Prime Tyson vs the best of the 70s

He will beat them all if he’s on his game, no question for me. But in the real world, Tyson could certainly lose if he turned up in the mindset he showed between ’89-91. Imagine prime Quarry against a disinterested Tyson. I like his chances.

 

1986-88 Tyson probably goes 7-0 (6 KOs) against that group, with Young being the one who maybe sees the final bell, and that's not at all a lock.

1989 was the Bruno fight, and I believe there were already signs of Mike slipping a bit at that point. Tough call on what that version of Tyson looks like vs. Quarry and Young. I still think he stops the rest.

 

No reason why he shouldn't do a clean sweep.

Ellis had major issues vs an aging Patterson and got beat up twice by Frazier, both of those fighters are somewhat similar to Tyson. I see Tyson doing to Ellis what Frazier did to him.

Quarry would be an interesting match up hes a good counter puncher and he did well vs punchers, but he didn't match up well vs Frazier who was an ultra aggressive attacking fighter like Tyson. So I don't see Quarry fairing too much better vs Tyson although he probably gives a good account himself for the first few rounds.

Young would be overwhelmed by Tyson hes ultra defensive fighter with mediocre power, that's not a good match up vs one of the most aggressive come forward fighters ever Young would have nothing to halt Tyson's attack.

Shavers gets blasted out in the first few rounds but he may stun Tyson in a shootout but that's about it. But really Tyson has a very good chin and single punches aren't enough see the Ruddock fight.

Norton gets blasted out in 2 rounds horrible style match up for him.

Leon gets blasted out early looks similar to Coetzee fight, Spinks is a swarmer and the much smaller fighter here. He would be seriously outgunned here his style is not a good one to have vs Tyson.

Lyle I think would probably do the best vs Tyson he has the size and power to give a good account himself, whilst he wouldn't win I see him doing respectable in the early going.

 

I think he beats all of those men and most with ease

 

Even not excluding those four, prime Tyson has a good chance of going 10-1

Some versions of Ali and Foreman would have been very vulnerable

Prime Tyson was nothing but consistency and replicability of pure destruction

 

I think Lyle has the best chance of beating Mike, but Mike still would be the favorite. I can also see Shavers landing a punch that knocks Tyson out. Still chances are slim to none.

On the other hand, prime Foreman murders Tyson like he did Frazier and Ali outboxes him.

 

The only guy id favor over Tyson ( and everyone for that matter ) is the almighty Bayonne bleeder Chuck Wepner.

 

Clean sweep, including some fast KO's against at least Shavers and Norton. If Tokyo Tyson shows up, maybe, MAYBE, Quarry at his very best has a shot, but that's it from this crew.

 

Clean sweep for Tyson. Mike Tyson of 1987 and 1988 is one of the best Heavyweights to ever step through the ropes. His size and body type would never made for a long prime even if he had lived a spartan lifestyle as it was his decline was accelerated by drugs, chaotic personal life and incarceration.

1987- Bonecrusher Smith, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tucker, Tyrell Biggs
Dominated all 4 tough challengers - Biggs may have been Tyson’s best performance. He punished him for keeping him off the Olympic team. Ruined him. And Biggs came in extremely confident.

1988- Holmes, Tubbs, Spinks -
2 Hall of famers and a tough out and combined they didn’t last 7 rounds with Mike.

 

It's not really a question of who wins, but whether or not Quarry sees the final bell. Tyson was throwing one punch at a time a lot against Bruno until he had him hurt. In that scenario, maybe Quarry hangs in there for a long fight, but it's hard to say. Frazier managed to stop Quarry, but Mike's nowhere near as busy as Frazier., especially the 1989 version.

As far as actually beating Mike, if you were to replace Botha with Quarry back in 1999, That would be the earliest version of Tyson I'd be somewhat confident in Quarry beating. Mike looked like crap that night.