He's overrated yes. But he achieved what he achieved at such a young age people thought he had the potential to be so much greater.. and I think he did.
He was an exciting young American fighter that emerged out of the sea of mediocrity that was the heavyweight division post Holmes. He looked amazing smashing hand picked set ups and shot fighters so he got a lot of hype. The Douglas fight was the first indication that Mike wasn't the savior of boxing that he was heavily touted as being. Whenever he fought great fighters he was exposed for what he truly was---a savage animal street thug with no heart.
He never got exposed. Tyson was a physical monster. Fast, extremely powerful...there was an aura of invincibility about him that gave people the chills. His stardom got to his head and the death of his loyal trainer messed him up pretty badly. From there he declined rapidly. He was a great boxer, the master of the peek a boo style...at his early peak his power and speed would have been dangerous to ANY boxer H2H.
Jungle Fever lol Nah but seriously big punchers almost always get love plus add the hype of him being only 20 at the time.
Tyson was definitely a special fighter, and was as exciting in the ring, as he was out of it (albeit for the wrong reasons). Cus Amato fashioned Mayweather in the molds of great heavyweights from the past like the Dempsey's, Tunney's and Liston's of the world, a throwback fighter if you will, and that was something most fans had not seen during pre-Tyson. Even Tyson's ring attire was patterned after past greats. It was easy to overlook his early list of opponents because we got caught up in the KO's, that we boxing fans covet so much, but to say he was nothing special is ridiculous. I suspect Tyson could have had a longer reign, had he not got caught up in the FAME that comes with the title of World Heavyweight Champ.
Disagree with the 80s being a "sea of mediocrity". A guy like Tony Tucker would absolutely wipe his ass with guys like Chisora, Adamek, Stiverne, Arreola, etc. As for Mike, he wasn't so much overrated as much as he burned out far too quickly. He didn't have the structure (or style for that matter) for a long career but he was a special fighter. You don't beat Holmes, Spinks, Tucker, Thomas, or Ruddock by being a "savage animal street thug with no heart".
Tyson beat an over the hill Holmes just like Marciano defeated an ancient Joe Louis. Both were meaningless victories. The victory over Spinks was even more meaningless. Spinks was an ancient former light heavyweight with bad knees when he got predictably battered by Tyson. Tyson at the prime age of 25 got knocked out by a fat diabetic named Buster Douglas. Tyson is so overrated it is comical.
I guess you forced yourself to forgot about your idol being destroyed by Douglas, Holyfield and Lewis and quitting against Williams and Mcbride.atsch
tyson was a beast who would have been more than a handful for any heavyweight from any era pre douglas. from the douglas fight on tyson was a shadow of his former self, he didn't take his training seriously and was out partying and bangin chicks left and right. a focused hard training tyson would destroy douglas, holyfield, lewis etc etc.
Yeah right:roll: Mike got his ass whooped by those guys because they were better than him plain and simple. They all dominated him and knocked him senseless. "I could NEVER have beaten him (Lewis) he is just to big and too strong"--The Catskill coward :rofl Tyson was good but not nearly as good as some think he was.
Young Tyson was force of nature. As agreed. In which he was at its peak, he single handedly carried boxing for the general public. He was undersized heavyweight compensated by explosive power and dedication to his craft. Even under the best of circumstances the loss of speed and quickness were bound to have exponential impact on his ability. The fact is that he came with baggage, much of which should also not be a surprise given where he came from. He was a super bright meteor that burned brightly and those who fail to recognize are cheating themselves out of having seen something great and recognizing it.
