Mike Tyson, Top Ten Worthy?

Now Seamus, you know better than that, lad.

I could do pretty much the same shredding job with the resume of any HW.

Any boxer, if it came to it.

 

For swagdelfadeel's benefit, I'll post the correct answer to the oft-asked question about who belongs in the top ten. (It was revealed to me in a dream).


Ali
Louis
Lewis / Foreman

Marciano / Holmes

Frazier / Liston /Tyson


Wlad.

 

That wasn't a shredding but an accurate reporting of fact.

Still, I have Marciano in my top 10.

 

Solid. Very.

Tho I wouldn't have Foreman that high.

 

I don't think his competition as champ. was especially weak. I notice you left Lennox off the list of champions you compared him to. Lennox's overall comp. was pretty weak. He had a few big names, but as you know they weren't prime when he beat them.

As you noted, Marciano's best wins were against the old, decrepit guys you listed. They were all way past their best

Holmes made 20 defenses, but you only listed Norton, who he barely beat, an ancient, shot Ali and the limited Mercer. I think semi prime Witherspoon was a very good opponent for Holmes. For a 7.5 yr. reign and 20 defenses, Holmes' overall comp. as champ. is pretty weak.

You could go line by line, and find fault with just about any Heavyweight champs list of opponents.

 

Yeah, Foreman arguably too high, but blowing out Frazier and Norton is very impressive.

 

Just out of curiosity's sake, what's your top ten list?

 

Blowing out those two (a top ten and a top twenty ) as part of a string of 24 consecutive stoppages (average of 2 rounds) and coming back as a middle aged man after 10 years away, to recapture the championship at well past 40 (closer to 50 actually), that puts him up there in my book.

 

He caught a spent Frazier, a guy who had been rated the best heavy for the previous 6 years and did so on limited physical assets and a style made for a short prime. The definition of "ripe for the picking".

Speaking of ripe and picking, the KO streak is impressive but the great majority of those guys had "Hunts" or "Delmonte" printed on their shorts.

And lastly, his second career was well orchestrated and he met the one guy dumb or lazy enough to stand in front of him. Not even Tommy Morrison was that stupid.

Still, a top 10 heavyweight. I would put him "down" with the Tyson/Liston level.

 

He was the oldest heavyweight champion. He is the first and only man to regain the title 20 years after losing it.

 

He is truly an awesome fighter, not soon if ever to be repeated. No doubt about it.

 

Agreed. :good

 

Ali, Louis, Holmes, Foreman, Frazier, Holyfield are all greater than Tyson.

 

where would Tyson rank if douglas was down 2 more seconds? that's his defining fight and if he won despite being outboxed I'd have him way up there. later money needing slow version is irrelevant to me in this context.

 

He would have fought Holyfield next, probably been beaten up and knocked out, even if he comes to fight in his best shape.
People would actually then make the same excuses they do now, and use his shaky win over Douglas as evidence that he was no longer the same fighter of 2 years earlier.
But then others would just realize Holyfield was better than Tyson.

Truth is, Douglas probably could have got up a second or two earlier, rather than later, so it's all very hypothetical.