Where would Tyson rank today if he never had come back after prison?

I agree tyson officially became heavyweight champion of the world when he beat tony tucker in the final unfication match to win the IBF WBA and WBC titles. good points magoo

 

Brilliant... Just change the facts of what happened to meet the outcome you wish had happened.

Holmes arguably lost to Witherspoon too... Ali arguable lost to Young... Sharkey arguably lost to Schmeling...

The lineal title and the alphabet belts are not linke by any kind of law. Unless the champion is unable to fight or retires he remains the champ.

Tyson did more than Paterson to get it but so did a dozen other champions. There are plenty of contenders who beat better opposition than Spinks at HW - so what!

 

Then I misinterpereted. Same as I rate him now.

Edit: Either just inside the Top 10, or just outside.

 

What could Mike Tyson have been if he'd never have gone to prison, or if he wasn't a guy who found it so hard to adapt to civilized life, might be other ways to look at it. The guy was one of the most technically sound heavies of all time. He, with alot of help from Cus and Teddy Atlas and I'm sure others, turned his liability of size and reach into an asset. I can't think of another brawling heavy who went in as well as he did. His head would be in three different locations from the time he launched to the time he landed, using as many angles as alot of the best smaller guys do. But how can a guy who was convicted of ****, allegedly physically abused his own wife, verbally abused and threatened female reporters, and probably threw more unwarranted street-beatings around than say I donno John Gotti, still break your heart?

 

higher than now but hard to say maybe 5