"Berbick is down, and we have a new era in boxing!"

Great question TBooze so hard to answer I suppose I am the younger generation never got to see Tyson anywhere near his destructive prime. Probably one of the few true sporting icons.

Was he god or bad for boxing? Well it depends what you think is good or bad. Lets be honest without boxing Tyson would be dead or in jail for life. I think that he brought a lot of attention to boxing and had such a massive cultural effect love him or loathe him everybody has an opinion right or wrong.

As mentioned earlier in the thread I think people find it hard to rate Tyson because they are blinded by the mania that Tyson brought with him and the backlash to that was to deconstruct all of his career and write off many of his achievements. Still that said he probably never achieved what he could have in his career and much of the rating of him is done on potential ie "The Tyson of 1986" etcetc....

Probably good for the sport on the whole evn though people may not have many positive associations with boxing I think even the man on the street understood that Tyson was a different animal completely but ultimately that what made him great.

 

These days I always think about what would happen if an American HW with Tyson-like qualities burst onto the scene.

All this talk of boxing in decline, would it go out the window with an exciting, powerful KO artist ripping his way through the marque division?

I think it probably would.

 

He'd probably be "exposed" for being taken the distance by James Tillis and Mitch Green.

 

Fans are fickle though.

A quick Marvis Frazier KO-later and he'd be God again.:hey

 

Bingo!

 

Just imagine how young Mike Tyson was when he went the distance with Mitch Green and James Quick Tillis..? what 19 years of age..?? He was at a age, where most people here would **** there pants.

There was no shame in going the distance with them guys, compared to today's heavyweight them guys where actually in shape. Could move, run, jump, had motor-skills, it was a very very very talented era in terms of ability.

The 80's was the third best era EVER! in terms of ability and depth.

Jessica Jane Clement is proper wanking material.

 

The crops of heavyweights in the 80s were pretty mediocre. Talented to an extent but none of the bigger guys(relative to Tyson) had the conviction to impose themselves and stake a claim as 'The Man'. They were all a bit meek, no 'dawg' in them.

 

I know what you're getting at, but I really think the success would be overly-magnified in relation to the downturns of "boring" points decisions.

Someone like that would really kickstart the world of boxing.

 

Tyson kopped a fair bit of flack at the time for those fights, he also got taken late into the fight by cruiserweight Jose Ribalita around the same time.

No problem when you are looking back but questions were being asked because of those results whether he was overrated at the time.

 

The guy was a monster, pity he never lived up to the potential, he could have went down as one of the all time greats, although maybe he did. On his day he would give any heavyweight from any era a fight. I wish he was around now so he could murder those god damn boring Klit brothers

 

Tyson had range with his switch southpaw uppercut.... almost like a knockout jab.

 

Makes me think he could take a level of the elite like Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko.

He had the Lennox footwork/speed just the lack of a jab.

 

Hopkinsize him.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA2_-eQ26tY[/ame]

Naughty By Nature wearing Mike Tyson t-shirts.


"First off, i would just like to say that I'm the realist ****er on here, forget what they say, I'm realist of the realist around here"


Mike Tyson was a champion, one of the last cultural icons of boxing.


:Mike Tyson was a hero to people whether they where black, white, asian, and people from all around the world. Whether that be the Ghetto's of Russia, Whether that be the Ghetto's of america, the Ghetto's of Great Britain. His rise to prominence was so profound and aura inspiring that he became not just a Icon but a political figure.

Mike Tyson was one of the first cultural Icon's of Hop-Hop and new school black culture. The reason why he was a hero was because he simply came from nothing, he came from poverty, a life of crime, he came from abuse as a child. Yes there had been many athlete's in other sports, there had been many other champions that had came from this background.

But there something about Mike, something about Mike...

But Mike Tyson no matter how hard they tried to civilise him, no matter how hard team Tyson tried to school him on how to talk, how to conduct himself, almost they tried to take the street out of him, they couldn't do it. As Mike had success in his career, in interviews he would show that flash of the street, instead of turning up to interviews in suits, he was rocking some new fly hip-hop gear, instead of giving perfectly well manner interviews.

