Does Mike Tyson have the best resume of active heavyweights?

BoxRec ranks Mike #311 / 1,501 in the world and #80 / 351 in the United States among "active" heavyweights...below Devin Vargas. Oof.

 

Yeah I can't see Usyl ever beating the juggernaut that is Jake Paul

 

It's hilarious as a topic but actually yes he does.

He has 4 ATGs on his resume, not HOF'ers, actual ATGs. I'm pretty sure he cleaned out the entire top 10 of the division by the time he was 23. Like literally the entire top 10.............No one has ever cleaned out an actual entire top 10 that I can recall (vet me if that's not correct). You can even both eliminate everything he did post prison and exclude Lennox and Evander and he would still have the best resume TBH

 

He is 58 years old with a lifetime of injuries, drug and alcohol use, and excess weight that he has been carrying for 25 years. He almost died due to medical problems months ago.

I guarantee you that Usyk and Fury too would lose to a youtuber in their late 50's with those level of injuries, drug problems and medical issues. I can't believe anyone would judge a 58 year old man's legacy on such a fight.

 

Interesting topic considering Mike Tyson is technically active.

Mike Tyson beat everyone in front of him in his prime. He was truly the champion. I could though see Usyk possibly beating the fighters on Mike Tyson's record. Fury? Possibly on his best day.

 

Berbick was coming off beating Pinklon Thomas who went undefeated for 7 years, that's miles better than any win Joshua has had over a prime opponent. Berbick also beat an undefeated Greg Page again miles better than any win Joshua has had vs a prime opponent.

Spinks had two wins over ATG Heavyweight Larry Holmes infact Tyson destroying Spinks would've been similar to Fury destroying Usyk it was a very good win.

Joshua wouldn't fair well vs the likes of a prime Thomas, Page, Witherspoon, Bruno, Tucker, Ruddock, Spinks, he would probably have a 50/50 record vs those opponents.

Fury has struggled in numerous fights and has been floored 9 times he would definitely struggle against fast athletic 80s Heavyweights if they're in peak form.

 

Maybe. But Joshua looks like a far better fighter on film. Joshua has a legit chance to ko really good heavies early while Berbick was a jack of all trades kind of guy who lacked Joshua's speed and power.

As for Berbick beating Thomas, this was a guy who was up and down and struggled with coke addiction. I don't think Berbick would have a chance vs a motivated peak Thomas.

Spinks had no notable wins at heavy except two against a fading Holmes and he was arguably lucky the second time around. Holmes was avoiding legit challengers at this point so Spinks was lucky to get him then. I will take prime Joshua over that version of Holmes. And i don't think Spinks and Usyk are remotely equal at heavyweight. Spinks was great at 175 but didn't carry his power at heavy. Usyk, on the other hand, has a left hand that makes men 30-40 lbs bigger than him hesitate to commit. Usyk is cautious and doesn't often go for the finish but make no mistake about it, he has above average power at heavy. Spinks didn't.

 

You did not just say joshua beats Holmes. I've had enough of this hypejob being compared to greats. Holmes would spank joshua, he couldn't handle the boxing skills of journeymen Helanius and needed a KO, got his face boxed off by Usyk in his prime, smashed by Ruiz and win a snoozefest against a Ruiz coming off a buffet 20 pounds heavier, but he beats Larry Holmes ? Who are you trying to fool ?

You want to talk about age ? 90% of joshuas record consists of nothing but past it fighters who lost their reflexes !!!! 39 year old Povetkin was outboxing him before he gassed, do you honestly believe a 39 year old Povetkin is better than 35 year old Larry Holmes ? Please stop this nonesense. aj isn't even that fast, Cooney was faster

 

Yes i believe Joshua beats a 35 year old Holmes. Holmes struggled vs Mike Weaver in his prime and Weaver built a record of losses vs top fighters.

Usyk is the most skilled southpaw in heavyweight history. Holmes never fought one as a pro and the two times he faced a southpaw as an amateur (Nick Wells), he got stopped brutally. No shame in losing to the most skilled southpaw that has ever walked the face of the planet. I would like to see Holmes vs a southpaw. Southpaws take away jabs from orthodox fighters and without his jab working, Holmes was very average offensively.

Cooney isn't in the league of Joshua. He was overly reliant on one hand. I doubt Cooney could take the punches Joshua took of Wlad and stil stay standing considering he couldn't take Spinks's punches.

