Giving Ali an 8 for level of competition when he has the best resume in HW history is laughable. Foreman, Frazier, Liston, Patterson, Young, Norton, Holmes, Patterson. Even wins over guys like Quarry, Cooper, Doug Jones, Bob Foster, Terrell, Lyle, Shavers, Chuvalo are incredible and that would be a resume by itself. Tysons level of competition isn't ATG but it's solid. More like a 7.5, or 8 imo.
The intimidation factor is a strange one, although Tyson was very intimidating , Ali used the pre fight as an exercise to run his mouth and un nerve his opponent. I dont thing Tyson would of been able to intimidate Ali more like the other way around with Ali throwing names at him and Tyson loosing it.
Ali would have laughed at Tyson as if he were a pantomime villain. Tyson never faced a genuinely elite fighter in either his or their prime..... the first time he did was Holyfield I, though Evander was slightly past his best (not shot as many believed) and he was embarrassed. Look at him in the ring prior to the Lewis fight.... shitting himself.
Prior to the Lewis fight... Tyson was waaaay past his prime. When talking about Tysons losses that fight and beyond should never even come up. Even though Tyson wasn't old or particularly shot when he fought Holy the first time, it was far from his peak or best. He had a short prime, granted. Its in my opinion that Tysons peak/prime/best was between 87-89. During this brief time period, tyson still trained properly, had good stamina, and resolve to fight to the end.