Mike Tyson a very intellectual person and creative person, spoke with his own language! The language of the street and black culture.

Just like Muhammad Ali who would of thought it, he was some what a representation of black people in the Ghetto's but everyone around the world in ghetto's. Have you ever wondered why you could entered into some of the old soviet countrys, you could enter into some of the most racists of places, and there will be people who know who Mike Tyson is, there will be guys that respect Mike Tyson.

"Even still to this day"

Because in a way he was just like them, born out of poverty, confusion, and violence. Many people say that Mike Tyson didn't reach his potential..? i totally disagree very few fighters in history have immortalised themselves in history, to a point where nobody can question them. Even to this day, you get armchair fans who will argue with you in a pub, whether Mike Tyson could knock Muhammad Ali out, whether anybody could beat Mike Tyson in his prime.

Mike Tyson lost his undisputed crom in 1990 in a shocking defeat to buster Douglas. But he remained the bench mark for another 14 years.

Any champion that came along, had to be compared to Mike Tyson, any champion or good fighter that started to dominate, there was talk of facing Mike Tyson. Fighters who where wanting more big fight in there careers, wanted to face Mike Tyson.

It was Mike Tyson that started out this whole notion of a fighter being bigger than a title.

Inside the ring: Mike Tyson's heavyweight run was the most destructive heavyweight run of all-time arguable, only Sonny Liston's run can possible challenge it. He was the first heavyweight to unite all the heavyweight titles from the linar champions, and he knocked two of those champions out, Tony Tucker was the only one to servive the distance. When he unified all the titles he had 6 defense of his the Unistuped title, destroying all of his opoenents all ending by knock-out, and in total made 9 defences as heavyweight champion.

His rise to the title was just a violent and destructive, you had guys being lifted off there feet and flying across the ring, it was share violence. The images of his rise has forever be immortalised and imprinted on earth's history.

"And it will forever float around in space"

I believe even when we evolve beyond this physical state, maybe when where just a bunch of souls floating about, people will still be talking about Mike Tyson, there will be some strange form of life interested.

But about violence....

In a way the public liked this, its human nature. Like when we where kids, and the fight kicks off in the school playground, what does everyone do..? they all run to watch the fight.

Boxing needed Mike Tyson, society wanted Mike Tyson. To fill there thirst for violence, in some kind of sick human way.

All in all before MMA had come to take over are grassroots level, before boxing had just become the sport. Mike Tyson was of a time when boxing was still a culture and everybody knew who the heavyweight champion of the world was, and Mike Tyson was the baddest man on the planet!

The reason why people hung on to Mike Tyson so long in boxing, and wanted him to come back. Because people never believed he stopped being the Champion, all them averages joes on the street in ghetto's..? When Lennox Lewis finally faced Mike Tyson..? To many people on the street.? It was Lennox Lewis challenging Mike Tyson for the title..? and this why Lennox Lewis felt disrespected.

Go to some places Africa, go to places all over the old soviet Union, go to the middle east, it doesn't matter where you go. There will be people that remember that Mike Tyson was the heavyweight champion of world, during the years that Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis swapped the titles.

There would of people in these places that thought Mike Tyson was still champion.

Mike Tyson's will forever outlive all of his critics, it took death to immortalise such icons like Elvis, 2pac, guys like Martin Luther King, Princess Diana, John Lennon.

"Mike Tyson is still alive, but to some people he died in 1990, the myth, the legend, the aura"

Just like there will never be another Muhammad Ali, Prince Naseem Hamed, Roy Jones Junior, because lets face it these guys are immortalised to, some higher than others.

Boxing will never have another fighter like Mike Tyson, there will never be another bad guy like this, never again. Mike Tyson didn't t have fans he had fanatics, just like Michael Jackson..........."Never again, never again"

 

Tyson is a top 10 ATG Heavyweight :good