Who was the best H2H-Fighter prime Tyson fought ?

Either Tucker or Holmes, I'd say.

Tucker's career was hampered by injury and was a monument of mismanagement, but he was a very capable and obdurate fighter. Foreman has been very open in saying that he wanted no part of Tucker as late as 1995 and was happy to be stripped rather than defend the WBA against him - and it's not as if Tucker was a spring chicken or in his prime himself at that stage. I actually rate Tucker inside Tyson's top three or four career wins and performances, and think Tucker is a more than decent and respectable operator in just about any era.

Holmes was obviously on the wrong side of the hill by 1988, but he was putting on a performance of sheer genius against an unbeaten, dangerous Mercer four years later in 1992 (the same Mercer who arguably beat Lewis another four years on) and was only a point or so away from getting a draw against McCall on my card as late as 1995. I'd take a 38-year-old Holmes against most of Tyson's victims listed above, the possible exceptions being Biggs and, naturally given what happened a few years before, Spinks.

 

The best fighter he faced was Holmes , but let's be honest ,it was in name only by that point. A couple of years off and not long to prepare , no good against a killer like Tyson .
But in terms of best fighter ,in condition and time to be ready , it's Tucker .He ,at that stage of Tyson s reign gave him a totally unexpected slog of a fight .If ,as been pointed out , Tucker has a bit of the real deal about him ,it could have been a different out come .

 

They were all considered very good quality fighters when Tyson met them, certainly better on the whole than the bunch of challengers that more recent champions like Wilder and Joshua have defended against but because of the ease that Tyson beat them all, nowadays fans and boxing pundits looking back dismiss them all as old has-beens, shot fighters and fighters that never were that good in the first place.

 

Over their whole career, Holmes easily.

At the moment Tyson fought them, Tucker.

 

Another vote for Tucker. He had youth on his side and the rest of those guys were on the wrong side of the mountain. But hardly a murderer's row any way you look at it.

 

Tyson was 21 when he beat Spinks his prime didn't end until he went to prison.

 

Then in that case I would say that Ruddock was probably the best fighter that Tyson fought at the time that he was matched up with him. Ruddock was the most feared and avoided heavyweight in world around 1991.

 

Easily Holmes just a shame he was way past it and was only looking for a payday

 

Fair enough. I disagree. As a matter of fact I think he displayed his best bodywork against Ruddock. But to each their own.

 

Against Ruddock he abondoned the peek-a-boo style.

 

I see this question a lot. I’ve seen it in regard to Tyson, I’ve seen it a lot with Roy Jones jr. To me it seems they both get a little extra credit from fans for HOW they ran their divisions. Tyson cleared out a weak heavyweight division but did so with spectacular knock outs and highlight reel stuff. Jones beat who... a green Hopkins and a fat Toney but THE WAY he did so made them seem like slow flat footed cab drivers. HOW they did what they did counts for something since it’s rare.

 

Agreed. IMO it was the Lennox defeat over Ruddock, I think that some reduced Razor's standing.

I got a Ring Magazine that had the state of HW division at that time. The cover had Bowe, Holy, Moorer & Ruddock.