Tysons best win

It is a perfectly legitimate tactic to intimidate your opponents.

In that sense, it is debatable how much this takes away from the win.

 

I agree that mindgames are a legitimate part of the fighting scene, and sure nobody could blame Tyson because intimidating Spinks worked so well for him.

What I mean is the fight itself seems like missing something, because although Tyson was great, Spinks looked like he just gave up before start.

Sure a great win is a great win, but a win against a fearless adversary is a GREAT win IMO.

For Foreman his marquee win is the one against Frazier in Kingston. That win is special not just because he was the supposed underdog going against the top dog champ, or because Foreman was a monster that night. That fight is also special because Frazier wasn't intimidated and didn't give up regardless the beating, he kept going back for more defending his crown against a worthy challenger.

Had Frazier gone into survival mode after the first knockdown and rode his bike, surely he had lasted a little longer but Foreman's win would have probably lost some luster...

 

Sure, and a fighter is always going to meet somebody who is not scared of them eventually.

What I would say in Tyson’s partial defence, is that neither Holmes nor Cooney were able to intimidate Spinks.

In that sense, the intimidation could be viewed as a component of the quality of the win.

 

Good post. But would swap Thomas for Biggs or Berbick. Actually wasn't that impressed with the performance against Thomas apart from the first and last round. A one-armed Thomas won the rest of the rounds, making Tyson look curiously passive. The finish is epic, though.

 

Intimidation and fear is Tyson's legacy, it can't be held against him. If an opponent is shitting himself at the mere thought of facing Tyson then that is just a tribute to his aura and legendary status.

 

Firstly Thomas didn't win the rounds, Tyson did according to the judges except for one round. Secondly The passiveness was part of Tyson's tactic. He wanted Thomas to gas out. Watch the convo between Rooney and Tyson in the final round and then the post match interview. I think this was good discipline and had Tyson fought with this level of discipline and planning throughout his career rather than adopt the one dimensional head hunting approach, things could have been different

 

There was a time, believe it or not, when people were accusing Tyson of ducking Spinks. People were approaching Tyson in public and asking him why he was ducking Spinks, Tyson began to get wound up about this, it was later revealed Spinks manager Butch Lewis was behind the rumours.

Ali and Billy Conn picked Spinks to outbox Tyson, as did Eddie Futch. I did do a thread on this a few years ago, someones taken it down. Bonecrusher Smith, Holmes, Bob Arum all picked Tyson.

Arum said, as soon as Tyson hits Spinks, the fight will be over.

Tyson paid for Durans ticket, because Duran was broke. Duran gave Tyson some pre fight advice, he said dont worry, Spinks will be nervous, just go up to him and nail him.

Holmes said 'Tyson hits hard, and hes hard to hit, now thats a bad combination'

Ring magazine had Spinks as the lineal and legitimate champ and Tyson was simply a userper to the crown.

Tyson corrected all injustices in '91 seconds.

 

Dokes was well past it!

 

I think Ruddock would have done that to any version of Dokes.

Looking back now, maybe Ruddock was rushed into a Tyson match?

he should have fought some of the other guys out there first, maybe Mcall, Berbick, Tucker, even Douglas etc

 

Well he did fight Weaver, Bonecrusher and Dokes so he probably thought the time was right, especially since he was originally suppose to meet Tyson before Douglas did.

 

And he was good enough to have gone to war with Holy in the same period, unless you believe that ruined him.

 

Spinks. It's pretty hard to argue with beating the man who beat the man.
It is even harder to argue with the mugging the man who beat the man.

 

spinks is a good choice, but its clear that holmes was winging it by opting to face a LHW rather than more dangerous opps in his last defence.


I think the genuine and skilled HWs like tucker would pose a bigger threat than Spinks to the relatively small Tyson.

 

Don't give a toss about the judges. According to judges Tyson was level with Douglas before the KO. Thomas won those rounds. Tyson hardly did anything except walking into Thomas' jabs. Not that they did much damage, mind you, but they offset his rhythm and scored points.

Yes, Tyson was wearing him down. But he could have done it better than eating jabs against a drug addict with an injured right arm. Had Thomas been in peak condition, Tyson would have had to show much more than he did. It's very, very possible that he could and would, but as it is he didn't look that good in those rounds.

The only other fighter to give Tyson as much problems with his jab was Douglas. The difference was that Douglas was in the shape oh his life, and had a very well functioning right on the night. You can't hold off a fighter like Tyson for a whole fight with a jab - no matter how good - if you don't have a strong right behind it.

 

I know, but he had given Holyfield a good fight a year or so earlier. And Ruddock absolutely destroyed him.