If Tyson fought in the 70s he would not survive

As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t a ‘best version of Mike Tyson vs. best 1970s version of each guy’ — Mike didn’t hold it together very long in his real timeline and it’s (to me) kind of a ridiculous leap to think he would do so in a mythical 1970s version … how is a guy who not just lost to Buster Douglas but got dominated by him (for all but like 10 seconds) going to stand up to Ali/Frazier/Foreman/Holmes?

And what about after he loses? People talk about Foreman being in a state after Ali … Mike, too, needed a complete makeover. You go from being the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ to needing walkovers against Henry Tillman and Alex Stewart to get your confidence back? And then slogs through a couple of punch-foul-punch-foul affairs with a one-trick pony like Ruddock where he’s so easy to hit.

I don’t see it. His training habits, discipline and personal life all fell apart after Spinks. Nobody that unfocused for that long gets through the 1970s without taking some more beatings that further erode his confidence … and it’s just a downward slide from there.

 

In fact, after Spinks, Tyson had no real challenge and became overconfident. So much so that he kicked his coach out of the room, can you imagine? Rooney himself said that Tyson simply stopped training and stopped developing. Would he do it with the prospect of fighting rivals such as Foreman, Lyle, Frazier, Ali, Young, Norton? Until he cleared the division, he would still have to stay focused and then maybe he would lose to some Homes, Shavers, Cooney or even Leon Spinks because he would eventually burn out. Tyson was ruined by easy victories.

 

But for a 4 year period he was quite clearly the best in the world it by a million miles and it wasn’t even close. No heavyweight in the 70s holds that kind of claim and as mentioned in my previous post. If mikes comeuppance starts in the mid 70s as the division started to fade he probably cleans the division out apart from a few potential banana skins.

There’s a slot there where he would absolutely obliterate the competition just like he did in the 80s apart from Holmes, potentially Foreman, but almost certainly smokes the rest of them

 

The only one I'd bet against him is Foreman, it could go either way for early 70s Ali and Frazier. He comfortably beats the rest

 

He was clearly the best for four years in a small pond that had a bunch of fish that had already been speared, for the most part: Bonecrusher and Trevor and drug addict Pinklon, etc., were the second tier. Holmes out of retirement on a month’s notice after a few years off. Michael Spinks was the ‘big fish’ and he was a light heavyweight literally on his last legs with bad knees.

I don’t think anyone could make an intellectually honest argument that the crew Tyson lorded over for his brief ‘baddest man’ reign is anywhere near on par with Ali, Foreman ,Frazier and prime Holmes. To think you can beat Tony Tubbs and Frank Bruno means you beat Foreman or Ali … just no.

The fact that Buster blustered and popped his balloon at 23 years old says a lot.

 

My original post was about Tyson starting in the mid 70s. By the time he is fighting the best at this point would be 75/76

A shot Ali, who was effectively reduced to a punching bag receiving the rub of the green against an already past it Norton and Jimmy Young? a shot Frazier, a mentally shot Foreman (who I still give a shot due to styles) a fading Norton who has a terrible match up against Tyson. Leon Spinks? Earnie Shavers that was losing to about everyone that was in the top 10?

I don’t think anyone could make an intellectually honest argument that the division was anything close to a ‘golden’ era at this point. The one shining light is a young and upcoming Holmes, assuming Tyson loses focus and mentally implodes, he might well have been the person to put him in his place

 

I don't think he would have dominated like he did in the 1980s, but it's quite possible that if he had entered the game around 1970, many people would have said that the 1970s were the years of vagabonds and wondered what would have happened if he had met Ali from 1967, yes. how today we wonder what would have happened if Holmes in 1988 had been a few years me

 

LOL I was just coming here to pick a bone with ya

 

He would have been devastating for a short time in any era, but once his eye is no longer on teh ball, the 70s crew will be very bad news.

Exactly what happens, depends on when his prime happens.

 

Ali in title fights in the 70s: 12-2 plus loss to Norton
Foreman in title fights in the 70s: 3-1 plus loss to Young
Frazier in title fights in the 70s: 5-2 plus loses to Ali and Foreman in nontitle fights

Tyson's reign: 10-1 plus two wins over Ruddock before prison.

I think the 70s guys are the ones with something to prove to Tyson, not the other way around.

 

Sorry ,but Mike wets his pants against George. Geroge Foreman is NOT Bruno, Ruddock or Smith. Foreman was a brute but he could box, you don't win Olympic gold medals without skills. Mike can't come forward against George, he'll get mauled, tied up and shoved back so he'll be right in front of him, like a Hobo on a railroad track. Geroge Foreman's style and power are just kryptonite for Tyson.
P.S. The Lyle fight, is that the one where the fight ended with Ron face down? and,,,did you ever see Mike get up and win a fight after being knocked down?

 

Tyson won and he was still improving at that time.

This is a dumb analogy. I can give you a similar one and say Jones is a poor mans Tyson and he gave Ali hell and some saw him as the winner.

Nobody said it's somebody else's problem, but my point is still valid, he wasn't properly prepared.

Utter nonsense. Douglas was stronger, hit harder and had much better fundamentals than Ali. And he was better prepared than ever when he faced Tyson.

 

Yes they do, people make "excuses" all the time, sometimes they are valid, other times they aren't.

 

The funny part is...they were all poor man's Ali's.

Tyson beat Tillis, Thomas, Biggs, Williams, Tucker, Green and others. He was actually very well prepared to deal with Ali's style.