The problem with people

Honestly Mike Tyson isn't Mike Tyson after the death of Cus. He was running on fumes. When he changed management it was really over. He was just a hell of a tough guy.

To the TS's point, Mike Tyson's style was BRUTAL on his own body. I am not sure how any man could keep up that much lower back motion for a long career. So "prime" Mike Tyson almost eliminates him fighting "prime" anyone else.

Why? His "peak" window would be relatively small compared to other fighters who competed in divisions where size/height ratios are in better proportion. For example how many Paul Williams or Tommy Hearns come along? When have you ever seen a 6 inch height difference in MW? This type of mismatch is pretty common in HW so to try to compare greatness "equally" is a little bit impossible. Guys like DLH go up and meet Hopkins? They shouldn't be in there. Tyson meets Lewis/Bruno? Game on? Really?

Prime Mike Tyson seemed unstoppable, but he was fought to decisions. So...

 

Because when Tyson was in his prime, he ****ed people up left and right. It was a sight to watch.

 

I believe Tyson was 19 when Cus died.

 

I speculate how good Tyson was @ his peak. He was 37-0 when he lost to Douglas. Some contend that his loss to Douglas proves that he was overrated and Douglas size/style was Tyson's downfall regardless. I contend that Tyson was well past his peak because of his lifestyle choices when he fought Douglas, and that contributed significantly to his loss. It happens all the time with fighters. It happened to Douglas in his very next fight.

 

My only problem with Mayweather is he's 41-0 and he's been a pro going on 14 years. Dude's missed out on a lot of great fights over the years.

 

Uh... yea he has. The first Castillo fight. As for life being unfair, yup, life was unfair to Castillo that night your right on the dot about that one.

 

Surely we should be focusing more on why people fail to give guys like the Klits credit rather than why we rate Tyson so highly.

My opionion on Tyson is that it all went downhill when he got rid of Rooney because of lifestyle choices. But the fighter with rooney was something truly special and that is why he is rated so highly because the ability was undeniable.

Now on the other issue recent fighters never get the credit they are due because there are too many haters and people looking at history with rose tinted glasses.

 

To be and most importantly remain an elite caliber type fighter, guys have to show a solid work ethic in and out of the gym.

Once Mike Tyson left Kevin Rooney after his Spinks fight, it was evident that whatever discipline he had left, just simply went out the door.

Now, I agree that Mike's physical prime wasn't just 3 years and it's not logical to say it was just to make his accomplishments look better, but it's alright to say that Mike Tyson wasn't the same dedicated boxer following his destruction of Spinks, therefore it's important to recognize the before and after versions.

 

Xactly

 

The truth is somewhere in between. Yes, the pre Doublas Tyson gets overrated (although judging by the many posts in here discrediting him maybe not as much as you think), but that overrating is balanced by many who like you think any fighter who "stood up" to Tyson won. Do you really think all of the hw's he beat were scared so much that they easily folded and that Holy and Douglas were the only fighters capable of "standing up to him"? that's pretty absurd.

The facts are that although he was matched fairly well (as a lot of successful figthers are) he did spectacular things some of which haven't really been duplicated (with consistency at least). Tyson was also at his best in that 3 or 4 year period mentioned (under rooney and cus and before he was too self diestructive) and that is relatively easily observed by watching fights during and after. And yes a 6'4 athletic, skilled hw would trouble tyson more than guys his size, but that's obvious (tyson's under 6'). He dominated his share of big HWs tho (there are more than 1 example but see his bout vs tucker to see him with a very good big hw).

yes guys should get tons of credit for long successful carreers, but sometimes greatness can be achieved in short spans that to many might even outweigh a longer more prolonged successful body of work. so why all the frustration, i don't know. btw, you act like tyson only had 3 years of success. i mean he did win the belts again after 3 years in prison and many years after he first won it and his training with cus and rooney. he also had some exciting rounds with holy at his 'jacked up' peak and was still clobbering b and c level hw's into the early 2000's