Tyson is a hero of classic boxing.

Yeah, he's always had immense genuine respect for the fighters of the past. You can see it in the reverence he has for fighters like Greb, Dempsey etc.
And unlike most of his peers, he has actual contextual knowledge of these guys, so his respect is so much more meaningful.

He's the only former fighter I know of that has almost historian-like knowledge of boxing history.

 

Agreed with the above two posters.

Tyson must have seen some awesome fights on film in his time.

Good for him that he sticks up for the fighters of yesteryear. :good

 

He is 10 times the legacy of floyd

 

Loved the video of him touring the hall of fame in canestota.

http://youtu.be/awA_lmZ0L6s

"Im Sonny Liston im Jack Dempsey no one can beat me im from their cloth"

Only other fighter i can think of with a encyclopaedic knowledge is Archie Moore

 

Yeah. Mike was the man.he called my man foreman a killer.he was a gentleman talking about rocky,ali,holmes, etc

 

I think a better descriptor would be "very knowledgeable about"

A Hero doesnt bite off opponents ears in the ring.

 

one of the best posts I've seen in classic by anybody.
Way back when he was a young world champion he came over to the UK and I think he amazed Hurry Carpenter and Reg Gutteridge with his knowledge of the champions of old.
He was a fan of Ted kid Lewis and also recently has sung the praises of Ken Buchanan and Randy Turpin.
Once again, a brilliant post, Reznick

 

http://articles.philly.com/1988-06-27/sports/26265416_1_big-fights-jimmy-jacobs-black-trunks

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-11-09/sports/sp-24288_1_mike-tyson

Here's the Battling Nelson photo that Tyson paid homage to:

http://www.caytonsports.com/dana_photos/dana_images/685 nelson vs hyland great long shot-1.jpg

 

As a teenager, Cus had him watch hours and hours of fight footage instead of doing his homework, etc.

 

The Holmes fight. A true boxing historian.

 

He copied Dempseys hair and poses for some of his fights.

He was really into watching the old greats and then trying to bring that into the ring with him and then he joined King who I think preferred a 'ghetto' Tyson as opposed to the more philosophical Tyson.

 

He may have some knowledge on boxing history but he can't pick a winner for the life of him....

 

He seems to be perhaps the most knowledgeable fighter about the history of boxing for sure.