If Mike Tyson retired after the spinks fight?

I hold the 80s fighters (with the obvious exceptions of Holmes and Tyson) on the same level of todays fighters actually. It's the same as if a guy came around today and simply dominated Wlad, Chagaev, Povetkin, Valuev, Peter, Vitali etc. I'd rate both guys highly.

Holmes wasn't fighting Tyson simply for the money either. It became a convenient excuse after he was knocked out but he had been shown on TV months prior to this fight calling out Tyson and training. He realized how dangerous Tyson was and showed up in the best shape he could be in. Holmes was a cagey old veteran, he didn't simply walk from his bar to the ring.

 

That´s the same way I see the 80s. And I rank Holmes and Tyson highly. Holmes is between 4 and 7 and Tyson between 11 and 14. That´s quite fair imo.

Never said he went from the bar to the ring but he was there for the money. He surely didn´t want to look bad but he no way could beat Tyson coming from such a long lay-off without tune-ups or anything. If you rate this fight high in Tyson´s resume than you must rank Johnson´s win over Jeffries as high.

 

I personally thought that Mike looked just as good after the Williams fight. Even that would have been too soon for retirement. I think a good time for him to retire was after being released from prison. That way he wouldn't have that second loss and so on. How did he lose so much money?

 

No, he probably couldn't of beaten Tyson no matter what he did at that stage but that adds to Tyson's greatness and how good he was. Holmes was a cagey old veteran who still had many tricks up his sleeves which he showed against Mercer years later.

And while tuneup fights probably would of helped and enabled him to maybe survive another round or two, his layoff was less than two years. It wasn't an Ali or Tyson type layoff in where when they return they're never the same.

 

Well, Holmes wasn´t coming from a lay off against Mercer but had fights before and after. Fighting consistently makes a big difference. Ali wasn´t going into the Frazier fight without any fights before and Tyson wasn´t going into the Holy fights without any fights before. That makes a huge difference. I know you are a Tyson fan though you will always try to excuse him and rank him as high as possible. I do the same with the hws I am a fan of, Johnson, Schmeling, Patterson. Nothing to be ashamed off.

 

Most people on the internet seem to think both men would beat ali.

 

Tyson's myth was about to be popped anyway, we all know there was a certain primed out heaveyweight of similar age working his way through the ranks who really would go on to become a GREAT...

















































































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Top 4, I'd say.

 

Top 3

 

Haha, funny that my opinion didn´t change at all. I rank Tyson higher now than then though.

 

I'd put him top 3 but thats also because I'm biased.

 

Can't people understand his legacy actually improved post prison?

 

And you have to be a clueless Tyson hater to make a statement like this. Ridiculous! :roflatsch