Is there a LHW who would have stood a chance with Tyson?

Having said that they might have a significant reach advantage which they did not usualy enjoy at heavyweight.

 

The only fighter I could think of was Langford he proved he could take on larger men admittedly none where a prime Tyson but he was a good boxer hit hard and had a very good chin and cardio. If he manages to take Tyson's best shots and stay up while fighting on the inside were Mike was never that strong he could win a decision especially over 15.

 

A reach advantage is only an advantage if you are faster of hand and fast enough to stay on the outside. Veyy few guys have that advantage against Tyson.

Fighting Tyson on the outside was never the best tactic to fight him because he expected you to do so and his footwork was designed to close the space fast against guys trying to fight him on the outside.

The way to beat a prime Tyson is to try to time himThrow punches and clinch him to disrupt his pace .

Fighting him on solely on the outside is a losing proposition because Tyson is fast enough to catch and had very good footwork.

 

Even without that ability it beats the hell out of not having a reach advantage over him. It gives you some capacity to score points without getting your head taken off.

 

Roy Jones?

 

Bit of a wild card but what about Jimmy Slatterey. He might have the apropriate style.

 

Spot on. Tunney could barely get past Greb in their fights. I doubt he could get by a prime "Iron" Mike Tyson.:good

 

Beating a washed up Dempsey and almost beating a dehydrated Louis doesn't equate to beating Tyson. Dempsey's footspeed was gone in the Tunney fights, and Louis came in weight-dranied for Conn, not to mention Joe's footspeed is not on Tyson's level.

Personally, I don't think Tyson could lose to any lightheavyweight, but if I had to pick one, I would pick Tunney, but I would still expect Tyson to smash him.:good

 

Harry Greb and Mike Tyson are not verry similar. They both aply pressure but that is where the similarities end.

 

But pressure would be the key, wouldn't it?

 

Against Tunney?

I think it is Tysons finishing ability more than anything else that would win this for him. The ability to capitalize on a single mistake as the faded Dempsey so nearly did.

 

That pressure fighter was one of the best pound for pound fighters in history, who also beat heavyweights...ranked heavyweights. Tunney beat Greb in the series. Greb won one fight “ officially “ by butting Tunney face. Jack Johnson said Greb was the fastest fighter he ever saw. Tunney was a pure boxer type without a big punch. Greb was a windmill with a pound for pound type of chin. The two men had some wars.

It should be noted that both Greb and Dempsey turned down a proposed last fight from Tunney. Greb said Tunney got too big. Dempsey said no thanks to Tunney vs Dempsey III. Two hall of fame guys said no thanks to another fight with Tunney. Are you aware of this?

Though Tunney gets little credit for it, he was a super tough fighter, capable of enduing pain, or winning matches with injuries. Tunney was only down once in 83 fights, so even if you think he fought mostly light heavies, his chin has to be viewed as good. I doubt Tunney freezes up vs Tyson like Spinks did. Tyson could lose heart and become undone. Tyson had major league swelling problems. Tunney jab marked guys up. In short, Tunney has a shot here.

If you watch the Tunney vs Dempsey fights, you'll note Tunney ran circles around Dempsey. Tunney would move and jab, then catch Dempsey with his right. Other times, he clinch and re-set. Dempsey wanted to Brawl, but could not catch Tunney, save for the long count round. That is the story of the fight.

Would I pick Tunney? NO! Does he have a real shot? I think so.

 

Young Ali was a LHW he would stand a very good chance against him and any other HW in history.

 

The pressure fighter Tunney is matched against was just as ferocious as Greb, but more polished, much bigger and stronger, with much harder punch in both hands, and beat a a lot of ranked heavyweights.

It's very debatable.

One has to look for styles matchup, and we see that Tunney didn't match up well against good pressure. He only managed to beat Greb convinsingly once out of 5 fights, when Greb started to slide down.

You aren't watching the fights too attentively, as well as you don't read contemporary sources about these fights. It is clear (and contemporary experts mentioned this in their analysis) that Dempsey changed his style for these bouts to a more usual style, making his left hook ineffective (due to his stance), and almost abandoning his rushes completely.

 

Rahman and Ruiz were ranked in the top 10 when they fought Toney and Toney himself was ranked as high as 5th or so by Ring Magazine at heavyweight.