McVea-Burns was arranged at least once but never came to fruition. Would have been a hell of a fight.
Boilermaker, oh Boilermaker, why did you make this thread? You have surely disturbed poor Tommy who was slumbering peacefully in his grave.
How was Burns's defense? Tyson had an exlent defense. Having a great chin is great but making the other guy miss is better. Burns is at best a cursierweight by today's standers as were his opoents, including Jack Johnson. Tyson by early round ko.
I never like matching up turn of the century fighters with contemporary/modern ones. The conditions/knowledge/training has improved & is unfair to Tommy Burns. But he gets KOed in 1 or 2
Take the Greatest MWs of modern times. A Hagler or Monzon. Or one more recent, GGG or whoever. The former were at most ~ 160, & for decades now with ay before weigh ins they are about 175. Coming in leaner than Burns did at the LHW limit. Would you pick any of these MWs to beat prime Mike Tyson as they really were? Unthinkable? Then why would anyone think Burns had a chance, just because he was called a HW then? This is without even considering any advancements in training, technique, science... While size is far from everything-& means less when comparing someone at least over 200 lean against a SHW... It is still a BIG advantage. You cannot compare Burns to someone who was a highly skilled ATG...AND much larger than him. He would have no realistic chance of even lasting the distance. Unless Tyson decided to carry him, pull his punches, &/or put on an Ali-esque show.
Really? I do not think I was at all harsh on Tommy Burns. Are you confusing me with others? Almost everyone here agrees he would have minimal chance against prime Tyson. Given the actual sizes of each fighter-& that for many decades such as fight could never even been sanctioned. It is hard enough for a LHW to dethrone a HW champion-& it took forever for them to do so for the first time-when usually they move up in weight to fight HWs. Now you are taking someone who at his heaviest-& with more bodyfat than Tyson had at near 220 lbs.-weighed around the same as what for decades most MWs weigh on fight night-for decades. He was an infighter, I do not see how he had the strength & size to neutralize & manhandle him inside like a bulked up Holyfield did. But back to your original statement: look at what I actually wrote. Most all of what I did was talk about the implausibility of someone of Burns weight & muscle beating any ATG HW. I did not even pick on his height. Since I did not critique *anything* about Burns' fighting skills... What on earth do you think I said that was at all harsh on Tommy Burns?
Because....you said that a man who beat Philadelphia Jack O'Brien and Fireman Flynn would get blown away by young Mike Tyson.
Fireman Jim Flynn, professional boxing record: 81-58(!)-26. Box rec gives slightly different numbers than the above which seems more complete, from [url]Wikipedia[/url]. I looked up Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. Like Flynn he was Tyson's height, but his maximum weight was 165. Sorry man, but as almost everyone on this forum can tell you, I am not selling Tommy Burns short. I admire his accomplishments & he was great for his time & size. You heard me say nothing disparaging about him. But Fireman Flynn was clearly not even excellent for his time & size. He had only one noteworthy victory (other than over a future MW champion Tiger Flowers) in his life-over a still quite green Jack Dempsey, which may or may not have been fixed. From his Wiki page... Flynn knocked out Jack Dempsey in a first round win in [url]Murray, Utah[/url], on 13 February 1917. Charging Dempsey from the opening bell, Flynn pushed Dempsey into position with his right, and knocked him out with a left to the chin, twenty-five seconds into the first round. Both boxers may have been distracted by a late start to the fight which began at midnight. Dempsey later denied having thrown the fight and said he lost because he was unable to warm up properly before the match and that he had injured his hand earlier setting pins in a bowling alley.[url][7][/url][url][8][/url] Flynn became the only fighter to ever knock out Dempsey. Although boxing historian Monte Cox and others have questioned the legitimacy of the result claiming a pre-arranged fix, most contemporary historians concede the knockout to Flynn.[url][9][/url] A year later Flynn met Dempsey again, and this time Dempsey knocked out Flynn in the first round.[url][1][/url] O'Brien was better, but still he could make WW or Jr. MW at his heaviest today! Burns in his prime had one victory & one draw over him. Yes, unless say an unusually mobile fighter could evade his blows for a while-(Harry Greb?)... Tyson who was at his very best when young, in his early 20's... Would Blow Away any of these guys early.
