The best fighter Tyson beat ?

Thomas gets my vote, its a very underrated win IHMO.

 

Frank Bruno really fought Tyson and hit him with some nice punches before being worn down and stopped in the 5th. Bruno had stopped almost everyone he had fought. His only two losses were late in fights he was winning against Witherspoon and Smith. Don't forget that after the Tyson loss, Bruno beat Oliver McCall, after McCall had KO'd Lewis and decisioned Holmes.

Tyson starched Tubbs, but Tubbs went on to have a close fight with Bowe.
Tyson handed Tucker his first loss, the guy who stopped Douglas. Berbick was Holmes' first distance title defense. He was a big strong dude. He stopepd John Tate. Tyson blasted through him like no other did before or since.

Like others noted, a lot of guys Tyson stopped had never been stopped before, or had zero or only one or two decision losses prior to meeting him, such as Thomas, Berbick, Tubbs, etc. As a 20-22 year old kid, he was facing vastly more experienced guys in all those WBC/WBA/IBF former titlists.

Review all the media hype around the Spinks fight, a lot of reporters picked the undefeated Spinks. One thing that should be noted was that Spinks was not very active as a heavy, and had been fairly inactive prior to meeting Tyson, and yes, he was a blown up light heavy, but he had gone 30 rounds with Holmes, and stood right in Gerry Cooney's face, albeit a diminished and inactive Cooney.

Tyson was one of the few guys who got into the ring with separate WBC, WBA, and IBF champions, AND the linear champion. Carl Williams was no joke either - just watch his performance against Holmes. Of course, he never could block the hook. Smith was a big strong dude, who had KO'd Witherspoon, but just clutched to survive against Tyson.

Personally, my favorite Tyson win was over Ruddock, because he was a big 228-238 pound dude who was at the time a young hungry motivated guy with big power, having starched Bonecrusher and Dokes, and he really took it and dished it back against Mike.

 

Wonderful thoughts :good

 

This thread substantiates what I have said for YEARS....

Even though it wasn't his fault, Tyson never beat a great fighter in his entire career.

 

i think holmes fight....even though out of his prime he was still fightign and winning fights in his 50's. beating up mercer and neilson and gave a tough fight to holyfield...and defintly hyperthetically got a decision again mcCall.not as shot as you may think

holmes also having a great chin and recouperation skills seemed to not matter to the sheer pressure and power of tyson.

 

Gonna vote for Pink or Tony Tucker.

 

Tucker was an embarrassment to the words 'mandatory contender'.

 

Frazier beat Ali, Foremman destroyed Frazier, Ali KO'd Foreman. That's why Tyson, Holmes, Spinks is not relevant.

 

Afraid you are correct. Tucker is up there. Never thought much of Berbick, Thomas, or Bonehugger Smith

 

Ya Michael Spinks wasnt great right? :roll:

 

Holmes

 

I think he means a great fighter who was in his prime.

 

How many champions did though? Ali yes. Joe Louis? Not really. Neither Dempsey nor Marciano fought better fighters, imo. Johnson? No. Jeffires? No. Holmes. No. Frazier? Well, he fought Ali and Foreman, who were better than anyone Tyson beat, but the problem is he was 1-4 against them.

Ali, Holyfield and probaby Lewis aside (and in Lewis' case it's arguable) Tyson's championship opponents are on par or better than most other champion's champioship oponents.

 

Interesting proposition.

Presumably you think that Holmes and Spinks were great fighters at some point even if you dont think they were in their primes when they fought Tyson.

Just as Rocky Marciano built his legend on beating great fighters who might have been past their best so we must credit Tyson for these wins. Especialy given their decisive nature.

Also many fighters have built their legends on dominating fighters who were not great but were clearly the best available at the time.

As a student of boxing history I think that Tysons record matches up prety favourably with those of other acknowledged heavyweight legends.

One thing he often gets sold short on is depth.

If you look at the number of curently ranked contenders he beat it would put him among the upper teir of great heavyweights. It partly gets obscured by the fact that his prime was over such a short period.