Mike Tyson - Has There Ever Been a Light Heavyweight...

A very underrated light heavy, but he wasn't elusive enough and lacked the chin required to achieve this very improbable task.

 

I'd have picked Tyson by KO1, and that is an honest prediction that I'm pretty confident on. Moorer lacked the strength, defense, and durability at LHW to deal with Tyson. He really was a better HW IMO, and tends to get quite overrated at LHW.

 

It's folly that Spinks was flat-out "scared". "Rattled" would be more accurate. Rattled enough to simply go for broke trying to land his right hand. The agenda was to get it over with - one way or another.

His bout against Tangstad and Cooney were good, lucrative money bouts. The Cooney bout was particularly dramatic. As a spectator, Mike Tyson even enjoyed it.

Consider this; if Spinks hadn't fought Tangstad and Cooney, there would have been NO demand for Tyson to face him. Spinks made roughly seven million dollars with those two bouts - and the Cooney drubbing led to his making 13.5 for Tyson. All said and told, not bad.

Did you really want Spinks facing Tyson with more than the twelve months of accumulated rust he had going into that June '88 bout?

 

As I see it, there is a vast playing field of great light heavy's - but none of them would be able to beat the 1988 Mike Tyson.

Why?

Pressure.

Tyson is known for his punching power and ferocity. I hold that what made him special in his time was his defensive prowess, combined with his forward-moving, relentless pressure that he put on foes.

He'd be putting enormous pressure on them whilst slipping the vast majority of their blows. That's when he was at his best - then his blazing fast delivery and vaunted power would bring the house down.

In order to beat Tyson, a foe had to get his respect right away. I don't see it happening from Moore to Foster through Tarver.

 

A Light heavyweight that could beat him?

Come on...... nobody in the history of all 175lbs'ers comes close to Mike Tyson head to head.

There's a 30lbs of sheer muscle difference in Tysons prime, and he's one of the fastest fighters every offensively, with hands and feet.

Tyson KO all LHW under 4 rounds.

 

Not watch Moorer-Tua then?

 

Weighing at lightheavy weight? Langford's the only guy I see having even a very outside chance.
Maybe some of the older lightheavies, if they'd come along in Mike's day, would have turned out bigger and had more of a chance. But that's different than their weighing in at lhwt.

 

i think the tyson of 1989 to 1991 may of been beaten by some of the more skilled and elusive lhw's of history and thats a big MAYBE

i can't think of lhw in history that could beat the animal of 86 to 88

 

If you mean a 175 pounder ,who beefs up to to take Tyson on ,I would say no,not Moore ,Foster,Conn ,my reason is Tyson had very special handspeed for a heavyeight,excellent power,and was a pocket Hercules,I think he gets to an LH eventually ,whether it be a great Boxer like Loughran ,Conn,or a banger like Moore ,Foster. I thnk a prime Moore gives him the most trouble,but Tyson's particular qualities give him the edge here for me

 

No. And people - please don't name obscure 1920s fighters that would have had gotten their asses handed to them.

 

If you say that something is imposible in boxing it suggests that you lack imagination. The most I would say is that it was improbable or that it would require an all time performance.

Is it theoreticaly possible for a light heavyweight to beat a prime Mike Tyson?

Absolutely.

If they could avoid getting hit by him then they could outpoint him and once they got past the first six rounds the task would start to look eminently doable. Lets not forgett that some light heavyweights have significant advantages over Tyson in terms of reach and height.

So who is going to do it?

The best bet would be sombody verry mobile on their feet with deluxe boxing skills a sturdy chin and good reach. If I have to pick a name out of the air I would say Gene Tuney.

 

Nope,never,zip,nadda,next....

 

It should be noted Roy Jones wanted the fight in 2003. He could at least beat Tyson to the punch with leaping left hooks, and zip back out of punching range implementing a stick and move strategy. Jones is the only 1 I'd give a chance and I still wouldn't give him much over 10% against a faded version (with him being prime)

 

No

TYson is a nightmare for any LHW to fight.

The lightermans tactic of using his greater speed to outspeed the HW will not work against a guy as fast as Tyson.

Guys who try to run against Tyson get cut of and destroyed