What is your ranking of Mike Tyson?

I have to say Tyson was a breath of fresh air at a time in boxing that was very fustrating for me in the heavyweight division. Heavyweights were fat and out of shape and there were split titles and no unification. Even though some of them were past there best, Tyson showed how a great fighter beats good fighters. He smashed Tubbs, Biggs, Berbick, Holmes,Thomas,Carl Williams and Spinks Made Smith and Tucker fight a survivors fight. Its a shame Don King ruined him and Cus and the gang died because I think he would have had a longer run. The only bad thing I can say about Mike is that he quit when the going got rough and never got off the floor to win but he did try to fight the best of his times, avoided no one and had a historic sense about the sport and dominated the left overs from Holmes and gang. If Tyson had fought in Holmes day he would have dominated them and unified. He declined under Don King and Robin Givens and all the troubles and i have to speculate that that is a shame but If Holmes is top 10,Tyson has to be.

His weakness of wilting in tough fights may have appeared after Cus,Kevin Jacobs,+ but still how many fighters could get past his early rush and take him into deep waters. I think some of the ATG would take him there(deep waters) but Tyson would quash quite a few in shallow waters.

 

I dont mean no disrespect but Tyson NEVER quit in any of his fights (ok ok Mcbride, but that was his last fight and considering the amount of $hit hes been through ill give him a pass)
He never got up off the floor, thats because it took him ages to get there!
Buster Douglas beat the $hite out of him for 11 rounds and then finally dropped him
Same with Holyfield who beat him senseless till round 11 and it was stopped (he also DID get up off the floor in round 6)
Lennox also beat him bad until round 8
Tyson didnt get up off the floor because by the time he was down, he'd already taken a $hitload of punches and punishment anyway.

I feel its wrong to judge a fighter just because they dont get up, to me some show heart by taking a beating and not going down. Some have slightly not so good jaws and they get knocked down and get up, some have solid chins and can take a beating all night until theres no more. Tysons the second category

 

Agreed.

I don't think anyone would have gotten up after the beating Douglas gave him...

 

I think Tyson should actually rate a lot higher than many people place him these days.. On one hand, there have been some in the past, who have rated him as high as number 3, which I believe to be ridiculously generous, but on the other, some absolutely scalp the **** out of him for his loss to Douglas, and don't even have him in their top 10, which is equally absurd. Frankly, I think anywhere from perhaps 6-9 is fair, depending on your criteria.. he was the youngest heavyweight champion of all time, one of the first and few to unify the crown, undefeated in his first 37 fights, and had some 8-9 title defenses... He also fought a string of decent heavyweights, some of whom were of great size, reasonable age, and fair experience levels.... His comeback wasn't much to speak of, and personally I think its nuts that Bruce Seldon and Frank Bruno were hold titles, but hey, for whatever its worth, he chalked up easy wins over those men and acquired the title a second time.. Head to head ratings are a bit too speculative for my liking, but I'd give a peak Tyson from 1986-1989 a fair chance at sparking a lot of great fighters..

 

No.

 

One thing that makes a fighter great is overcoming adversity. Tyson never really showed that ability.

 

Tyson was the youngest beltholder but not the youngest champ. when he beat Spinks he was older than the Patterson who beat Moore for the title. :bart

I don't think Tyson can be ranked that high. His resume is too thin. He is borderline Top10 though.

 

"One thing" is right. Tyson showed many other things that qualified him as a great fighter.

 

Of course he did. He is a great fighter. Just not in the same mold as the "real" atgs.

 

If you are going to get that technical, Spinks no longer held the title, he was just a "recognized" champion by that point.

 

Real ATGS?

 

Ali, Louis, Marciano. These guys.

 

Of course was Spinks the champ. He beat Holmes and nobody until Tyson beat him. He was the champ, no matter what the politics of the corrupt governing bodies did.

 

As opposed to the second half of the top ten that arent real ATG's? :blood

 

Remember though, Bodhi rates Tyson at number 13.