Was Mike Tyson the best 20 year old fighter in the history of boxing ?

Massive size disadvantages?

He outweighed the majority of his opponents at that stage of his career.

Looking at his physique compared to his opponents at the time was like looking at the next stage in the evolutionary scale.

 

No. !!!!

 

Yes...

 

Yes and he could of been the greatest HW of all time if he had the attitude, discipline and right people around him.

 

Yes. Mike Tyson was the best 20-year-old fighter in the history of boxing.

Around that age, Benitez was getting dropped a half-dozen times in fights with Bruce Curry (and being handed gift decisions) and fighting to draws with Harold Weston Jr. Also, Cervantes wasn't unbeatable. He'd lost or drawn a dozen times by the time Benitez edged him.

What Benitez did was wildly impressive for his age. But nobody was dropping Tyson over and over and giving him gift verdicts at 20. His win over once-beaten and top-ranked Pinklon Thomas was ferocious.

At 20, Benitez was considered "one" of the best fighters who weighed below 147 pounds. (Although Curry and Weston would've disagreed.)

At 20, Mike Tyson was considered "THE BEST FIGHTER ON THE PLANET." Huge difference. To my knowledge, there has never been another fighter at that age who people felt could beat up everyone else on earth.

 

Terry McGovern warrants mention

 

Nope. Not even close.

 

Yes, no doubt in my mind at all!

 

Correct! :nod

 

Y'all mofos act like Mr. Frankie Genaro wasn't an ATG getting beat by young Mr. LaBarba.

Like it never happened.

Like you didn't see dat ish live on 1080P live stream or the Blu Ray box set of Mr. Genaro's career that came with a game used gumshield.

Quit frontin'.

Mr. Tyson didn't have a win on that level.

 

Benitez

 

Lol stop making thing up. He was always a small heavyweight. That will never change. 5 foot 10, 220 pounds. Who are these mysterious heavyweights who were smaller than him? Go ahead, I'll wait.

 

Great argument! Thank you for waiting, you are most generous.

Tyson's last fight before turning 21 was against Pinklon Thomas and that was his 30th pro bout so let's see the weight differences for Tyson through his first 30 pro fights!

Mercedes: Tyson +15 lbs
Singleton: Tyson +16 lbs
Halpin: Exactly Equal Weight
Spain: Tyson +33 lbs
Alderson: Tyson - 11 lbs
Sims: Exactly Equal Weight
Canady: Tyson + 10 lbs
Johnson: Tyson +23 lbs
Long: Exactly Equal Weight
Colay: Tyson - 7 lbs
Benjamin: Tyson - 6 lbs
Richardson: Tyson + 7lbs
Nelson: Tyson + 5 lbs
Scaff: Tyson - 35 lbs
Young: Tyson + 13 lbs
Jaco: Tyson + 7 lbs
Jameson: Tyson - 20 lbs
Ferguson: Tyson + 6 lbs
Zouski: Tyson + 10 lbs
Tillis: Tyson + 8 lbs
Green: Tyson: - 10 lbs
Gross: Tyson - 1 lb
Hosea: Tyson + 2 lbs
Boyd: Tyson + 21 lbs
Frazier: Tyson + 7 lbs
Ribalta: Tyson + 2 lbs
Ribalta: Tyson + 20 lbs
Berbick: Tyson + 3 lbs
Smith: Tyson - 14 lbs
Thomas: Tyson + 1 lb


So at this stage in his career Tyson faced a massive weight disadvantage of... outweighing his opponent by 3 lbs on average and fighting a grand total of 9 out of 30 opponents who outweighed him... That's 30% of his opponents through 30 fights. So in regards to your question, "who are these supposed heavyweights who were smaller than him" we can quote the immortal Brian Fantana... "30% of the time, Tyson 'was always the smaller man' every time".

Perhaps you should fact check before you accuse people of making things up. Don't throw stones when you live in Amir Khan's chin :nono

But yes, Tyson was short...

 

I will be very surprised if he responds to this ^

 

what HOF's did Labarba beat by the age of 20? Assuming boxrec is correct about his age (I understand there's a chance it isn't) then Labarba was 7-2-2 by the time he reached his 20th birthday. Albiet the big win is for the title vs. Genero. I don't know if that's enough to put him above Tyson though...perhaps...

Benitez was the only other one I could think of when I saw the topic.