I’ve been thinking about his career lately with all of these videos of him training, exhibitions etc….. how do you honestly and truly rate him? I mean yes he was exciting, he was the youngest heavyweight champion, he had really good power and skills. But who did he beat that were really elite? He lost to Evander, and Lewis( he was more then done by then). To me his best wins are probably Berbick, Tucker, Spinks, Thomas, Ruddock, Green, possibly Tubbs…. I mean are we blinded by the ferocity he had? The intimidation tactics? The peek a boo style? The life story? Etc… He did have all of the potential in the world and quite honestly squandered it, but how does he honestly place in the all time heavyweight list?
Good question, and personally I can't wait for a friendly and informed discussion free from bias and insults to develop!
The losses stick out in memory since they were often dramatic and many of them were very surprising. If you take a look at his record, he had a better 1990s than he is often given credit for. He even KO2'd Golota which got canceled because he tested positive for weed of all things. He's like an evil Floyd Patterson, success came very fast as did the fall but he stuck around and did some good things after (Tyson moreso than Patterson I would say).
Overrated by casuals Underrated by hardcores Tucker Biggs Berbick Thomas Tubbs Spinks Holmes (old but was Still class post tyson) Bruno x2 Ruddock x2 Smith The above are solid opponets and much better than a lot of the garbage of today. Ruddock at the time was heavily avoided and Tony tucker was no mug either just for example Certainly not the golden era of the 70s or maybe as good as some of the names of the 90s,but there were good fighters Mike didn't have longevity,but he was awesome for a few years and was still a pretty decent heavy post prison too I think he is worthy of top 10, but had the potential to be top 5 for sure I would class him as an all time great 100% and he would give any fighter a nightmare at his best He certainly isn't invincible like many would have you believe. He is also not a heartless front runner that quits under adversity like others suggest (holyfield 2 aside, which was pure rage) He took his beatens from lewis, Douglas and holyfield like a man and he showed he had heart and an excellent chin If you are still unsure about Mike's toughness, watch the 2 fights with Ruddock
I would class him elite, but I think your ranking is solid I would probably have just inside the top 10, but 12 is fair for sure. I think 15 or below would be a little harsh
Mike Tyson fought seven current or former world champions in his first thirty five fights. I can't think of a single heavyweight that has come close that number in their first thirty-five. The question I see the most is "Who did he really beat?" or "What was his signature win?" The problem is that it is so generic it could be applied very liberally to quite a few heavyweight champions... What is Wlad's signature win? —David Haye? Peter? Lennox Lewis signature win? —He faced Holyfield in '99, nine years after Holyfield had won the titles and a heart failure later. I wouldn't call that prime Holyfield, much less call the corpse of Tyson he fought in '03 prime. We could go back and forth all day like this. Mike Tyson was one of the greatest four to six round heavyweights of all time in his prime, which due to both the physical requirements of the Peek-a-boo system and his volatile nature, was shorter than it should have been. All time he places just outside the top ten, somewhere around twelve to fifteen for me.
I rate him pretty highly because he was just that good at his best. The descent was fast and steep so he takes a knock there. His post title CV wasn't too bad though.
We can pick apart most Heavyweights' careers with the same enthusiasm we do Tyson's...... But the fact remains; Youngest HW champion of all time 5 time belt winner 10 successful defences - inc 9 in a row after Berbick. 2 time world champion Champion in two different decades. Unified HW champion in the 1980s Undisputed HW champion at one point That is all time great stuff I'm also pretty sure - correct me if I am wrong - that he had more successful consequtive defences (if not overall....) than Foreman, Lewis, Frazier and Holyfield did.... A bona fide all time great easily in my opinion.
History has been kind to Tyson. If you would ask this question 10 or 15 years ago, you'd get a different answer, with people not even having him in the top 10 ATG HW rankings because his losses were so dramatic and one sided. I think Tyson respectfully gets rated where he should be today, around the bottom of the top 10 HW's of all time. He had the potential to be the GOAT after the Spinks fight but he still had a fantastic career as a boxer. He achieved about as much money, fame and legacy than probably any other fighter who ever lived. The man hasn't been a world class fighter since 1996 but is probably the most relevant figure in all of combat sports today.
He was also a ring mag #1 contender in 3 separate decades. Interesting feat considering most view him as a flash in the pan.
Tyson's peek was incredibly short (roughly 1986-1988) partly down to his ill-discipline, partly down the the nefarious Don King and partly due to the fact his fighting style married to his lack of stature was never going to age well. But at that peek he would have beaten or the very least competed with any of the great HWs...
I rate him in the bottom half of the top 10. He achieved a lot in a short period, youngest champion ever at heavy counts for something and the way he dominated for that short period. He lacked longevity and his resume isn't that deep but he still had some decent wins later in his career such as Golota and he did beat everyone that mattered pretty much during his first reign. I also rate how he destroyed Holmes, sure Holmes was past prime but nobody ever did that to Holmes before or even after when Holmes fought way past his best. I think he would of given a lot of the past greats all they could handle but during the era of the super heavies he'd struggle due to flaws in his style that could be exploited by bigger men who could manhandle him.