"Iron" Mike Tyson vs. James "Buster" Douglas - 1987

Yeah, that was the fair assumption at the time. But since he didn't actually prove any improvement past 1988, we have to consider 1986-'88 at his absolute peak years when we rate him.
It turns out Thomas, Tucker, Biggs, Holmes etc. are his best fights, his peak fights.
And when we imagine how Tyson would do against other ATGs, for example, we use that Tyson. Who had flaws, physical and mental.
Also, when he slipped just a little from that peak, still in his youth and his prime, he was beaten from pillar to post by an non-ATG.
That's how we make an assessment.
He was great but clearly a long way off being flawless or invincible or complete, mentally and physically.

I've always said, a lot of the Tyson hype and excitement was built around his "potential" because he was so young. But since it is all history now, we have to rate him on what he really was not what was the reasonable hope and guess-work back in the late 1980s.
As it happens, he qualifies as a "great" anyway.

The difference is Ali came back and had a great career, even while past prime. Talking about Ali's "hypothetical missing peak" is pointless too, and in his case wholly unnecessary to boost his ranking.
Tyson, in contrast to Ali, was thrashed by Douglas before he went into his exile (jail), and the best win he has in his second career was probably Frank Bruno again.

There's a huge gulf between Ali and Tyson, in terms of career and in terms of proven ability.

The whole "could have been" story applies to thousands of boxers. Most of them "could have been" better than they were, if not for their own decisions and other circumstances.
It applies to most of the boxers Tyson beat too, to be fair.


But you know all this.

 

If anyone else mentioned that you'd call them a "hater".

 

Tyson by KO in 5

 

Tyson on points

 

You can't be serious ?!
The Douglas that showed up for Holyfield was 246 lbs, while the Douglas that showed up vs Tyson was 231 lbs.
He was way overweight for Holyfield

 

Bull****. Tyson was not prepared

 

Tyson ate soup and salad in order to make weight

 

And you need to get back to reality