Joshua got saught by a peach of a left hook vs Ruiz. Holmes never had much of a left hook. How is Holmes beating Joshua at 35? He will struggle to move and maintain a good work rate.

 

Let me say this again, joshua in his prime got outboxed by an ancient Povetkin before he gassed. Almost everyone had Helanius ahead before the KO, he's not that good. Joshua in his prime got smashed by Ruiz, and needed to run and jab an average of 3 punches a round, Holmes was always ahead in the rounds against weaver and stopped him. Joshua couldn't even outjab a lethargic 41 year old Klitschko, and he's certainly not smarter in the ring, we just saw aj throw a double uppercut and get put to sleep after getting countered by a right when he threw the first uppercut. His ring iq is poor in reality and he relies on athleticism, against Holmes he's not the faster guy here nor the more skilled operator, nor is he more durable than Holmes. Its seems quite foolish to favor aj, when stylistically Holmes is a bad matchup anyway. He isn't better on the inside than Cooney, Joshua has never displayed infighting ability on the level of Cooney or Norton, and he certainly doesn't cut the ring like Norton. Holmes can keep it long.

Usyk lost to Beterbiev and Shawn Porter in the ametures, joshua got smashed up by Nistor, and at that point Usyk had about as much experience as Holmes did as an amature boxer. Nick Wells was by far his Holmes most experienced opponent at the time, so in that context Holmes losing isn't surprising

 

Joshua also looks very bad on film the performances vs Dubois, Ruiz 1, were shocking. He was also not willing to engage with Usyk fighting a cautious tactical fight against a far smaller man.

Say what you want about Berbick but he had to fight the likes of a prime Tyson, Holmes, at their absolute peak and he still went at them with no fear even against Thomas, Page, who were considered at their peak.

Thomas landed over 300 punches on Berbick so i don't think he was that down in the dumps he was also coming off two very notable performances vs Weaver, Witherspoon. I agree Thomas wasn't quite at his absolute peak vs Berbick but he wasn't in bad form either Berbick just outhustled him in a close fight.

The wins against Holmes are very significant wins though and better than any wins Usyk has on his resume. I rank a 35 year old Holmes over the likes of Joshua and the faded version of Fury who is also 35.

Usyk is a better H2H fighter than Spinks at Heavyweight i agree but i see no evidence that Joshua or Fury should automatically be huge favourites over him either. Fury has struggled against numerous fighters of similar height to Spinks.

 

The difference is Holmes may of had a few struggles in his prime i mean who wouldn't fighting 20 world title fights in 7 years against 13 ranked opponents ? but did Holmes ever lose in his prime ? no and that's the difference.

Can you imagine any Heavyweight now having the schedule Holmes had in his prime ? fighting on average 3 times a year against ranked opposition every year ?

I mean nowadays you consider it a blessing for any Heavyweight to be fighting 1 or 2 times a year, never mind fighting regularly against ranked opposition like Holmes was doing.

 

Sure. I don't necessarily disagree. But Holmes had incredibly soft defenses vs the likes of Leon Spinks, Marvis Frazier, etc. He was legitimately avoid big challengers late in his reign. Refused to fight Pinklon Thomas. I believe he point blank said Witherspoon wouldn't get a rematch.

While i don't think he ducked Coetzee, that is still a major scalp missing.

Usyk has had 6 fights at heavy but 5 of them were vs good opponents. Chazz Witherspoon is the only soft tough in there. Chisora is still borderline top 10-15, Joshua x 2 was champion, Dubois is still a top 3 heavy and Fury was lineal. I will take quality over quantity. Now i don't actually rate Usyk over Holmes at heavy since Usyk has only had 6 fights. But if Usyk was 3 years younger and managed to make another 5-6 defenses vs world class guys? Oh yes, in that case, i will take Usyk's quality any day of the week.

 

I think the Dubois hype is a bit OTT atm and I think all that hype could come crashing down soon if he fights the likes of Bakole, Kabayel, Zhang, but we'll see.

All credit to Dubois for coming back and I give him alot of props but I think it's more to do with that Joshua was over hyped in recent years and maybe people didn't take into account Dubois being more battle tested recently.

Everyone was saying Joshua was a different fighter but I think it was all smoke and mirrors against relatively mediocre opposition. In reality Joshua hasn't had a stand out win in years.