until ‘96.

I’m just saying if he wanted to collect the complete set of past-it 1980s guys along with Trevor, Pink, Tubbs and the likes, he could have added Page along with maybe Dokes (he was certainly viable for a while), Weaver (admittedly on the downside but Tyson could have fought him on the way up like Lennox later did) and Spoon, who was far more dangerous still into the 1990s.

 

Ok my mistake, I thought we were all talking about the quality of opposition in those 9 or so defencss that Tyson made after he won the title. Yeah I agree about Ruddock. He was probably the most feared heavyweight around at that time an Tyson chose to risk everything by fighting him even though there was no titles involved

 

I think honestly they could've built up Page/Tyson after Tyson's loss to Douglas, because Page was widely known to have dropped Tyson in sparring. And I think Page would've been a good comeback opponent for him, Page actually did have a little bit left in the 90s. He gave a good account himself vs Ruddock showing very good durability.

As for Witherspoon I think more interesting fight would've been Tyson in mid 90s vs a refreshed Witherspoon in 90s. Who had some decent form coming close to beating Mercer and destroying Gonzalez.

 

Mike Tyson beat:
1. Larry Holmes who was good enough to beat Mercer and give Holyfield a rough fight, by knockout. Only stoppage loss.
2. Undefeated lineal heavyweight champion, first ballot hof w two wins over Holmes, Michael Spinks, by ko 1. Only stoppage loss.
3. Berbick who was a champion and coming off the best win of his career, by early ko. Only stoppage loss from 1980 to 2000.
4. Thomas, who was 28, once beaten former champion and top contender, trained by Dundee, by knockout. First stoppage loss.
5. Bonecrusher, champion coming off ko 1 of Witherspoon, by landslide decision.
6. Biggs, undefeated+Olympic Gold, by horrific beatdown.
7. Williams, top contender coming off win over Berbick known for running Holmes close, by ko 1.
8. Tucker, undefeated champion who stopped prime Buster Douglas, ud.
9. Bruno, future champion, by ko.
10. Tubbs, a once defeated (MD) former champion who wouldn't suffer another loss until a close decision to Bowe about three years later, by stoppage. First stoppage loss.

I'd say this is pretty good. None of these guys were even worse during Tyson's reign than before except Holmes and Thomas.

Followed that with two wins over one of the best heavyweights to never win a title in Ruddock.

 

You mean the guys who beat Holmes, were denied rematches, or were ducked by Holmes?

 

Tucker did, for two.