I'm talking the alphabet boys in their prime's? Not necessarily beat Tyson but at least have him struggling?
A prime Thomas could make things interesting. Witherspoon, absolutely a possible great fight. Tubbs in shape, I know a rare thing, takes a few rounds from him till getting KO d. Weaver if he avoids a early KO maybe gets into a Ruddock type clash. Mike doke s makes it exciting for a while maybe.
I can easily seeing Thomas at his best doing better than Tucker did. Tubbs at his best could something similar to what Botha would do a decade or so later, make Tyson look bad before being KO'd. If these guys, plus Page and Dokes, could have kept their eyes on the prize I still don't see any of them taking Tyson's 0, but they would make him look quite a bit more human than he actually did and we wouldn't have quite the same "Tyson under Rooney was unbeatable"-myth.
Totally agree. A lot of those eighty's guy's had the skills, it was just one thing or another, drug's, food addiction,Don King.
A super in-shape Witherspoon, or Thomas on his best night. Tucker did give him a little trouble. Supposedly broke his hand so me might have been able to do a bit better yet.
I sometimes think that the 80s alphabet boys were one of the greatest piles of talent ever assembled in the division, but that it didn't work out for reasons that are not entirely opaque.
By the time that Tim would've had a chance to fight Mike, he was on the comeback trail due to throwing his match against Smith. That's about it.
I'll pick the three headed dragon(s). Motivated,very in shape and in good momentum version of: Tim Witherspoon Pinklon Thomas Mike Weaver Honorable mention/the kirin may be Tony Tubbs in shape too.
Weaver of 81-83 had incredible durability and stamina and could have been Kryptonite for Tyson if he can survive the early onslaught. Doubtful, but could be envisioned. Witherspoon was slick and could take a shot so he might have the same possibility. Thomas, too dependent on trading shots to land so doubtful. Tubbs doesn't have the offense or elusivity imo.
Nope. Not good enough defensively to deal with the speed of Tyson's combos. Nor did they have the footspeed to kep away from Mike's ability to close the gap quickly.The best outcome would be hanging tough while taking a major league licking---but that is not winning.
Last night we got a practical demonstration of why context is important in a fight. Imagine a boxing fan of the future looking back on Parker Bakole. They might look at Bakole's record, look at his #6 Ring ranking, and conclude that Parker had obtained another win as good as his impressive victories over Wilder and Zhang. It might even gain currency if a better prepared Bakole later beats a name fighter.
Tony Tucker fractured his hand in sparring and was pressured to fight. While he had two hands he was out boxing Tyson and landing some pretty hard shots. Nearly put Tyson down in the first round, buckled his knees good with an uppercut. And Tucker was having an easy time doing it too, landing overhand rights at will and hurting Tyson. This went on a few rounds...Until his hand cracked and he was left with one arm trying to jab his way for survival, Tyson still couldnt even put him down. With Two hands Tucker ko's Mike that night,imo. Sometimes people have lousy luck, and Tucker had a lot of bad luck in his career. I think Witherspoon was another fighter that could have beaten Mike Tyson. Very close fight, cause Tim was no joke and could really crack with his right. Tim wouldnt have been afraid at all, and would have done the Tucker/Douglas approach but with more power.
