" Iron " Mike Tyson ?

One big problem is he couldn't beat the best of his own era. I don't see how we get around him being from the same era as Lewis and Holyfield and being 0-3 against them. Beating Holyfield would have helped solidify Tyson as great

 

Tyson brought back excitement in boxing that was missing after Alis era you gotta give him credit for that. A win over someone like Bowe or Holyfield pre 96 would've really helped his case tho but no doubt he was a great fighter. Ppl do go overboard w 80s Mike there really is no elite tier win he had to give validation to the wild hype he gets H2H.

 

I would always pick Holy to beat Tyson and started calling it right after he beat Dokes (but I’ve been wrong a lot so read into that what you will lol). Even though I think prime Holy beats prime Tyson….I don’t think what we saw against Holyfield was a prime Tyson…certainly I find it a stretch to say he shared an era with Lewis. I don’t think 0-3 was Prime Tyson either way. Holyfield beat a still good post prime version of Tyson, not sure the other 2 fights reveal a whole lot…but to each their own.

 

Interesting, looking back at an old thread…I had Tyson outside of my top 10, and now (14 years later) he is inside of it. I guess we learn, grow, change through experience and dialogue on this forum.

I would place Tyson in the 7-10 range along with Frazier Marciano and Holyfield

 

Ever heard the saying the dumbest people are the most confident in their opinion?

 

that's the thing about Tyson there was no real good way to prepare for a fight with him, try to keep him at bay with a jab but if he slips it very high KO risk, try to box him and he gets past the opponent's pocket and is still at the end of his high KO risk, or he still more than likely takes it 10-9 because he is the aggressor and keeps coming and isn't not landing, clinch and get separated so he can try it all over again

you pretty much had to fully take him out like Douglas

 

How is it a misconception when Holmes said so himself? Also the time-line was right, and made sense.

 

I would class Tyson as an ATG. He can feasibly be ranked as high as 3 at HW which surely qualifies him for that status unless there are only 2 ‘ATG’ HWs in which case he’s not.

But he is a hard to judge fighter. He lets his trainer go and all of a sudden his technique is sliding in 89. He doesn’t train properly and he’s getting absolutely dominated for 10 rounds by a serial underachiever who achieves nothing after. He goes to prison for a few years and then he is getting absolutely dominated by a washed Holyfield. He loses confidence badly in the rematch and resolves to biting ears???

Heck a washed Holyfield at 37 almost beat Lennox Lewis whilst Tyson was getting the crap smacked out of him at 35. And neither Holyfield nor Tyson had good styles for older fighters. Surely in terms of greatness and longevity these things reflect BADLY on Tyson. NOT being able to reinvent himself.

I mean the guy has loads of credit in the bank for his 80s run, but the constant fiascos, the declining skills, not living the professional life, quit jobs etc have to count badly against him on the ATG scale.

FWIW Tyson would probably make my top 5 HWs and is my H2H goat but in the grand scheme of p4p greats he just doesn’t stack up too well.

Perhaps an ATG talent but deep down not an ‘ATG fighter’ if that makes sense

 

Prime Tyson wins. Hell Tyson not in even his to being in his prime went 11 rounds with Evander '' Head Butter '' Holyfield.