Supposimg that Ali and Tyson swapped eras..?

My opinion is that Ali wins and Tyson would lose. Not a defo on Tyson but we were going through this one back and forth sometime back and that was my conclusion. I'd love to pick Tyson but that was my unbiased outcome.

 

There's no worry in picking Ali over Berbick from me, but Liston-Tyson is a good debate, it's very interesting. I'd stick around and do this one but i'm pressed for time at the moment unfortunately. Good thread.

 

I've been through Kid Dynamite vs Liston before. I favour Tyson to get past the jab and land the heavy artillery.

 

If you go beyond that one particular match for the title into the the various fighters of the era each would have faced Ali fares much better than Mike would have in my opinion.

 

I think 20-year old Tyson could have the tools to beat the somewhat past prime and somewhat overconfident version of Liston in 1964. The big question is how he would react mentally. He showed no fear or hesitation whatsoever against Berbick, but Berbick of course had nothing like the reputation and aura that Liston did. How would a relatively untested Tyson react against someone as brutally intimidating as Liston? Hard to say.

Clay makes Berbick look foolish and probably takes him out after some 9, 10 rounds.

 

In my opinion, Tyson would not have beaten Liston, unless the mob fixed it.

But let's imagine he did get past Liston. I see him beating all of Ali's opponents up to 1967, many of them ridiculously easily and quickly.

But if he came back in 1970, I think he'd get beat by Quarry, or if he gets past Quarry (with a cuts win, for example) he'd probably get beaten up by Bonavena.
I mean, those two guys are a lot harder proposition than Peter McNeeley, Buster Mathis Jr, Frank Bruno or Bruce Seldon !

 

I think Ali beats everyone that Tyson beat, while Tyson comes fairly close to doing the reciprocal, with George Foreman being the possible exception..

 

I don't think that Tyson loses to Quarry regardless of however much time he took off. A 1970 Muhammad Ali, who was in his first fight back, stopped Quarry on cuts within 3 rounds, and did so by being a bit more flat footed than usual.. The rust was still there, but he beat Jerry in easy fashion. Tyson's crouching and punching style would pose similar kinds of problems for Quarry to the ones that Joe Frazier did, only with more devastating power behind them.... This is a mismatch..

 

I'd have to agree there...interesting scenario.

 

Probably true

 

I'm just basing it on what Tyson did do after his 4 year hiatus.
Quarry was an effective and hard counterpuncher. Durable and fearless. As I said, a HUGE step up from the likes of McNeeley.