Tyson Above Holyfield - Can It Be Justified?

He was kinda helped that Bruno was absolutely frightened to death of him...... and was kinda mentally retired after winning the WBC title against McCall.

 

That wouldn't of mattered. He beat Bruno before when he wasn't scared of him. Tyson wasn't at his best for the first Bruno fight either, infact that was the first fight without Kevin Rooney and he looked like a complete more one dimensional fighter in the fight. After that is when the erosion of his skills began.

 

the mcneely fight was a complete joke. a guy who was later koed by butterbean. tyson looked sloppy against mathis, missing wild shots. bruno and seldon offered very little resistance to tyson. bruno was scared to death and seldon, was koed by the wind of a tyson punch. none of these fights made tyson better. all together, he went 8 non-competive rds 4 fights. holyfield saw this and knew he could expose tyson's flaws and he did just that. just as you say, tyson was just living of his name but as far as technical skills were concerned, he was not very good and he payed for it.

 

.......and you know such a thing because everyone that knows anything knows that Spinks was a destroyer at Heavyweight!:nut

 

Lets just say that Spinks beat more accomplished opponents than the mighty blown up Lhwt Moorer who got in return ko'ed by a ancient conman (at this time of his career) named Foreman.........

So , exactly, who did Moorer" destroy " at Hw ? And while we are at it who did Bowe really destroy at Hw? Make no mistake I rate Bowe highly on abilities but besides the Holy trilogy where he would be without the fanman 3-0 his resume looks rather weak......

 

BTW, my problem with Holyfield is his non consistancy...........he was always up and down, even in his prime or slightly past it.............1-2 with Bowe, 1-1 with Moorer, really 0-2 with Lewis, some life and death battles with dopehead Cooper or "I do not belong at HW" Bobby C...............

The thing with Tyson is,in his heydays in the 80's when he took his craft seriously, when he was on, he was on......he completley cleaned the **** out the Hw scene while making it look super easy. He bumped everybody off and he was definitley the Number ONE HW, period. same can;t be said about Holyfield.

 

This is an amazing statement.

I dont know why Tyson trained for any fights he was the winner as soon as the contracts were signed?

For years and years Bruno spoke of revenge on Tyson and wanted a rematch.

 

Solid Post.

My thoughts exactly

 

Not a bad post but every almost every fight you mentioned came after he was 31 ... Both guys were amaziong fighters, all time heavyweight top ten , mid - level ...

 

Holyfield was a much smaller heavyweight. Tyson was a much bigger puncher

Tyson never fought Bowe

Tyson although past his best fought far less competitive against Lewis. Hard to compare them using that angle.

Tyson was the more dominate figure at heavyweight during his reign but his losses were far more one sided than Holyfields.

 

Being a smaller Heavyweight shouldnt have a bearing in thier ranking.

Tyson Bowe was talked about but never came to fruition.

Tyson being the more dominant figure as Heavyweight Champion is precisely why I rank him above Holyfield. His losses may have been more one sided but his best wins were more decisive than Evander's Best Wins.

 

And Tyson was a complete shell when he fought Lennox Lewis, Holyfield was a hell of a lot more preserved when he did, that can't even be debated.

 

Exactly.

Not only did Holyfield settle this matter in the most direct manner possible by twice whupping Tyson in the ring, and under circumstances that he was never supposed to beat Tyson under, but he also had by far the better career and also trounced the guy who trounced Tyson. There's no actual reason to rate Tyson over Holy.

 

Not according to many people who have seen those fights.

 

Yes it can; Holy was so deteriorated a few years before he fought Lennox, that he was roundly considered "shot" and there was even debate over whether he should even he be licensed to fight.