Listen i firmly believe that a prime tyson beats any heavyweight in is prime even ali said it.......the tyson that fought holyfield and lewis was a shadow of the former fighter he was.....this is proved by the fact lewis claims this to be his crowning glory....there's no way on this planet lewis and holyfield would have beat tyson in his pomp.....holyfield said he had never seen anyone train like tyson in his prime....so stop hating tyson,he is the g.o.a.t. In his prime...full stop....
Spinks Just because he got KO'd in the 1st doesn't mean he was his best or worst opponent. On accomplishment, Holmes; on skillset, Spinks.
Right. I don't believe in making excuses for Tyson having faced better opponents, and dismissing it by saying he was *past his prime*. He may have been on the tail end of his prime when Lewis got him, but he was certianly at his peak when Holy took him apart.............. Holy beat a prime, trained, young and well prepared Tyson. Twice. :good And Tyson was also not old enough or out of shape, or lacking in drive when Lewis thrashed him, either. Its just that Lewis and Holy were better fighters than PRIME Tyson was.
Bruno was holding his own until he gassed. Biggs was a punching bag after the first round. Tillis gave him a good run i guess.
Tony Tucker went 12 rounds with Tyson when Mike was destroying people. And he didn't just clutch and hold on...he traded with Tyson. I was very disappointed with Bonecrusher Smith and with Pinklon Thomas. They both had the skills to defeat Tyson, but they were defeated before they got in the ring...like a lot of Tyson opponents.
Tony Tucker had broke his hand in three places prior to his fight with Mike. It required reconstructive surgery post fight.
tyson was in his physical plrime against holyfield, but he had done hardly any rounds and over 4 year lay off where he couldnt train either. if he hired rooney back after prison im confident the outcome would have been different that night. more head movement ,more combos ect. but take nothing aways from holyfield, he would always be a hard nights work as tyson was the one he really wanted!
^^^ Good point. even if mike trained properly for the buster fight it would've been a tough night. not saying mike would lose but buster douglas was a man on a mission that night
Tony Tucker. You could say Michael Spinks, but remember that Spinks ducked Tucker because he didn't want to risk having a loss on his record before the Tyson fight.
Tucker because he had everything to give Tyson trouble, yet Tyson still won clearly on the scorecards, Tucker was no slouch, he was the undefeated IBF champ and had just beaten Buster DOuglas. Believe it not, there was a time when people all around were accusing Tyson of ducking Spinks. I might post it later from his autobiography. Tyson was seen as a paper champ whereas Spinks was seen as the True champ. Apart from Tucker, Spinks was probably his best opponent, people just overlook that now because of the way Tyson destroyed him. Ali - Frazier Frazier-Foreman Bowe-Holyfield All the above were undefeated heavyweights going at it and all of the above get shitloads of credit for the fights Tyson-SPinks, 2 undefeated guys both claiming to be the true champ. Tysons gets shitted on for wiping the floor with Spinks. Alot of Tysons wins were pretty good, in hindsight look at Riddick Bowes bests wins. Most of them are Tyson leftovers. Ferguson, Tubbs, Biggs etc.
Wasn't Tucker Stopped by clowns like Bruce Seldon, Herbie Hide and John Ruiz? And before he lost to Tyson his opponents were some of the worst fighters in history. I think Spinks was the best of the bunch............