Holyfield or tyson?

It doesn't matter how much of a can he was, mike had been in prison for 4 years.

The point is that beating a string of top ten guys as well as dominating bruno, seldon and golota can only enhance a legacy.

Losing to holy and lewis adds much more for them than it detracts from tyson.

Unless you believe tyson was absolutely peak against holy and lewis I don't see how it would have much of a detriment.

 

True the pendelum was swinging in lewis's favour considering timeline, but I tend to think that he'd have brawled with tyson and got stopped in 96.

True we were denied a great fight. Even in 91 it would have been a great fight. Ofcourse in 96 it was still a great fight regardless.

 

Call it a sham if you want but he still beat those guys he still climbed back to the top of the world. As I say them victories only add to a legacy imo.

 

So you believe had he retired after prison he'd be ranked higher than he is now? certainly not the case with me, he improved his ranking.

Maybe you have a point about disappointing, maybe he could have done more. But I tend to judge a fighter on what they did do, not what they didn't do.

 

Then we have different criteria when it comes to ranking fighters.

 

But that was based on potential, not what he'd actually done. Plus the question was about retiring after prison so the douglas loss is still there.

Basically I have my 3 criteria for how I view greatness and the only things that can detract from a fighters greatness by myself are unavenged prime losses to fighters I wouldn't consider great. Losing to a great fighter, losing outside of your prime, I don't knock a fighter for that.

Now if tyson retires after spinks, h2h he might just be the greatest ever but unless the guys he beat went on to dominate you'd think his resume and legacy wouldn't really stand the test of comparison.

Today most people have mike in and around their top 10. Unless there is a huge weight on h2h and some unexpected results by his victims, he wouldn't make my top ten.

As you say, well on his way. A premature rating is overhyping and it doesn't do a fighter any justice.

This is why people should wait until the dust settles before ranking someone.

For example, I expect wlad to surpass everyone but ali and louis. I don't rate him top 3 now but that's what I expect of him. Right now i'd say he's done enough to be a solid top 15 and nothing can really detract from that because his body of work is already written in stone.