Talent wise Tyson was athe greatest HW ever

Tyson could be out boxed, out fought during brief moments, but his biggest weakness was his mentality. That would be the area which would make him crumble against the likes of Louis and Ali.

 

Tyson had incredible talent speed, power, skill but really one thing Tyson lacked was size, a big fast man like Douglas with a great jab was able to exploit this. I have always thought Tyson had great heart as well. Tyson is the type of person who benefits from having a father figure or mentor and really most people are the same

 

I dont think that Tyson is necisarily the most naturally talented heavyweight in history.

Dempsey and Louis were certainly comparable in this respect.

I do agree that Tysons talent would make him a serious threat to any heavyweight in history while he was focused. You can pick guys like Louis and Ali over him but if the fight was actualy taking place you would be decidedly nervous going into it.

 

Damn, ya nailed it! IMO Tyson's physical skills were unquestionably among the best ever. On the other hand his business skills were ****, and his psyche was very fragile. Boxing is a business, and on a psychological level it takes one tough sob to compete on an elite level for any length of time. Compare Tyson to Foreman. George fought the best that boxing had to offer in two different generations, won world titles in two different generations, he's internationally famous, he's very wealthy, and appears to be healthy. That's a success story. Iron Mike is a freaking train wreck that didn't have to happen.

Boo

 

I'm not sure that D'Amato was the right man to help him sort out those Demons. In fact, it was Cus who permitted Tyson to drop out in only his sophomore year in highschool. He also nurtured the anger within Mike for the purpose of throwing punches with " bad intentions". What Tyon needed were true parental figures, and those kinds of role models were gone in his life. His father left long ago, and his mother was never much of a guardian, plus would die when he was teenager. Tyson was the perfect storm with the right blend of internal and external conditions to make a hardened criminal, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

 

Tyson definitely had it.

I dont care if Larry holmes was a shell, nobody should ever have been able to do that to him. Not even in his 40s. Ray Mercer had a good chance to repeat the feat?

I dont care if Michael Spinks was a former light heavyweight. So was Ezzard Charles. Why didnt Holmes or Cooney capitalize on him being a former light heavyweight?

I dont think that Tyson can be dismised as just a product of his competition.

 

Holmes was as old as the hills and extremely uninspired first fight, as he proved by rebounding performance wise in the second. Stylistically Spinks was also suited to an older slower Holmes, where as a peak one would have walked on him. Cooney was simply not that good at all, especially by the time Spinks fought the sucker.
Spinks was a very decent heavyweight, but not a patch on what he had been lower.

 

larry didnt start his carrer at the age of 18, he was 28 when he first became champ, so him being 36 is not that old cuz he was a late bloomer.

 

Larry started when he was 23 years old, won the championship when he was 28, very close to 29, and just because you won the title later doesn't mean that you are still in your peak. Larry's last peak fight was Cooney, after that his legs and hand speed were a lot slower. Even against Cobb his hand speed and legs were slower. When he was 36 his legs were pretty much completely gone, and his hand speed was still pretty fast, but it was nothing compared to what it was in his prime.

 

he was still the top heavyweight, good enough to beat top contenders like bonecrusher and carl williams. Still good enough to arguably beat spinks in the rematch, good enough to school ray mercer!

 

Thats because he is one of the greatest fighters of all time.

 

And thats why spinks is one of the greatest light heavyweights of all times, cuz unlike bob foster, he actually won fights there.

 

Agreed. I read a story about Tyson, age 15, complaining to Cus "i'm ugly, girls don't like me". Cus walked out, grabbed a baseball bat, put it in Mike's lap and said "you need those to fight them off once you're champion". Not really the best thing to say to a troubled teenager.