How far Tyson would have gotten

no it’s not a weak argument because Tyson has already demolished Berbick a guy who beat Thomas already. Without Thomas coming back with even a respectable win after losing to Berbick what exactly is there to show he is close to his previous or even losing form to Berbick?? When former champions like Charles, Patterson or Ali challenged new champions for titles they put in wins against current guys to show they were still current. Without a similar opportunity Thomas is up against it challenging Tyson. Back then the public was tired of the heavyweight scene they wanted to se a fresh face smash up the old guard. There was more chance of that if Thomas Is denied a chance to get back to his level.

marvis Frazier was a busy pressure fighter. And better than people think. Of course he did not hit like Tyson but he was fast and light enough to outspend bonecrusher coming forward. Their fight showed Smith was uncomfortable against low crouching fast guys. He had trouble anticipating where the punches came from when Marvis crowded him. What is he supposed to see in Mike Tyson? A harder hitting and advanced version of the same kind of style?

he certainly did. Smith was coming off a great revenge win. But he needed to prove it was not a fluke ....and he never did. Still, Smith and Berbick were two of Tyson’s more genuine wins.

Tucker never was any better than Ernie Terrell. And that’s no insult because Terrell beat Jones, Williams, Machen and Foley when they were all highly rated. I don’t think Tucker managed one win of that magnitude because he and Douglas were not above regional level when they met.

That is true. All the other American Gold Olympians apart from Pete Radmacher who challenged for titles did make it to champion. However, Biggs was going life and death in his fights. He was brave, but it seemed the pros were proving a more difficult adjustment for him. The guys he was fighting were all on the slide and were not rated ahead of him. It was not a climb up the ratings in that respect. Bey lost 3 of his last 4 fights. What test was that?


None of these guys fought an eliminator to meet Tyson. That’s strange with unified titles. The governing bodies were just offering up guys for sanctioning fees.

Rocky Marciano. Cassius Clay. Joe Frazier. Joe Louis. Lennox Lewis. They fought more guys who were winning relevant fights.

Joe Louis was more active before he joined the army.

I think there is no coincidence that the best performances of champions tend to be from the most active champions.

It seems the challengers also benefit from being active against decent opposition too.

 

Dude I completely disagree with your rational but that's fine .. as far as comparing quality of opposition as champions I think you're either hitting the bottle or just playing .. to say Louis', Marciano's or Frazier's title challengers were even comparable is a joke. Not sure how many of Louis' would even be heavyweights today, Marciano's level of opposition has been beat to death and too boring to discuss , Frazier (Ali aside) has Quarry and Bonavena, two guys who at best would be middle of the pact against Tysons .. Lewis' surely were not better if you consider fighters to be in their prime and not on name .. whatever .. I strongly disagree with your assemblage of facts and how you process them.

 

Well I guess you are entitled to your opinion but for me emphasising size alone over ring activity and quality of recent opposition doesn't make enough sense.

I guess it depends on how you see things.

For me Patterson beating Chuvalo in a title eliminator makes him a better challenger than Tony Tubbs missing out on a bonus to come in shape after not beating anyone decent for years.

To others Tubbs is 30 or 40 pounds heavier than Patterson so it didn’t matter how good he was beating Chuvalo in a recent fight.

Takes all sorts.