This is a great point. We were all so carried away with Tysonmania that we forgot what a live challenger looked like. I certainly don't think Tysons first loss was due to any decline. Tyson beat a lot of names, he was legitimately great in his own right anyway, much like Louis was before Schmeling, but his championship opposition (despite their names) flattered him initially because many were not legitimately live challengers in the first place. We thought they were but they were not. Tyson got too used to things falling into place. The more legitimate ones took him the distance. Tucker and Bonecrusher. Yet that prepared nobody (myself included) for Douglas. The next live legitimate contender after Tucker. That loss amplified to me that Tyson needed to prove he was not just a one trick pony, And he might have been on the way to doing that because I believe he was good enough to do so but he went to prison and surrounded himself with creeps. A lot of talk about needing cus or Rooney to move his head is BS. Tyson was a brat by then who chose to do what he did. Rooney wouldn't have made any difference. His comeback was actually quite amazing. I think he was legitimately the best heavyweight in the world again. Nobody was saying Tyson was past his best until he lost to Holyfeild. But that loss broke his heart. His appetite for competition went with that first loss to Holyfeild.
Will someone please teach Chok how to spell Field, lol. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/i-before-e-except-after-c
I wrote a long thing demonizing the practice of comparing eras and questioning the strength of a pioneer's innovation outside a time when it was innovative, but I'm sure y'all have read that sort of junk before so I'll just say I agree with the folks making a case for Mike to win all with the suggestion that people at least try to guess what a Mike Tyson who is 19 in 52 boxes like. Strip away everything he's using that comes from the eras between the 50s and the 80s and who is Mike Tyson? It's easy to make a case for the kid who was 19 in 86 or some such close enough, but much more difficult to even assume who Mike might have been if he didn't have the luxury of being after Marciano and Ali.
Do you think the Tyson who faced Douglas was indistinguishable from the version who faced Spinks or Berbick?
The era probably did play a role, but there was always going to be a big weight difference. Cant see Tyson being much under 200lbs in any era.