What is your ranking of Mike Tyson?

Well he is my favourite fighter from many, so why shouldn't I have him in my avatar, hell i'd happily use an avatar of another one of my favourites and likely will again at some point (I've used Dempsey & Frazier before), but would that really change anything? Oh and I have posted in non-Tyson threads, perhaps you didn't notice me or you're just being revisionist like you are with Mike? I'm not the nuthugger you label me as, and in fact i'm strongly against such blind fanboyism, I only stand by solid evidence. Please I implore you to argue against the facts of this article http://www.miketysonboxingmemorabilia.com/1991.html which clearly describes changes in Tyson's technique in detail.

 

I like the look of Bodhi's posted list and would pretty much agree with it when considering all the facets that make a champion great.

There is no question that Tyson in his prime was simply awsome. However, his style was never going to give him a long career like some of the others. His small stature meant that he needed extreme aggression and a high work rate to topple his larger opponents. I think you definately have to give Tyson alot of extra points considering the fact that he was far smaller than alot of other champion heavy weights.

When you compare the physical stature of Lennox Lewis compared to Tyson, Tyson started at a huge disadvantage. That being said, I have no doubt that if Lennox Lewis had faced Tyson in his prime, that Tyson would have destroyed Lewis.

 

Not that different:
1. Louis
2. Ali
3. Holmes
4. Marciano
5. Foreman
6. Lewis
7. Johnson
8. Dempsey
9. Frazier
10. Holyfield
11. Jeffries
12. Liston
13. Tyson
14. Schmelling
15. Bowe

 

This is a point I was going to bring up.

Tyson is not unlike Marciano or Frazier in that they too were short guys who had to get inside their opponent's reach to get their punches in.

Where the difference lies between the three is that for the most part, Marciano and Frazier did not have to fight 6'3-6'5 guys who weighed well over 200 pounds on a regular basis.
I think he took the 'short man style' to it's epitome, or very close to it. No short heavyweight has been successful since Tyson and that's largely due to these really tall, athletic fighters that have sprung up in the last 30 odd years.
Tua had some measure of success, but nothing compared to the tremendous success Tyson enjoyed in his glory years. Since Tyson which short guy has been making headlines? In the land of giants there is no place for the little guy, but Tyson not only survived, but thrived. He used their size against them and made his shortness work for him.
Tyson deserves a lot of credit for that.

A tall guy with good reach and good skills has a variety of options available to him in the ring. He has more leeway; more of a margin for error.
The little guys have it tough on a variety of fronts, which is why so few have been successful at heavyweight.

About his quality of opposition...it was the best of his era, which is all you can ask for. Spoon aside, he beat every 'name' of his era.
I think his level of opposition was respectable...not great, but certianly respectable.
His quality of opposition is no worse than that of Holmes, Dempsey, Louis or even Frazier. Frazier's great, but that one win over Ali aside, he didn't beat anyone who was anything special.

In addition, as ex-champ, Tyson fought the dangerous Ruddock twice at a time when he was probably the most avoided man in the division. I've no doubt he probably would have fought Bowe too, had he not been incarcerated.
Four of his losses came past his best, two to fellow all-time greats. There is the Douglas loss which counts badly against him, but that one blip aside, I don't think that his losses were especially damaging to his legacy.

I think the thing with Tyson is that at first he was a very pleasant surprise on the heavyweight scene. He wasn't a fighter of great amateur pedigree of whom great things were expected.
He came along at a time when fans where yearning for someone to step up to the plate and be the man. He was the perfect answer to 80's jadeism.
Then, after his stocks had soared exponentially, he suddenly became a big disappointment.
Most boxing fans were expecting years upon years of iron-fisted domination, and then he got unexpectedly beaten by a no-hoper, and shortly after that was locked up.
His second, mostly fracical career was well...just that - farcical. He had one or two decent wins, but largely he was creating headlines for the wrong reasons.
His 'highs' were very high, but his 'lows' were rock-bottom.

Regardless of what he wasn't or was supposed to be, he belongs in the top 10 all-time.

 

I rank Tyson slightly ahead of Salma Hayek. Pound for Pound, of course. But seriously, though I haven't finished tweaking my young list by a long shot I do currently have him in my top 100 and can't see not having him there for myself. I can understand how some might not.

 

Good list. :good The only pick I have some problems with is Bowe.

 

Tyson was at his best when he stuck to Damato's system. Once Tyson fired Rooney he ran wild and made a fool of himself. Prior to that I would pick him over Joe Lewis and Ali. After that it was hit and miss.

He is an easy top ten....and arguably a top 5

 

Cant find the post but someone here pointed out how Tyson never fought Witherspoon but that is complete B.S. While Tyson was on his way up, Witherspoon had one of the alphabet titles, around the same time Tyson kos Berbick . Witherspoon gets ktfod by Bonecrusher. Tyson is smoking hot around this time and unifies the titles while WItherspoon takes a convenient hiatus by fighting journeyman. Witherspoon was coming off a ko loss and not worthy (at the TIme) of a shot at Tyson. IF Mike was avoiding Witherspoon believe that it would have been talked about, since Tyson was almost running out of opponents.

Who ever said he ducked Witherspoon tell me your rationale behind that?

 

He didn't ducked Witherspoon at all.

Witherspoon was rated highly by the magazines rankings in the late 1980s when Tyson was running out of opponents but due to a bitter dispute with Don King he was not ranked by the official sanctioning bodies.

Witherspoon said recently in an interview that he wasn't even thinking about fighting Tyson at that time, he was just fighting whatever fight came up, for the money. And in hindsight he says he wouldn't have beaten Tyson at that time anyway.

 

He didnt duck Spoon. Spoon only had to defend his title that he won from Bruno and he would have fought Tyson in the tournament. Tyson ducked noone.

 

:goodRight i just wanna debate with the person who said that, been thru this thread and didnt see it but i know someone said that, I think it was Addie.:yep