Best Tyson opponent that Ron Lyle beats?

Old Holmes

 

Lyle had some good wins. Buster Mathis, Gregorio Peralta, Oscar Bonavena, Jimmy Ellis, Earnie Shavers and Joe Bugner were all defeated by Lyle. On the other hand, he went down to defeat against Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Young twice.

I think that pretty much represents how the righty would have done against most of Tyson's opponents. Other than the greats such as Lewis and Holyfield, Lyle could have beaten or lost to guys like Ruddock, Douglas, Tucker, Bruno and Tubbs.

If I had to name the best guy Lyle could beat it would be Michael Spinks. Not that he would have beaten Michael every time but I think he would have earned two or three wins in a ten fight series

 

Spinks couldn't have taken the punishment, early stoppage.

Holmes was too old, but might have made the distance.

 

If Lyle could cut it relatively close with Ali, and Holmes could lose and cut it close w Spinks and Williams, that gives him a good chance.

 

Disagree that Lyle wins but good observation.

 

Considering mercer went life and death with someone like Jess Ferguson, I wouldn’t say he’s similar in quality to Ron Lyle.

 

For me though Ali kind of sleptwalk through the Lyle fight he really didn't have any offence and was going through the motions until he decided to open in the 11th round and finish off Lyle.

It was more to do with what Ali wasn't doing rather what Lyle was doing.

 

And Lyle got stopped in 2 rounds by Lynn Ball.

Are we forgetting Mercer had a razor thin close fight vs a prime Lewis ? And had another close fight vs Holyfield ?

Ferguson is also underrated he won the "ESPN young Heavyweight Tournament" in the 80s and was undefeated at one point.

He holds wins over Buster Douglas, Ray Mercer, and went the distance in competitive fights with alot of notable Heavyweights.

Had one of the Heavyweight fights of the decade in the 80s vs Carl Williams.

Came close to stopping Larry Holmes in the 90s and lost a very close decision to him.

 

When he was 38, yeah.

Lennox was also behind the cards against frank Bruno before his power bailed him out. He underperformed more often than people realised.

Wasn’t holyfield coming off semi-retirement, injuries, and health issues? Either way, while ray gave holy a hard fight, it was hardly close.

He lost to carl Williams, Mike Tyson, James smith, Anders eklund, orlin Norris, Oliver McCall, Bruce seldon, Michael dokes, (who came in at an utterly obese 260 lbs by the way) and tony tubbs. Those are just the people he lost to before he faced mercer. This isn’t someone a top contender has any business losing to.

What do you mean undefeated at one point? Are you praising him for being undefeated in his first 12 fights before he lost his 13th to Carl Williams?

a fat and unmotivated buster. Douglas had worse loses before.

You mean the dude I’m criticising for losing to Jesse?

Funny way of saying he lost to anyone with a pulse.

When Larry was 44, yeah.

 

When did he come close to stopping Holmes? He didn't even drop him. Holmes came back from the canvas multiple times to win.

Mercer didn't come remotely close to stopping Holmes.