Mike Tyson ranks higher than Joe Frazier

Common man. He won those belts by beating Bruce Seldon who belonged nowhere in screaming distance of a top rating and Frank Bruno who was also past his prime and who Tyson had already pummeled years earlier. What you say is true about him willing those belts, but let’s not try and sell it like he beat Lennox Lewis for those titles or something

 

He lost to journeyman Buster Douglas in his prime and he lost to Evander Holyfield when he bit him. He bit Lennox Lewis too but that was at a press conference.

 

And who did Frazier beat to win a title in his prime?

Tyson is held to a double standard. Nobody else is expected to be prime a decade after winning their first belt and several years inactive.

 

It’s weird how journeymen get top ten rankings.

 

1. Frazier beat Jimmy Ellis who had proven himself to be the best active heavyweight available by winning the elimination tournament. He later beat Ali who granted had been inactive but was still the best around.
2. I don’t see him being held to a double standard. He was a great fighter. But I don’t know if he had better wins than Frazier and a loss to Buster Douglas while prime doesn’t help his case much either

 

Much better fighters than Seldon? Besides, Frazier proved himself to be the best in the world by beating Ali later.

 

Jose Ibar Urtain and Jack Bodell were top ten rated heavyweights. If they beat Joe Frazier in his prime I wouldn't have him ranked above Mike Tyson because those two gentlemen were imo journeymen and that would have meant Joe Frazier lost to a journeyman in his prime

 

I have Tyson and Frazier at 8 and 9 all time and it depends on the day which of them is higher.

 

To be fair James Douglas WAS a contender, but probably only in a fringe sense. He had no business being #2 by the IBF in 1987 nor top 5 in 1990 before fighting Tyson.

 

Ellis wouldn't have cut it in subsequent eras. Tyson did have better wins.

 

Go with that then

 

They are really about even.

 

All this. Louis might have been the most devastatingly powerful combination puncher in history, 25 title defenses (I believe he alone holds that many). And Ali "past his prime" beat an under 30 Frazier, prime Norton and (undefeated) Foreman. Was that really past his prime?

 

If I was going to counter that argument, I would point out that Tyson beat a lot more elite fighter, over a much longer period.

Every imaginable.

Then there is the youngest ever heavyweight champion thing.

Of course none of that, would detract from your original argument.