About what time did Tyson drop off from being an "elite" HW?

When Holyfield beat him.

 

When he lost to a buster named Buster

 

Before he lost to Douglas.

For those that were watching the decline was there to see even that early. While it hadnt caught up to him in the ring he wasnt living right and was going off the rails at a rate of knots.

 

I think he was still elite when he beat Golota. Not champion material mind you but up there at least.

 

I agree with that. Man, I was at that booty fight. He seemed to really drop off during that year between Golota and Nielsen.

 

Looking back at it in hindsight, Tyson siezed to be elite the moment he took a chunk off of Evander Holyfield's ear off.

As far as Lewis legacy is concerned due to the Tyson fight.
HBO played the major role in that.
They actually ridiculously hyped the Tyson fight as Lewis coronation to ATG status, when in actuality Lewis beat up on an overweight shot fighter.

When you look back at that Tyson-Lewis fight.....Tyson needs speed to get inside Lewis' reach, and Tyson who was already shot anyways, comes in weighing 15 lbs above his best fighting weight!:-(

 

When he bit Holy's ear off

 

tyson after holyfield ko'ed him. Lewis has several wins over over the hill champions. he was hideing in the shadows until they got old enough for him to get in the ring with more than one of his resume inhancers.

 

The Tyson win does'nt add or decrease Lewis' legacy imo.

I'd classify Lewis as a great fighter regardless simply though looking at and seeing the capabilities that he had when he fought.

What hurts Lewis imo is that he was unfortunate (partly his fault, and partly circumstance) that he never faced the other top 3 Heavyweights of his generation when it mattered.

It does'nt matter why he did'nt face them, but he never faced Bowe (imo, Bowe's fault)

Faced a fading Holyfield (not near Holyfield's best imo)

Faced a shot Tyson!

I'd favor both prime versions of Holyfield and Tyson to beat a prime Lewis.
.....and I'd call a prime matchup with Bowe, a tossup.

 

Tyson became a headhunter after Rooney but make no mistake, he was still an elite heavyweight right up until the Holyfield fights. He KO'd Bruno and Williams prior to the Douglas fight and notched two victories over Ruddock after it. A fighter should be so lucky to "decline" like that. Tyson just lost the desire to fight somewhere down the line and Douglas fought the fight of his life and no credit should be taken away from him. If you watch the Ruddock fights you can see that Tyson was just going through the motions yet still had the ability to beat a top contender like Ruddock not once but twice. As far as Tyson's decline being defined as him no longer being a top-tier heavyweight, well you can argue that til no end. Frankly, I believe Tyson was no longer an elite fighter from the Botha fight on. He was carefully matched right up to the Lewis fight and only good enough to put together a few good rounds before fading. The Francis, Savarese, Nielsen, and Etienne fights were staged to make the public believe that Tyson was still the destroyer of old.

 

Damn good post! I totally agree.

 

1st holyfield fight