Mikey Tyson turning pro in 1969 And fighting George Foreman's Opponents!

Maybe you should rethink the statement in bold. Frazier controlled that fight, did most of the damage and looked ready to keep going at the end of 15 while screaming at Ali "I kicked your ass!". He was hardly "beaten to death".

 

Tyson stays unbeaten,stopping an out of shape,complacent Frazier in 1973. Stops Roman and Norton,but gets picked apart by Muhammad Ali in Zaire. Tyson's never the same again after that,and gets beaten by Ali in a rematch even easier than he did first time round.

 

Frazier may also win the return with Tyson,provided it's before Manila.

 

Too right,McGrain !

 

tyson was way faster than foreman so he would be a more dangerous opponent for ali.

 

I guess Tyson would of retired in 1977 with record of 46-1, only loss to '74 Ali by TKO11.

 

Ali on the night he beat Foreman beats any heavyweight boxer in history.

 

FH, you talk about Mike Tyson more than his actual diehard fans, very disturbing for someone who "hates" him. You probably are a diehard Tyson fan yourself with a shrine of him in your closet.

Tyson whips everyone worse than Foreman did and does better against Ali but still comes up short. Tyson was no slugger-happy fighter until really after prison though he was sharp in the Golota & Botha performances. Frazier was not prime in '73 but you can't come-forward Mike to beat him so Mike flattens him especially since Frazier's head movement post-71 was not nearly as sharp as it used to be. Kills Norton but what he doesn't do is have the longetivity Foreman did, I can't see that with Tyson's peek a boo style though Patterson did it but that's because he could fight going backwards, Tyson never could.

If he did face the same opponents and have that longetivity he would lose to Holyfield but make it closer with his speed that's remaining and he would NOT lose to Schulz or Morrison. He may as well beat Briggs because he faded as a post-prison Tyson did so that plays into Mike's hands.

 

Muhammad certainly was a force of nature on that night.

 

No he wasn't.

He was just a brave and savvy fighter facing an overconfident yet unpolished fighter disguised as an unstoppable force.

He was simply always going to beat Foreman and that is all.

 

People take ALOT for granted here, considering Tyson gets quite a few passes for declining even before Douglas. He would hit his roughest challenges of this era past his best.

I for one do not think Tyson post Douglas was that awesome a fighter. Certainly an offensive dynamo, but the defensive attention that made him a true phenom was gone: He was simply a great, fast puncher now, with a leaky defense. Go a bit later, and his champions heart further erodes to something else.

I get it if we're assuming Tyson grows and acts like a normal human, but I think 8 years at the very top of a division is too much for Mike. His best stuff just didn't last that long.

 

Tyson post Spinks wasn't the same fighter anymore, watch the first Bruno fight.

 

I agree, but had Tyson been around in the 70's and 80's Cus D'Mato would still be alive. Don King would not sweep in and ruin Tyson.

 

Undefeated as long as he stayed focused. The Ali match would look something like Tucker-Tyson or the first few rounds of Biggs-Tyson played in a loop.

 

I agree with you; That means Tyson starts to decline after 71.


If we're assuming things like no Don King and more Cus, I can see different. But if we're actually just transplanting history, Mike lands in a murderer's row past his best, and while amazing, I don't think he was THAT good.

The mythical focused lengthened Prime Tyson was never seen. We don't know if Tyson had peaked, or had higher to go. That would certainly be the era to test him.