How Dominant would Mike Tyson Have Been..?

Roughly the same. I think the guys he would have to fight now are a bit better than the ones he actually fought on his way up, but his main limitations would remain: gigantic ego and lack of discipline. No fighter stays at the top with those, generally. Tyson's unraveling is an inevitability given his initial circumstances, fast trajectory to the top, and his mentor's death among other things.

also props to the "Tyson is obese" guy, genuinely one of the worst takes I have ever seen. It's ironic because the BMI was actually debunked as a viable athletic metric in a particular magazine (I don't recall which, this was in the late 90s, early aughts) using Evander Holyfield as an example of someone who would be considered "obese" using BMI. It is an unreliable metric for athletic/muscularly dense people and the studies on its fallability are available on pubmed if you are bored. While it is an interesting discourse in semiotics, I don't think anyone really believes Tyson to be clinically obese in its intended definition.

 

Money talks. He’d be at heavyweight.

 

You might not have invented it but you should largely ignore it for athletes. Olympic rowers? Obese. New Zealand All Blacks and other top rugby teams? Obese. I could go on..but I won't

 

Tyson was hurt early against Tucker and Bruno and come back to win dominantly. Tucker won about 2 rounds out of 12, 3 at best. Tyson beat him easily. Douglas is the only one that led him by any distance during his first run and it was hardly the best of Tyson regardless of age.

 

Are you Boxed Ear's-ing us right now?

Mike Tyson has a large skeleton for his height. He was a lean 190lbs as a 14 year old. In no universe is any human being going from 215lbs at low double digit bodyfat to 175lbs. Cruiserweight also sucks ass for making money so nah, Tyson would remain a heavyweight despite giving up a lot of height and weight.

Also Tyson actually had good stamina in his prime. He'd go absolute balls to the wall 100% for about 6-8 rounds before his output declined. What he had was non-existent pacing.

That + George Foreman and Wladmir Klitschko had lower BMI's than Tyson and yet had worse stamina in their physical primes. They're dozens of different factors that affect stamina and BMI is a (much) smaller one of them. This is a very strange and uneducated crusade you're going on.

 

BMI is used in the 21st century and you are citing magazine from the late 20th century to debunk it.

Also people who are obese can be good at sports. No one said they can't. The idea its unreliable comes from the notion that obesity means unathletic. You are misunderstanding the term and then saying its falliable. But its more they are carrying a ton of weight for their size. And Tyson was. Thats why he had cardio problems no other great with less BMI had.

By intended definition you are referring to high body fat individuals. Thats not part of BMI. Mass is mass for BMI.

 

But you did bring it up to prove your absurd assertion Mike was quote 'obese at 215lbs.

 

He would have been obese for a Victoria's Secret model, to be fair.

 

It depends on the matchups that he has and in what order he has them.

AJ right now is looking a spent force, but a few years ago he was devastating. Anybody deluding themselves that Tyson simply walks through prime AJ DKSAB.

There was a point where Wilder was extremely dangerous too. He never had the skills of Tyson, but he was, for the third Fury fight for instance, very powerful and durable himself. Post prison Tyson gets mauled by that Wilder and other versions would not have an easy time either.

Usyk to my mind beats any version of Tyson. His feet are too fast and his hands are too long and quick. He's proven himself adept at staying out of the way of guys that try to bumrush him and he picks apart smaller guys. In particular Tyson's best punches are hooked curving punches, whereas Usyk uses long, fast straight shots. Usyk lands first. His elusive footwork is an OCP for Tyson. He's a stylistic horrorshow for Mike.

The rest of the field is variable.

I think he'd probably trample most of them but there are dudes around that are simply massive.

Joyce, Zhang, Miller etc have all been lumbering about and making themselves difficult for a while now. Ruddock was considered a large and powerful heavy 'back then' and he gave Tyson a few hassles. But now we aren't talking about 228lb, and not even 250lb (like Chisora and Dubois) but 260-280lb behemoths. Not to say Tyson could not beat them. He could. But fighting a series of giants in the trenches would be problematic for a smaller heavyweight set on a slugfest, no matter how great he is.

Guys like the 'new' smarter version of Parker could be a problem too. Parker has shown a cerebral approach lately and he has fought very smart in winning his fights. It wouldn't take a genius to work out that he could smother Tyson close and pick him apart at range. What goes for Parker goes double for Fury. Best Fury whoops Mike Tyson.

So yeah: I think Tyson would do well, but I don't think he'd be as scary as he was in the three years of his prime back then.

 

Yes I've often thought the post Douglas 1990-1991 Tyson was a very formidable heavyweight. He had a incredible chin and heart and what he had lost in combinations and skills he made up for in a cast iron chin, heart and a incredible will to win. That Tyson could fight hard for 20 rounds.I personally think that version of Mike alone would've beaten Holyfield of 88-93 & 94-1999.A controversial view but just nine.

I'd agree on the view the 85-91 Tyson beats anything we've seen the last 10 years in the Heavyweight division. I'd expect him to be more professional and ring focused in the present day and age as the division has been more focused than in the 80s. There isn't a Don King pushing fighters to drugs and despair like he did to so many ...there isn't a 1980s crack cocaine epidemic to run through the division....proffesional accountants and lawyers for boxers are now a thing unlike the sleazy two bit hustlers of the 80's. Would he ditch the womanising? Which of course was Tyson's main poison.....Well he only lost to Douglas in his prime six year run...I think in this day and age he wouldn't have been able to step in the ring in that condition with a Hearn, Dazn or Turkish alalshaikh...presiding over things...they wouldn't want to see him defeated by partying and lose their cash cow.

 

Because 215 for 5 ft 10 male is obese. Its not an absurd assertion you all are just in denial.

 

Great post and I thoroughly agree
His 2 wins over ruddock should not be overlooked either. Ruddock said he was never the same following those gruelling fights

Tyson was an animal

 

As soon as you said prime Tyson wouldn't walk thru aj i knew the rest would just be glazing, the wilder comment is delusion. We all know you have to prop these guys up for obvious reasons but this is wild

Wilder looked like crap and can only throw a right hand, Fury just disregarded his defense because he was overconfident. That wasn't even a prime Wilder, he bulked up to handle Fury in the clinch but in exchange he lost his violent speed which was a huge part of the delivery system during his best days. Even old Tyson has an easy time, he dispatched Savarese in a round

 

Obesity in the clincal sense is a measure of excessive body fat. Mike Tyson was healthy despite being overweight on the BMI scale because that weight wasn't lard, he was in shape. BMI doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle, nor does it factor in abnormal bones. This is basic stuff

 

I would kind of expect him to replicate his original run in the 80s and early 90s... out of the career blocks fast, cutting through everyone like a hot knife through butter. For a few years he's on top of the world. Then distractions, fame and arrogance kick in, and he loses surprisingly to a periphery top 10 opponent he is expected to destroy. I think, whatever era he is in, Tyson eventually presses the self destruct button. It's not that I think peak Tyson is invincible or anything like that - he's certainly hard to beat. But I think great wins and puzzling losses are just part of his make up.