Who Was Better - Ron Lyle Or David Tua?

2 years and change.

He finished 78 as the number 4 rated heavyweight and lost to Ball in 79.

 

The Chris Byrd-David Tua fight is not nearly as conclusive as people say.Tua did brilliant work to the body all night.It was either a draw or a two point win for Byrd,But of course Lennox dominated Tua.

 

For a 70's heavyweight going from 36/37 to 38/39 meant a lot. Two years matter in the fighting game in any time period tbh.

Being ranked in '78 is fine, but it was end of an era. Foreman reited, Frazier was effectively retired, Ali was done for, same goes for the relicts of 60's like Quarry and Ellis. Norton and Holmes were the only elite fighters followed by the likes of Young. It was time for the 80's stars to start rising.

 

The general skill level at HW in Lyles' time was better than what Tua faced, and when Tua did face someone of 70's calibre in Lewis, he was handled easily.

 

When Lyle lost to Lynn Ball, he was the same age as Byrd was when he lost to Shaun George.

Shavers and Young have more impressive careers than Ike, who like Tua is wildly overrated on this board.

 

Did something outside the ring cause Ike's career to fizzle out or was he just not any good?

 

He's saying Ike's resume isn't particularly impressive. He's overrated based on 2 decent wins, one which was a very close fight with Tua that could have gone the other way, and knocking out a feather fisted Byrd who was like 40 lbs lighter. The fact Ike's career was cut short due to outside the ring issues doesn't change the fact his career wasn't as impressive as some of the guys Lyle beat.

 

I’m on board with Ike being overrated, but I’d fully expect him to beat the crap out of Quarry, Shavers, and Young.

 

I really don't know if he'd beat Quarry or Young at their best. They did very well against boxers similar to Ike, big strong aggressive fighters.

You can only fight the guys of your era so you can't penalize Lyle for that.

 

Quarry never had any success against a legitimate big guy. Young did beat Foreman, but Ike beat Byrd and had a better gas tank than Foreman.

 

Buster Mathis was pretty big at 6'3 234 pounds, i do think Quarry's counter punching style and doing well against notable punchers like Mac Foster, Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, etc. Means he has a fair chance against Ibeabuchi, but Ibeabuchi is also a bit of a freak in that he's a big guy who can throw up to 80 punches round.

 

That's doesn't make sense. Quarry beat Foster, Lyle, and Shavers who were all 3 big heavy hitters.

Ike was still 40 lbs heavier than Byrd. It was like an elephant bullying a gazelle. Foreman was more skilled and hit harder than Ike and was a former world champion so Young clearly has the better win.

You gave Tua the edge over Lyle for beating former/future world champs. Be consistent.

 

Foster was 210 and pretty average.
Lyle wasn’t Ike.
Shavers had laughably bad endurance and chin compared to Ike.

You’re reaching.

 

Quarry was undefeated against the big hitters and has the stylistic advantage. Ike doesn't do anything Quarry hasn't seen before. The only thing Ike brings to the table that might trouble him is the weight difference in the clinches. There is no reason to believe Ike hit any harder than Lyle let alone Shavers, and he was around their level of skill.

This has nothing to do with Lyle and Tua. Unless you're comparing how both of them lost to the slicksters of their eras Quarry, Young, Byrd, etc. I already said Tua has a slight edge in resume over Lyle so idk what we're even arguing about.

 

Quarry couldn’t deal with Ike’s pace. That was his downfall against Frazier (at least in their first fight… can’t bring myself to watch the second fight again).