Tysons Legacy Defining Fight

Good points. Well said. :good

It's a simple point that Tyson's fanboys seem oblivious to.

 

Yes, I agree with all that.
Some people act like Tyson was the only heavyweight champion to have discovered the temptations of loose women and partying.
Joe Louis was bad for it, and won 25 straight title defences over a 12 year period. He didn't just implode the first time a motivated challenger took advantage of his sub-par condition !

 

Journeyman like Holmes, Spinks, Thomas, Berbick, Biggs, Tubbs, Ruddock, Frazier, Bruno, Williams, etc. who were all classless marinara cans who would get crushed by any other ATG in Tyson-like fashion. Tyson doesn't go to jail Holyfield and Lewis don't have careers.

 

I voted Holyfield because he was a legitimate heavyweight, coming into his prime, and went on to have a long title run. IMO Spinks was too small of a guy to seriously give Tyson problems and his best days were behind him.

 

Would you care to elaborate, further.

 

Just repeating what Lord Tyson said. I bow down to his every word. We all know that he rolls like Christ and speaks the gospel.

Robbi, curious to see who you voted for. Do you think the rematch with Holyfield, had Tyson won it, be better for his legacy than the Spinks win?

 

What do you think, Robbi?

 

So, after beating 8 heavyweight belt holders he "was on the road" to becoming elite.

How about having the most destructive march to the championship and then demolishing the division over the 4 to 5 year peak which is typical of a heavyweight with his style.

 

Tyson is not quite elite class in terms of being a great fighter. Perhaps, fighters become great easier with you than they do with myself.

Heavyweight with his style? Look at his first 25 fights, he wasn't seriously tested and didn't exactly get extended, apart from Tillis and Green. What about his great defense in his prime too? Tyson was champion for about 3 years, 3 months.

8, belt holders. I liked that one. The heavyweight titles were like 'pass the parcel' with short reigns during the 80's, for the most part anyway, outwith Holmes and Tyson. So, Tyson was at the end of the road and already became an elite heavyweight prior to getting beat by Douglas?

As Mcenroe famously said....."You cannot be serious" :huh

 

Tyson was an elite heavyweight during the time span between, 1986 and up until the Douglas fight. He showed, for sure, that he was the elite heavyweight of the mid-late 80's. :good

Not enough to become an elite heavyweight great in the history of the division. :-(

 

Your qualifiers are unintentionally droll at best. A man who becomes the youngest heavyweight champ ever and tears the division apart top to bottom is not elite... I mean elite great... or is that great elite?

I suppose Dempsey, who had a lesser run to the title and then sat on the belt qualifies as elite great... or great elite.. because his run of defenses against the infirmed, lightheavies, past opponents and showgirl vaginas lasted longer than Tyson's more active reign.

 

And yes, small, swarming heavies tend to have short primes.

 

Tyson's 9 title defenses were the 4th most, 4th best, 4th greatest, whatever you prefer to call it, at that time and only behind Louis, Holmes and Ali. It's as dominant as reigns get.

 

From a historical perspective,it would have been the Spinks bout. As Spinks was still considered to have been the linear champ going in. Pity the fight itself was n't more competitive or memorable. I still feel that Tyson's overall best performance was against Tyrell Biggs. Controlled agression at it's best.

 

True. Spinks was there at the right time,when he beat the faded Larry Holmes.