From 1900-1970 name a contender who

Ali, Foreman, Holmes, Marciano, Louis, Dempsey

 

Shoot, you're right, I didn't really pay attention to that lol

 

Weren’t they all contenders before they became champions?

 

George Chuvalo
Oscar Bonavena
Cleveland Williams
Sam Langford/Harry Wills
Tom Sharkey
Rex Layne

May all give him more problems than he bargained for. I especially like Chuvalo if Tyson goes for an early knockout. I was gonna add Quarry but he wasnt very relevant til the 70s

 

George foreman would have been way too green at that point, so that means theres no one grapefruit would bet on against a prime iron Mike.

 

Ernie Terrell would have given him problems.

 

Prime (pre champion) Liston, possibly Harry Wills, there aren't many non champs tbh

 

Terrell would have neutralized Tyson's offense with his clinches.

He would have lost a wide decision, because of his negativity, but he would have been one of the guys who took Tyson the distance!

 

Of your picks I can only see Langford,Wills and Williams,giving Tyson any trouble.Tyson would rip through Chuvalo and Bonavena without any trouble whatsoever.
Sharkey and Layne would be beaten to pulps inside 5 rds apiece, neither had much defence and Layne was vulnerable to body shots.Tyson would fold him in half.
Williams could trouble Tyson momentarily, similar to Ruddock,but his power would not compensate for his less than stellar chin.
Wills from what I have been able to glean, would be too slow for Tyson and his clinching style would not serve him well against such an explosive puncher as Mike.Harry liked to hit on the break and had a couple of other," little tricks",if he started them with Tyson he would end up with a broken arm or worse.
Langford was an all time puncher and a great punch placer,against that he would be facing a much faster and bigger man with a great chin and an excellent variety of punches.

 

George Godfrey II? (Until he gets DQ'd)

 

I never said they would've beaten him, I rank Tyson as the 10th greatest h2h fighter ever, the only people above him are champions, of course

They were simply the best picks I could think of