Which heavyweights had a better defense than M.Tyson?

No, but I thought Lennox found him out a bit.

 

The same as the Tillis bout? We can all bring up their best performances. Tyson could be tagged throughout his career.

 

Oh right so Tyson peaked for one fight and that is the only version of Tyson we can make a comparison with.....

 

Mark why do you ask questions when you already made up in your mind what the answer is????
You do it constantly. WTF already

 

Even if "Tyson wasn't at his best" against Douglas, surely it proves his defensive skills were limited
If a man has to be at his absolute best for his defense to work, that's a severe limitation.

Anyway, I thought Tucker landed a good amount of punches earlier on against Tyson.

I do believe Tyson had a great defense though.
His best defensive move was knocking his opponents out as quick as possible ! That'll do the trick.

 

Tyson focused less on defence after Rooney, he didn’t move the same and relyed more on his power. He got caught way more than he should have in the bruno, ruddock and obviously Douglas fights. He was never perfect defence wise but his movement earlier in his career was better, it has to mean something that he barely took any hard punches at that point. Don’t say his competition was terrible either, that’s a myth, it was decent enough.

 

Is it alright if we mention Tillis then? Bruno? Thomas? Or the rounds Tucker actually fought back? Holy? Or should we just go for the ones his defense looked the best?

I think I'd pick Frazier for better defense tbh, in terms of pure defense. Tyson had a very good defense, but an important part of why he got hit so little at his peak was that most opponents was reluctant to let their hands go since they were afraid of what was coming back. In purely defensive terms I think Frazier's head movement was more consistent. He actually moved his head as much as Tyson fans claim Tyson did.

 

Wladimir Klitschko was an exceptional defensive heavyweight.
Boring but effective.
Between, say 2006 and 2014 he really proven extremely hard to hit at all.
He was very alert in using his feet to control the distance and was never shy to initiate a clinch, and he was a very strong clincher.

 

Fraizer

 

Tyson was at his absolute worst against Douglas. Actually, his past 3 fights in 89-90 he looked bad (Bruno, Williams and Douglas). No one is saying he had to be at his absolute best to beat Douglas in Tokyo. Douglas was able to capitalize because of what Tyson wasn't doing.

Anyways, anyone as offensive minded as Tyson is going to get hit. In fact, EVERYONE who steps into the ring will get hit. I think Tillis bloodied Tyson's nose. Ribalta hit Tyson a lot. Hell Steve Zouski caught Tyson at times. It happens.

As far as the thread is concerned, guys like Byrd and Toney at heavy were hard to catch clean. Tyson is up there too. So is Dempsey. Wlad was impossible to hit clean because of clinching.

 

With Kevin Rooney in his corner he got hit a good amount by James Tillis and Tony Tucker. Tyson defense was only good against low level opponents. Most heavyweights don't have great defense. Ali looked good against the 190 pound guys he fought earlier on his career. When he started to face better heavyweights his own size he got hit so much he got brain damage. Chris Byrd I would say had solid defense but he started his career lighter.

 

Wlad was knocked out 4 times, 3 times in his prime so I guess he wasn't impossible to hit. He was also knocked down 5 times in other fighters. Dempsey was a 190 pound fighter which means he isn't a heavyweight by modern standards. I fail to see why casual fans love to bring up 180/190 pound guys when talking about modern heavyweights. James Toney wasn't a heavyweight. He was a middle/super middleweight tho decided to move up later on in his career.

 

Tyson gave up an average of 5 inches in height and 7 inches of reach , yet he's being penalized bc he took some punches at his peak years while barely getting hit clean and in a come forward style ?

i have to say this section does produce some special types !

Defense is not staying away at distance , it's abilities to not get hit while in range!


Did anyone really do this better ?

Not really. And when you factor in his offensive ability it made his defense that much more effective bc he was a great counter puncher .

You can find guys of 6'5 plus who got hit less but they aren't engaging ....that's not defense. That's using range and length out of harms way.

 

You are a Tyson fan. You will make excuses for him no matter what. But if you want to use that logic then Foreman had great defense. During this first career only Ali and Lyle hit him with regularly.