Jimmy Young vs Best version of Post-Prison Mike Tyson

Young ends up supine against ANY version of Mike Tyson, IMO.

 

1996 would be Tyson's best year,formwise,after leaving prison -

If Young can survive the storm that will come his way for five or six rounds and evade enough of Tyson's punches his chances will get better as each round goes by. This would not be beyond Jimmy as although Tyson was still dangerous,he'd slipped from his 1988 best. I'll go for Young by close points verdict.

 

Tyson isn't quite as bad as a lot of his more avid fans claim - he still had ripping handspeed and power. He'd get Young early IMO and even if he didn't I'd still back him to get him in the mid rounds. He's completely different to your standard heavyweight punchers and bombers much to Jimmy's peril.

 

Great post by @JohnThomas1 I agree completely. I'd like to say I personally feel Young is overrated at this point. It's not because of his skills because they were superb. It's because I feel he could never really run on all 8 cylinders. Example the Foreman bout. That's as close as he got. He had the skills he just couldnt get it running like that.

 

Styles. I will go with Mike Tyson by stoppage of some kind.

 

Tyson needs a stop(or multiple knockdowns) to win and Jimmy was only knocked out by Cooney and Shavers guys with much more reach and power.

Maybe if Tyson gets a knockdown or two he can ride that to a narrow draw or decision in a 10 rounder thats really his path here like Shavers did in their rematch. But I don't think Tysons getting those knockdowns. Jimmy survived Foreman, Lyle and Shavers in the rematch i don't think Tysons got anything for him.

A guy with Jimmys mix of size, defense and chin is a nightmare for Tyson. Youngs weakness is competitive short decisions. Tyson is specifically built to avoid those. Young is one of the best defensive point fighters in HW history.

 

Its because he was a strictly point fighter fighting 10 rounders in the best era of HW. Its hard to consistantly win short decisions unless a fighter is much better. Hes a defensive fighter where judges might give the opponent rounds for ineffective activity. And while he was durable if he got caught thats a 10-8 now he had to win most of the rounds. Intresting note up to like 37,38 besides Cuilio the worst guys to beat him anywhere near his prime were mostly undefeated while Neumann had 1 avenged loss. Tucker, Tubbs, Dokes, Page, Ocasio even Philip Brown these guys were all at the absolute peak of their powers(and reputations) when they outpointed Young in 10 round fights(Page won a 12 rounder).

The only guys to stop Young were Cooney and Shavers.

Young would have been better if his fights were all 12 rounds and an ATG if they were 15. Ali is Ali and he really benifitted from the 15 rounds in the 70s too(winning wise not health wise obviously). Ali was far more lethal offensively than Young.

 

Thanks Rob. It's good to see you posting mate. Young's best performances beside Foreman were Lyle, he did really well. Lyle fit right into Jimmy's wheelhouse tho, Jimmy was far too skilled and quick. He was actually quite pro-active in those fights too, which he needed to be all the time. Apparently he admitted he needed to throw more punches vs Norton, tho it was close. That little bit extra may have made a sizable difference for Jimmy.

 

I think early post prison Tyson still had enough firepower for a KO or stoppage against Young within 5 rounds.

BUT, if Young was able to slow down the pace and extend the fight into the middle/later rounds Tyson's chances diminish significantly. If it goes the distance no way Tyson would win on the cards!!

 

I agree John I think Young is getting a bit overrated here and Tyson is getting a bit underrated here.

Whilst Tyson in 1996 wasn't the same force he was in the 80s he would still have too much for the light hitting defensive Young. Holyfield beat Tyson because he was very physically strong on the inside bulking up to 215-218 pounds.

Young is not going to be able to replicate Holyfield's performance and he wouldn't be able to keep the rampaging Tyson off him. Fighters like Tyson, Frazier, are all wrong for Young style wise.

 

John it's his inactivity that drove me nuts lol. Skills are their but so hesitant in pulling the trigger. I somehow forgot about the Lyle victory's. Bad on my part.

 

Young is better than Holyfield. Whenever I complain about fighters not getting Holyfields oppurtunities who could have done more with them top of the list is Jimmy Young.

 

Jimmy Young is put on a pedestal here because by an accident of the calendar he happened to compete “in the greatest decade for heavyweights.” I never thought much of him in real time, I haven’t changed my mind about him in the roughly half-century since, it amazes me that another favorite here, Ron Lyle, keeps being viewed as competitive against historically elite fighters, it literally flabbergasts me that Young is.

Again, IMO Young winds up supine, quickly, against ANY version of Mike Tyson you want to put in the ring against him.

Flame away.

 

No Young is not better than Holyfield that's just another baffling take from you that makes 0 sense. Holyfield is better combination puncher, better footwork, more athletic, faster handspeed, harder puncher, a more varied fighter being able to fight on the inside and outside. The only aspect Young has over Holyfield is defense but that was also a weakness in someway because Young at times was too passive.

Young had plenty of opportunities he just failed because he didn’t have it in him and that's why he didn't achieve more. He had an Ali past his prime who was in the worst shape of his career yet he couldn't really take advantage of the situation. And stunk the joint out whilst putting his body outside the ropes numerous times to avoid combat.

He had another opportunity vs Norton fighting for a vacated belt yet Norton showed he wanted it more and won a close decision.

He could've got another title shot against Holmes but failed twice against Ocasio who he really should've beaten on paper.