The greatest HW win since Lewis Vs Holyfield?

Douglas didn't fight a prime Tyson. Tyson was already on the downslope there.

 

What difference will it make?

When Usyk beat AJ he was Rated #1 unified champ with multiple defences. So was Peter a better win than AJ? Your answer or non-answer will be telling

 

I get that he wasn't as good post-Rooney
But all excuses aside, Mike was 24 freaking years old....I'm not convinced at all we can give Tyson a pass against Buster. But that's just me. Douglas fought a great fight imo.

 

Tyson wasn't training properly, was using drugs and drinking a lot. He was not at his best. And Douglas was a serial underachiever who showed flashes of greatness here and there; against Tyson he finally put it together all at once for an entire fight. I'm a big defender of Douglas -- he was potentially ATG material (or close to it) but was his own worst enemy and could not live up to it. We only saw one fight of what he was actually capable of.

 

Valid and well made points, my friend.

 

He was 23 ffs! He was in his physical prime as every 23 year old should be.

If he wasn’t in top shape that’s on Tyson alone. I hate how fighters get given a pass for cutting corners in training. That’s on them and because he was cocky and arrogant enough to take a guy gunnning for his title lightly he deserved the arse kicking he copped.

Douglas produced an atg performance under far more trying circumstances than Tyson had to endure. He won fair and square. The bleating about it 33 years later is ridiculous.

 

It’s a shame Wlad was allowed to do what he did (I blame ref not Wlad). But it is the best win imo as it was two top fighters all time going at it in prime. Stinks the fight was a dud

 

When assessing Tyson's greatness, his loss to Douglas, and his regression from (imo) Bruno 1 onwards, should be held against him.

When assessing the quality of Douglas's win, the Tyson he fought should be taken into account. Still a dangerous, dangerous HW, but not quite the all round fighting machine of the Tyson from Berbick to Spinks, imo.

 

Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 2
I consider this win above Ruiz vs Joshua 1, which some put above Lewis vs Holyfield.
Returning lineal champion, who won the WBC belt in the ring (and beat the undefeated champion); the only belt he didn't have. He lost the other belts outside the ring. Tyson Fury is still the lineal champion for me, and he will be until he loses the fight (in the ring).

 

Did his punching power look dramatically different? I don’t think so. Douglas wasn’t Mr. Resilience himself and I highly doubt Tokyo Douglas gets up if hit with the same shots Frazier and Holmes did against Foreman and Shavers respectively?

 

I don't think Mike ever got hit that hard, even Ruddock wasn't quite that brutal.

That said, Razor did land a few very heavy shots. To me the Douglas, Ruddock, 1st Holy, and Lewis fights laid to rest the idea that Mike didn't have any heart. The only thing he DIDN'T do was get up after a knockdown to win...but I think his fighting through a fight he was viciously losing (Lewis) made up for it. He was done after the second round imo.

 

Rahman KTFO Lewis in South Africa.

 

He was on his feet yes, but look at his eyes. He was in no condition to fight. To have let him continue could have been extremely dangerous to Lewis. Lewis lost to McCall & Rahman because of his one big fault....
He was not focused especially for Rahman. He was partying with Clooney & Pitt was late getting to S Africa too
He made no mistake in the rematch did he?

 

But got his true deserts in the rematch A 100% fit ,focused Lewis was a monster