(prime) Mike Tyson vs. The All Time Greats

I think Tyson is one of the best heavyweights of all time head to head and this how I see him matchup with all the great heavyweights in history. Remember this is an 88 Rooney-Tyson. The more skilled technical Tyson that fought out of crutch with great headmovement, a good jab, good body work, and combination punching.

1) Mike Tyson vs. George Foreman- I see this fight being similiar to the Trinidad-Mayorga fight. I think Foreman would try and back Tyson up like he did Frazier but the only difference would be is Tyson has a lot more physicsal strength than Frazier, a better defense, and more speed and power. I see Foreman trying to push Tyson back to land his uppercuts, but Tyson had good reflexes and was hand trigger fast so Tyson would beat him with countering punching(a skills that goes unnotice with Tyson) every time he slipped a punch from Foreman. Foreman just doesn't have enough techinque or speed to compete and Tyson would be able to time him easy with combinations. I say Tyson stops him 3 from the amount shots Foreman would be taking because he would be trying to overpower Tyson and MIke would beat him with his skill, techinque and speed. The power would take care of the rest.

2) Mike Tyson vs. Rocky Marciano- This fight would look like the Marvis Frazier fight and it would be brutal for Marciano. As tough as The Rock was, he realies too much on his will to win fights and that would be sucide for him or ANYBODY ELSE FOR THAT MATTER. Tyson stops in 1.

3)Mike Tyson vs. Joe Frazier- This fight looks like the Foreman fight with Frazier. Frazier would try and smother Tyson and use his workrate but Tyson was a great infighter in his prime(see ferguson, Tubbs, would showed a display of his infighting ability) and pick off Frazier's punches with hands held high defense and weave and use side steps with uppercuts to get frazier out of there. As good as Frazier was, the stylistic matchup would favor Tyson in this one and Tyson being the more multidimensional fighter would come into play. Tyson stops him in 2.

4)Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali- Ali in his prime was great athlete but as much as people fail to realize he had many fundamental falws that Tyson would capitalize on. One of them was pulling back from punches, which made him vunerable to left hooks(see the Doug Jones Fight and First Cooper fight) and Tyson would leap off the canvas at his opponents with the left hook when pressuring them. Ali had good footwork and would use the ring and try and box Tyson but Tyson had underrated Footwork too and is why good athletic fighters like Biggs and Tucker who gave Tyson movement couldn't keep him from fighting off the back foot as much as they wanted too. Ali also didn't duck punches well and he was too much of a headhunter and you have to go to Tyson's body and throw uppercuts, something he wouldn't do a lot of. I see this fight looking the biggs fight but a little more competitive. Ali had trouble with good pressure fighters that had good footspeed and or a jab. Tyson had both and he had a great defense and see Tyson chopping him down in the later rounds. Not a KO but TKO.

5)Mike Tyson vs. Joe Louis- Joe Louis in his prime was a good combination puncher and is who Tyson probably studied when Cus had him study the all time great fighters, to improve his combination punching. Joe Louis was a good counter puncher as well but he didn't have real good footspeed. Joe Louis dropped his left hand and is why Scmelling was able to time him with punches. Tyson was good at timing punches and did it with tenacity and speed and I see that being his downfall. Tyson also had a good jab, infact he out jabbed Tony Tucker who had over 6 inches on him and a big reach. Louis would be brave and determined but overall I think Tyson takes this BY stoppage and his lack good footspeed and the same mistake Schmelling got him with would be the deciding factor.

6)Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis- I know this has been done to death on this site but there's no way Lennox Lewis beats Tyson when Tyson was great. This would either look like the holmes fight or bonecrsher fight. Lennox Lewis just doesn't have enough Footspeed or boxing skills to beat Tyson. A jab is not enough. Tyson would offset Lewis's Jab with his while putting pressure on him but the main punch Tyson would get Lewis with is the left hook to the body. He would slip Lewis's uppercuts like he did Jose Ribalta and make him pay everytime and he would be active in the clinches(ala the mitch green fight), something he didn't do when they fought. Lewis's chin also isn't durable enough and the first big Shot Tyson Lands, Lennox gets his lights put out. Tyson knocks him out in 5, while Lewis trying to tie him up and spoil the fight when he realizes his punches aren't landing. Tyson's speed would be too much and the same problems Lewis had against Mercer, he would have those problems times 2 against a prime Tyson who was much faster.

6. Mike Tyson vs. Jack Dempsey- same result as the Marciano fight.

7)Mike Tyson vs. Larry Holmes- Larry would give Tyson probably one of his hardest fights. Mostly because Larry was a good Tactian and he had possibly one of the best Jabs in history. A quick Authortive Jab and he also had good footspeed and knew how to use the ring. This would be a competitive fight and a tactital fight at that. Larry would be trying to establish his jab and find it hard because of Tyson's headmovement and Tyson would be trying to find the range because of Larry's ability use the ring and pick off shots but the one mistake Larry did was drop his left after Jabbing and I see Tyson landing the right hand that Larry was susecpitle too his whole career. A good competitive fight with Tyson winning by stoppage in the later rounds.

8)Mike Tyson vs. Sonny Liston- This would look like the pinklon Thomas fight somewhat but Liston wasn't as ring savy as Thomas and he got hit too much and that would be the deciding factor. Most people would use the patterson fight as an example but Tyson had a lot more physical strength than patterson, a better chin and better head movement which would limit Listons hard Jab from landing. Tyson also fought differently than Patterson even though Cus trained him. So this would be good fight but the defisive liabilities would the reason why Liston would lose in the end.

9)Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield- I think Holyfield would give Tyson his toughest fight, even in his prime. Holyfield had a rock solid chin, he was resislient, a good counter puncher, and he would tie Tyson up in clinches like he did in their fight. But the difference would be Tyson's approach and he would use more head movement(kind of like what he did their secondfight) more combinations and bodywork. He would beat holyfield with body punching, something Holyfield didn't asbord well(ala Toney and Bowe and the 5th round of his first fight with Tyson) This fight would be a hell of a fight but with Kevin Rooney in Tyson's corner, he would make sure Tyson doesn't get frustated from all the clinching Holyfield would be doing and he would make sure Tyson throws those combinations that he used to call out on their number system. Tyson would also offset Holyfield's countering with his counter after slipping the shots and he would be consistent, something he wasn't doing anymore later in his career. A great fight, with Tyson winning a close decision.

 

Marciano gets knocked out quick, he's too small. Too much will not enough skill. And Tyson was out of shape when he loss to douglas, a fight he techinqilly won.

 

Just the way I see it. Holyfield and Holmes fight could go either way, but he definetly beats all the other ones.

 

67 Ali gets beat by Tyson based on all the flaws I just mentioned, whether you wanna admit it or not. And I just said Holmes gives a hell of a fight, weren't you reading it. Definetly much better than Ali.

 

The long count.. Douglas didn't beat that count. that's what I mean.

 

Louis is not as great of puncher as Tyson and he's not more skilled than Holyfield. He's definetly not a better defensive fighter than Holyfield and no where as physically strong as Evander. Holyfield is also a better counter puncher than Louis. Maybe you should wathc both of them fight.