Best Mike Tyson win pre-Buster Douglas?

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The OP asked specifically if Berbick beat anyone of note.

I included Ali's name, as well as the reigning WBC champ, as well as the undefeated future champ Page, as well as former champ John Tate, and a number of contenders... because they were all opponents "of note."

Clearly, this guy had zero clue who some of the people he was running down - Berbick and Thomas included - even were.

You can spot people like this a mile away because likely the only fight of Berbick's he ever saw in his life was Trevor's fight with Tyson.

I've been on boards with new fans who bashed guys like the hall of famer Cuevas as just "that guy Hearns knocked out."

They see one fight a bunch of times and just label a guy a bum.

They PREACH context, but have none.

 

Agreed it was one of Tyson's toughest fights in his title reign, arguably scoring wise the fight was about level until Tyson hammered him in the 6th round.

But up until that point Thomas frustrated Tyson with his jab, and showed Tyson's weakness regarding being tied up easily.

Outside of the Tony Tucker fight Pinklon Thomas was Tyson's 2nd toughest fight during his title reign.

 

Michael Spinks. He was unbeaten, and a great fighter when Tyson destroyed him.

 

Every bout in a row from Berbick to Spinks, excluding the Boneclutcher bore, Tyson won impressively against top rated heavyweights. Each fight has an argument that could be considered his best win.

-Berbick
-Thomas
-Tucker
-Biggs
-Holmes
-Tubbs
-Spinks

Berbick had a few losses, Holmes had 2, Tubbs had 1, Thomas had 1 and Tucker, Biggs and Spinks were undefeated.

 

As i already asked the OP and he never responded show me another Heavyweight champion who beat 8 ranked contenders in a 4 year period outside of Ali.

 

I remember reading an old boxing magazine that was published around the time that Tyson had just beaten Trevor Berbick, I think it was either World Boxing or Boxing Illustrated and on their monthly top 10 ( or maybe it was the top 12?) heavyweight rankings, every other heavyweight on that list with the exception of Tim Witherspoon who lost the opportunity to fight Tyson when he got derailed by Bonecrusher Smith, Tyson would go on to meet and defeat. Berbick, Smith, Thomas , Tucker, Biggs , Holmes, Tubbs Spinks Bruno , they were all there in those rankings and they were the top ranked heavyweight during that time. So despite what some may think of the quality of those fighters that Tyson fought and beat, he had essentially cleaned out the division and met and beat the best that was around during that 86-88 timeframe and so what more could you ask a reigning champion to do?

 

The Berbick win was impressive. To destroy a very tough champ known before and long after as difficult dangerous fighter took some doing.

 

It was Spinks, a very high profile fight against the lineal undefeated heavyweight champion where Tyson crushed him. This was an event people were hyped for.

He has other impressive and good wins as well but the Spinks win to me stands above the others and is his best in my opinion.

 

Tyson beat the title holders, the guys the title holders beat for the titles and the undefeated top ranked contenders. He left no stone unturned and cleaned out the division by beating everyone who was anyone.

It's unheard of nowadays.

I did an experiment a few years back where I amassed every Heavyweight ATG's win/loss record and their opponent's winning percentage. I ranked each ATG and Ali came in 1st place with Tyson coming in 2nd. I believe 3rd place went to Lennox Lewis and 4th went to Joe Louis.

 

Historically, it would be Holmes since he is a hall of fame ATG and many argue belongs in the top 10 of all time. However, Holmes was inactive, older, and coming off 2 losses.

The win over Spinx is fairly significant since he was lineal, undefeated, and one of the most technically skilled out of all Tyson's opponents. He was p4p one of the best due to winning championships at 175 and also HW, but his HW resume was fairly thin.

Outside of historical significance/skill, it can't be Holmes or Spinx. I think it would have to either be Berbick or Tucker. Both were champions, active, and were coming off some good wins. Berbick had won 9 fights in a row, including his title winning effort against Thomas. Tucker was undefeated, but had a fairly unremarkable resume outside of his wins against fringe contenders Young, Broad, etc and won a vacant belt against Douglas. I would have to say Berbick since he had a deeper resume than Tucker and actually beat a reigning champ to win his belt while Tucker fought for a vacant trinket. The reason I don't include Smith despite him also being a champion is because Smith had a horrible record and beat a very disinterested Witherspoon, then made hardly any effort to actually win his fight with Tyson.

 

I could make good arguments for Berbick, Spinks or Holmes. I could make some sort of case for Thomas and Tucker as well but i feel the other three are stronger claims.

 

It is an inarguable fact that Holmes was inactive, he hadn't fought in 2 years.

 

I always thought Michael Spinks but good pick

 

That's certifiably false.