Who could beat Mike Tyson in his prime?

My final response.

Tyson was 39 years old again McBride, a good 17 years beyond his prime... 7 years later than when Dempsey retired after getting schooled twice by a colorline drawing light heavy. Dempsey tried a comeback against Levinsky but got his @ss kicked by that losing streaked nobody.

Furthermore, Tyson was never the coward to draw the Color Line as was Dempsey, a guy who literally ran like 12 year old girl from a positively ancient Joe Jeanette rather than get his PTSD triggered from the @sskicking John Lester Johnson, a journeyman black fighter, supplied him years before. And we all know the ridiculous machinations he and Rickard invented in order to avoid Wills. The very thought of Jack having the balls to enter the ring against Tyson is a true knee-slapper.

I'll at least give Marciano the credit for being a man and entering the ring against all stripes and races and mowing them down.

 

Foreman was too big and mean in the 70s. And Mike never beat a Frazier or Norton....ever. He beat a five years past his prime Holmes and a blown up light heavyweight. Not much.

That said, he was a two-time champion and imo a top 10 ATG (I have him at #10). Go figure.

 

Seems like you haven't read your history very well, son.

He is only man, not Shavers, not Norton, not Ali, not Holyfield, not McCall... the ONLY man to KO Holmes. And he did it 4 years before Holmes once again rose to title challenging level in the division. And the fought till 50, he was never again spanked how Tyson spanked him.

He also defeated (grab your popcorn cuz this will take a while):

2 time IBF challenger Jesse Ferguson
WBC Champion Berbick
WBA Champion Bonecrusher Smith
Former WBC Champion Pinklon Thomas
IBF Champion Tony Tucker
Former WBA Champion Tony Tubbs
IBF Champion Michael Spinks
Future and Current WBC Champion Frank Bruno
Former IBF Champion Francois Botha
WBA Cruise Champion Orlin Norris

 

Foreman wasn't some gargantuan superman in the 70's. Everyone acts like he was King Kong. Maybe he was in the 70's but in the 80's he'd be going against tall boxers who were mobile and can punch. Tucker, Douglas, Bonecrusher, Ruddock, Bruno, Coetzee and even Tyson was a compact 215-221 lbs.

So Foreman beat 2 guys that he had power and size advantages over. Then the back and forth barroom brawl against Lyle, the only heavy hitter he faced in his first career. He never really fought that many bangers in either career whereas Tyson beat a plethora of different styles and more consistently than Foreman could ever dream of.

 

All respect, but I'm not impressed with any of those names. None were Norton or Frazier.

But that's just my opinion, son.

 

Much better points here.

 

Would've loved to see what Norton could've done in the 80's had he come along during that era. Dude was a physical specimen but how would he have handled Dokes, Weaver, Coetzee, Witherspoon, Thomas, Tucker, Ruddock, Truth Williams and Bonecrusher?

 

I think he would have done really well, though I imagine guys like Bonecrusher and Weaver might have overwhelmed him with their power. Still, none of the fighters mentioned above had Kenny's heart imo.

 

Son, one doesn't get a belt by impressing you. One gets a belt by beating the best.

 

Bowe and Foreman

 

From what I recall he didn't beat Orlin Norris at all. It was a No Contest after Tyson hit him after the bell and Norris hurt his knee and couldn't continue. Probably lucky not to be a DQ loss actually. Also Botha fought for a vacant title against Axel Schulz in which he won an unpopular split decision. Botha was stripped of the title and the fight verdict over turned to a NC after he tested positive to steroids thus technically he wasn't a former belt holder at all.

And the others look great on paper but some context is needed.

Berbick- Beaten 4 times already including a first round KO loss to Bernado Mercado though a great display by Tyson)
Bonecrusher- 19-5 going in, a titlist only because he beat Wisherspoon who likely threw the fight. Lost two of his next 3 and drew the other.
Pinklon Thomas- Good name on paper but Pinklon had suffered serious addiction issues prior to this and would lose 4 of his next 5.
Tucker- A good win over an undefeated fighter but Tuckers record was pretty thin beforehand (aside from Douglas) and his career was a disappointment subsequently (though not Tysons fault either)
Tubbs- Had issues with weight after losing his title and came into the fight in disgraceful shape.
Spinks -Inactive blown up Lt Heayweight
Bruno- Previously a KO victim of Witherspoon and Bonecrusher who'd been inactive for over a year coming in.

The emphatic way Tyson disposed of them is impressive but there was some judicious matchmaking at play about when many of these fights occurred and who he was fighting. Very few of these guys were at their best and the ones that were, were shown to be not all that anyway.

 

I never understood why Ali is always mentioned against Tyson as a foregone conclusion. Yes the man was the goat. If you look at it analytically it’s not so cut and dry. Ali was knocked on his ass in his eleventh fight against Sonny Banks by a left hook. He was knocked on his ass again and hurt by Henry Cooper with a left hook in his nineteenth fight. (The one where Dundee cut his glove to buy him time)
Ali lost to Joe Frazier getting hit with the left hook and dropped on his ass. Ken Norton scored with several looping left hooks and beat Ali.

Mike Tyson. A prime Mike Tyson who was hungry and still willing to die for that belt, threw hydrogen bombs with his left hook. It won most of his fights. I’m not saying Ali wouldn’t win, I’m saying it’s NOT foregone conclusion Ali wins. Styles make fights. Emotional nonsense aside, I’d never put Ali at the top of the list to beat Tyson.

 

Not any 60s Ali. Only 64-67 Ali has a chance. 1960-63 Ali gets the Spinks treatment.

 

Dempsey did beat Billy Miske. No one on Tyson's roster as good as Miske.

 

What about the Sharkeys...Jack and Tom?