I will not apply any context, you should already know. This will be a list consisting of Champions, Former Champions, Top Contenders and Fringe Contenders Evander Holyfield: - Pinklon Thomas - Michael Dokes - Alex Stewart - James Douglas - George Foreman - Larry Holmes - Riddick Bowe - Ray Mercer - Michael Moorer - Mike Tyson - Hasim Rahman - John Ruiz Mike Tyson: - Trevor Berbick - James Smith - Pinklon Thomas - Tony Tucker - Tyrell Biggs - Larry Holmes - Tony Tubbs - Michael Spinks - Frank Bruno - Carl Williams - Alex Stewart - Donovan Ruddock - Bruce Seldon - Lou Savarese - Andrew Golota
If you add context you could make a case for Tyson, but just looking at the names on Holy's resume, including TysonX2, they really jump out.
By my count if you don't count the Golota NC Tyson and Holyfield are tied with 19 wins over HW contenders. Tysons got 16 KOs though and Holyfields got 10. Alex Stewart is not counted. Holyfields got the Bowe and Moorer wins which are probably better then any of Tysons but its hard not to consider the fact he lost 3 times to those guys. Tysons list is better when context is applied but it is devoid of landmarks. Holmes, Tucker and Spinks are the 3 best opponents Tyson beat while Holyfields are Bowe, Moorer and Tyson. Its kind of funny how reductionist the modern fan is with landmark wins and they will say a fighter "beat no one" if they don't have them but with Tyson they kinda wave that away. They should wave it away but just saying.
During the Tyson/Holmes fights, Larry Merchant called Holmes "the old landmark". So Tyson does have a landmark win
I hear people claim Tyson beat bums, when in reality, his win column is as good as most other heavyweight champions. Also, Tyson beat modern sized heavyweights unlike his predecessors who beat guys who'd be light heavyweights or small cruisers today. And those guys weren't bulking up either. They were in the ring on fight night weighing 180-195 pounds.
