Is Mike Tyson a myth?

True, but a lot of his critics make him out to be a total bum as well. Neither is that true. Once again, I don't know any all-time caliber athlete who has this many knowledgeable detractors in terms of talent evaluation. For instance, a lot of people disliked Ali or Leonard and thought they were over-rated; but even their worst critics rarely will say that they are not top 10 or even top 5 at their respective weights. But I've seen plenty of Tyson's critics who claim he's not even top 20-25 and make yet even more outlandish claims. And mind you: These are not just casual fans (whose opinions don't matter) but really knowledgeable posters I've encountered in many fora.

 

Anyways, TLDR: My view is that Tyson is grossly over-rated among casual fans; but he is also grossly under-rated among the genuinely knowledgeable fans.

 

Tyson is top 10 all time in terms of greatness and top 5 all time in terms of H2H matchups.

 

Excellent post, only a couple things I disagree with. Spinks' knees were shot for Tyson and he hadn't fought in one year, so i wouldn't say he was exactly prime.

You do bring up an excellent point about Liston being given hell for quitting. I remember that idiot Perry/Houdini (our resident/treadmill warrior) saying he had a strict policy on fighters quitting being relieved of ATG status but only applied it to Liston (who he refused to rate on the sole basis of his performance against one fighter in the greatest of all time) whistle simultaneously giving everyone else who quit on their stools (including in a championship match) a pass.

 

A) Lennox Lewis.Wladimir Klitchko.Tyson"s defeat speaks of his lack of preperation and loss of focus and wild living rather than inherent defects in his fighting unit.

B) He didnt get a chance to avenge it . Douglas refused a rematch...lost to EH..than de facto did nothing and fought no one the rest of his life...
...while Mike went to prison..The Holyfield fights yes he lost to a superior fighter at the time..just my opinion that Tyson was long gone by than...long gone... more gone than EH who also wasnt the same..... i think if they had met 1986-1991 Tyson wins imo

C) In his 1986-1991 prime before prison he was only down once and tried to get up.If you"re questioning Tysons heart and ability to overcome adversity in his prime i think your very wrong..Tyson should incredible guts and will to win in 2 wars with the most dangerous heavyweight in the world in 1991...he won a brawl with Bruno..he was hit very hard by Bonecrusher in the 12 round and fired back furiously ...Mike could have gone 20 rounds with any of these aforementioned big hitters...his "how dare they challenge me with their primitive skills " speech after Williams was the speech of a 22 year old man 41-0 at his peak...it was a man willing to die in the ring...i dont see any quit in Tyson from 1985-1991 no matter what the long discredited bitter and biased troll Teddy Atlas says.
D) I open myself to criticism here but I genuinely believe having been headbutted and fouled so much Tyson simply snapped and retaliated in kind..Teddy Atlas"s disingenious and petty slur that Mike did it to quit has grown a life of its own and is not borne out by the facts...an enraged Tyson beleiving he was being cheated out of a fair fight reverted back to his street self .
E) In his prime Tyson only lost to Douglas...and cleaned out the entire division...the only elite opponents he didnt meet in that time were Foreman and EH..and if not for prison he would"ve met them in 1991 and 1992.Yes he lost twice to EH.
F) Errantly untrue imo

I get whats behind your post ...a lot of average men on the street think its Ali v Tyson for numero uno in the HW"s ...Youtube is full of such nonsense....for the record i have Tyson around 12 in my all time list....i think amongst hardcore fans Tysons stock has dropped a little unfairly...

 

Was Tyson a myth? I would say yes and no.

No:

• Tyson was one of the most accomplished fighters in terms of skill that has ever been seen. He was a once and generation heavyweight that combined explosive offense with slick aggressive counterpunching defense. (I would rank him very high in defense as a heavyweight when he put his mind to it).
• He held the undesputed Heavyweight title for 3 years with 8 title defenses. That is excellent. He fought good competition and proved a worthy champion during his reign.

Yes:

• Tyson chin is considered granite but all of his loses were by KO except the second fight against Holyfield where his bit him.
• Tyson should have been able to take care of Douglas, personal problems or not. You get paid to fight, you prepare and win despite the circumstances if you are the GOAT.
  
• Tyson had his chances to redeem himself. He had Holyfield who 34 in the first match. He had Lennox who was KOed was McCall and Rahman. Instead of rise to the occasion and resume his reign of terror, he was KOed each time.

Mike is not a myth because he destroyed men as soon as the bell rung. He was not swinging wild. He was fast and skilled and a well trained machine. At his best he would be a top contender in the all eras and a ruling champion in a few.

However, exactly because of how he beat his opponents he has rightly earned a cult following that will never say die. Despite the fact that his resume can never stand with Ali or Louis. He never came close to beating the level of competition of Ali or ruling for an entire generation like Louis he is still the most talked about heavyweight ever.

I believe that reason he has some well earned myth is that we miss him and keep waiting for someone to be just like him. Those other greats didn’t do it like Mike did. He was the fighter we all want to be. We don’t want to dance around in a street fight trying to outbox some jerk like Ali or patiently stalk someone...we want to Tyson him so that everyone on earth knows we are the wrong one to step to.

The thing is that Mike was actually that person....and he was not that person.

 

Not sure if it's been discussed in this thread, but if you had to guess, what percentage of the people who feel that Tyson is a myth recognize that Jack Dempsey was far more of a myth?

 

The Classicist seems to have a toolbox of massively differing standards upon which to measure fighters of the distant past and those of the not-so-distant past.

 

The poll title "Is there a widely held but false belief or idea of Mike Tyson (Myth) " is deceptive, shows a lack of objectivity and reeks of the same fanboy-ism that multiple people on this thread have mentioned.

 

Very good post and this line in particular was poetic. Tyson was a man full of strange contradictions. There is no black and white yes or no answer to who and what Mike Tyson is. Both the person and the fighter are polarizing: hated or loved, underrated or overrated with few people able to objectively assess his career.

 

Well put.!

 

Of course there's a myth surrounding Mike Tyson.
That often comes with being as famous as he was/is.

The average 'man in the pub' will tell you all about Mike Tyson and how he was unbeatable (INVINCIBLE) until Don King/drink/drugs/women/himself got to him, or until his trainer died, or before he went to prison, or whatever.
There are people here who peddle the same line, just with more details.

 

He has reached Mythical status for sure among casuals and his loyal fans.

KO'd in his prime by Buster Douglas
He didn't even avenge his losses.
No Holy or Lewis win.
Decent, good fighters on his resume but nothing outstanding.
3 years of fights lost because of Jail.

He is a great fighter. He had some serious speed, skill and power. But Tyson's mythical status as the greatest heavyweight fighter and most unstoppable fighter in his prime (despite losing in his prime) is something that I can't agree on. Top 5-10 Heavyweight all time and thats it.