Tyson could have been the greatest HOAT

Russell · Jul 9, 2008

Honestly, the names existed in Tyson's time as a fighter to at least make him a top five Heavyweight.

Imagine if he had wins over Lennox & Holyfield?

Other great wins for him could be Moorer, old Foreman, and the like.

Tyson, unlike guys like Dempsey, Marciano and Frazier, was NOT hit very often. I feel he could of had a longer career than most.

Even around the turn of the century he could of still been an amazing fighter. Once again, imagine him with a win over Wladimir? Vitali?

fists of fury · Jul 9, 2008

Unforgiven said:

Truth is, most of those men Tyson beat were bigger "wastes of potential" than Tyson. I mean if you want to imagine Tyson in a perfect ideal alternative reality, then you should do the same for all the others.

No real rot had set in for Tyson before 1989, so let's imagine what a 1987 Tyson would have done against a "fully realized" Pinklon Thomas (who, incidentally, blamed his loss to Berbick and his decline largely on out-of-the-ring problems - esp. divorce. Not to mention history of drugs, and injury).
Or a "fully realized" Tyrell Biggs (who suffered from bad management and cocaine and alcohol addiction). Tony Tucker (who's entire career up to '87 was a story of managerial disputes, being cheated out of money, and failure to maximize his development. Plus drugs.).

Or imagine if Buster Douglas had been realizing his potential from day one, maybe he would have been twice has good as we saw in Tokyo, maybe he would have been champion before Tyson.
Same applies to Tim Witherspoon. If he had more discipline, and hadn't been ****ed over by Don King, maybe he would have been a true great and standing in Tyson's way.
Mike Dokes, Greg Page, Gerry Cooney - these guys were all 28-30 in 1986, but had squandered their gifts and never reach their potential peaks.

Fighters are human beings, and very few of them reach these imaginary heights and peaks that they "could have" IN THEORY. In fact, Tyson came closer than most, with his incredible dedication, good management team, and great trainer, a lot of support, in '85 - '88. Sure, in theory, if he had kept on that trajectory, he would have probably been better at 25 or 26 than he was at 20, but he was almost always fighting men who were grossly "under-performing" comapared to their own imaginary peak powers too.
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This is a really good post. The 80's heavies squandered so much talent.

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Tyson could have been the greatest HOAT

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Tyson could have been the greatest HOAT

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

fists of fury Obsessed with Boxing Full Member