Who's the last Heavyweight you'd favor to beat prime Tyson

Am I the only one to think Tua vs. Tyson would have a bit of humorous awkwardness to it? A fight where either of them could actually.. jab.. and have it be more than a bit of cover as they close distance? Where both of them have the natural reflexes to throw a hook that would hit the other in the forehead instead of the chin?

 

I'd favor Lewis, and there has not been anyone to emerge within the division since Lewis who is all that close to his level. One needs to be somewhere near that truly upper tier to be favored against a prime Tyson, in my opinion.

 

Holyfield.

I don't think Lewis could handle the speed and power. Lewis was excessively holding vs a Tyson that was essentially a one round fighter. Lewis is far too hittable IMO. And Lewis never ever faced that kind of speed.

Usyk is great but i don't think he could physically bully Tyson the way Evander could. I also think that Usyk being a southpaw leaves him far too open for Tyson's nuclear straight right and right uppercut to the head and left hooks to the body.

If there is any orthodox heavyweight in history who was built to defeat lefties, it was Iron Mike.

 

I was rewtching Bredis Usyk and even though Usyk won, I was amazed at how many straight right hands landed on Usyk. Now Usyk has a great chin and great defence but he was very open to both the straight right and right uppercuts.

southpaws are vulnerable, really vulnerable to a hard fast orthodox straight right. But Usyk has enough power to deter the likes of Joshua and Fury from fully and consistently committing to the right hand. They did unleash some huge rights on him but they were reluctant to do it consistently as neither guy (especially Joshua) has a great chin.

Tyson has faster hands than Joshua, Fury or Bredis. He will not hesitate to throw the straight right over and over again. And it will land flush. The left hook to the body is in direct range to where Usyks liver is. And liver shots are paralyzing even for the toughest of men.

Tysons straight right, right uppercut and left hook to the body/ liver are all nightmare punches for any lefty. Combine this with amazing handspeed and combinations and an iron chin, I think Mike is the worst possible style for lefties to deal with. I love Usyk and southpaws in general and yet they don’t match up vs Tyson.

 

This. Lewis had all the tools.

If we keep in mind Lennox's slightly suspect chin, he still knocks the hell out of Mike 2 out of 3 imo.

 

James Douglas perhaps?

 

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Usyk

Mike always struggled with stamina. Usyk's quick enough to stay safe and since we've never seen him KO'd his chin's a guess. If he gets Mike past the mid point he's taking the fight.

 

Perhaps imagined but watching the first 1-2 rounds of Mike’s fight vs Lewis, I saw vague glimpses of the old Mike.

Glimpses that perhaps suggested, in his prime, he might’ve stood a decent chance of putting Lewis out early - but bearing in mind that a quick KO would likely be Mike’s only path to victory in a prime vs prime scenario, imo.

In their actual fight (and fair to say Lewis wasn’t a peak himself) I remember the much dimensionally smaller Mike still being able to get inside, to hurt and send Lewis back on his heels early with one of his classic jabs.

It might’ve seemed “game on” for at least several rounds but Mike ran out of gas shortly thereafter.

Of course, from the get go, Mike’s speed of hand and foot wasn’t what it used to be - and even slight deteriorations in those regards can make all the difference.

Mikes weight for the fight seemed to indicate that he hadn’t put the necessary work in to be viable beyond just a few rounds. When I saw his recorded weight as at the time, it was disappointing.

Sad to see Mike eventually cop the beat down that he did - but gee, before going down he still displayed an excellent chin - many of Lewis’ connections were hellacious and would’ve levelled many lesser men much earlier than they did Tyson.

 

Usyk beat a prime Tyson?????

LMAO!! I've heard it all now.

Usyk would be lucky to see round 3.

 

Lewis for me.

 

Prime Tyson's stamina was good enough to not really let up on his beat down of Ribalta, so let's say he can more or less go full speed for 8-9 rounds, the if they can survive past 5 narrative is a bit nonsense

An interesting way to look at it is if Frazier opened up as hot as prime Tyson and worked at prime Tyson's pace his stamina likely would not have held up as well

Prime Tyson was just too hot for any version of Lewis, I think he would also be a bit much for Holyfield but wouldn't put it past Holyfield to take 1/3, prime Holmes maybe makes it 3-5 rounds longer than their actual fight

Foreman is the safe bet

Usyk would be a particularly brutal KO because he would drop down into Tyson's uppercut when he tried to take a knee from the right hook to the body

 

I wouldn't favor anyone to beat Mike, but for me Ali is even money.

 

That Paul guy gave Tyson a spanking.