Who gives a prime Tyson nightmares ?

Charles Liston.

 

Ali - speed of hand and foot, ridiculous toughness and incredible will to win. Strong finisher. Master of mind games.

Foreman - Styles thing. I don't know who would win, but it would be a very, very ticklish fight. I'd love to watch it.

Holyfield - Imposible to intimidate, inhuman recovery powers, granite chin, amazing will to wiin, fantastic combinaton puncher, great conditioning.

Lewis - Big man with a big punch, good boxing skills, huge uppercut (in my mind the key punch to beating Tyson, jab aside) and could fight in the trenches.

Tua - Not in Tyson's class as a fighter, but undentable chin and massive left hook. Had good stamina when in shape. It would be interesting to see how each deals with a fellow short fighter.

Bowe - In shape, motivated...Bowe would be tough. My only reservation is that he's not hard to hit.

That's it off tthe top of my head. I don't personally think Holmes, Louis or Liston have the goods. Marciano is not big enough. Dempsey probably a little too small as well.
Guys like Page and Douglas just didn't show up in shape enough, but both could give him trouble if they did. Possibly Spoon at his best as well.

It's a short list whichever guys you choose. I would not say that anyone one of them is a 'nightmare' for a Tyson at his absolute best, but they could potentially win.

 

What about someone like John Tate? I see him as sort of a precursor to the bigger HWTs. He absoultely dominated Weaver...well, right up until he was rocked and then subsequently KOd. Chin could be suspect, but he took good shots throughout.

 

Don King!

 

Ha! Good one, Janitor.

Foreman and Ali, I guess. The immovable object and the most difficult man to stop.

 

only a handful of fighters fought Tyson at his peak,as his peak was so short.
All of them either collapsed early...Williams Berbick Spinks Tubbs etc....or went into survival mode..Tucker (injured hand) Bonecrusher Smith.....only one man stood and fought him for several rounds at his absolute prime and that was Mr Tyrell Biggs.Boxed him beautifully for most of the first round until a left hook followed by an elbow split his inner lip with thirty seconds of the round left...this affected Tyrells confidence and he came out for the second flat footed and began to trade with Tyson..Tyrell didnt have power to match his skills so this was doomed..after about five rounds he tried timing Tyson by letting Mike throw first and then catch him with the uppercut ...he landed but didnt have the power...IMO one of the bravest efforts in a boxing ring from a man clearly outgunned....this was Tyson at his total peak..watch the fight..not sure anyone apart from Ali Lennox may have had any answers to Mike that night.

 

Greg Page
Michael Dokes
John Tate
Tim Witherspoon
Ken Norton
Gerrie Coetzee.

 

Cheers for the mention! I agree with your list, largely because Tyson couldn't intimidate them. I think the worst matchup is Foreman, especially if he used the jab which he sometimes neglected.

 

Yeah, John was actually pretty good as a professional, planning with Ace Miller before taking on established dangerous punchers like Mercado, Knoetze and Coetzee, and he was the biggest man to dominate over the championship distance since Carnera. [A lot of experts didn't think he could carry 240 pounds against Coetzee and win, but he withstood a knee buckling right to wear Gerrie down over the long haul. 1979 provided an impressive trio of well executed wins against diverse opposition. I think the harmless but talented veteran Leroy Caldwell might have been John's final national exposure on ESPN. Caldwell had a win streak in Vegas the year before, and was well liked by the fans there. I enjoyed watching him school Jeff Shelburg on ESPN as the Silver Slipper audience chanted his name.]

After what Stevenson did to Tate in Montreal, I doubt that Big John intimidated any of his contender class opponents. However, he could certainly physically smother Tyson against the ropes like he did Weaver. Clearly the physically strongest top HW between Foreman and Cobb. [Tex and Tate would have been a good scrap over the distance, and Randy might have been a good opponent for John to reestablish himself as a viable entity with in 1983, less risky than the proposed pairing with Cooney.]

Reportedly, an old Foreman DID give prime Tyson nightmares [courtesy of Cus]. Mike himself spent hours scrutinizing Dempsey live speed movie films, and has famously said Jack was indeed a "f ucking animal," as Dempsey described himself. [Silent movies viewed with projectors do provide details lost in transfers to videotape transfers, as anybody who's had such conversions from amateur Super 8 or 8 MM home movies knows. Often, there's even further degradation in viewing quality with on-line forwarding.]

 

Anyone who wasn't either a junkie, alcoholic, or a stiff who he couldn't intimidate. Though his excuse mongers could never accept this simple truth. In his so called invincible reign up until the Douglas loss, the only 2 worth a candle were Tucker, and Tillis, and who is going to label them as ATG's?

 

Tim Witherspoon.

As long as he was in shape and was gonna get paid after the fight.

I dont think its an accident that Tyson never faced Terrible Tim.

 

I've probably said this before, but I definitely think Witherspoon had the tools -- solid chin (Bonecrusher II was an anomaly in terms of this), good skills, and not afraid to just go at it.

I don't want to underestimate Tyson, but I could see a "prime" 'Spoon giving him trouble. (Though maybe I'm overestimated Witherspoon now.)

It's too bad it didn't happen.

 

Buster Douglas