Would Rope-a-dope work on Tyson?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

But the opinions that are respected the most, especially in the Classic Forum, are those that have objectivity.

PeterthePrince and I disagree on Tyson, but at least he sounds like a real boxing fan. His critique doesn't seem fueled by an agenda rather it comes off as a reasonable opinion from a reasonable boxing fan.

Foreman Hook sounds more like an alias looking to push an agenda. He comes off as a Tyson hater plain and simple. And when that happens, his opinions on Mike Tyson simply lose credibility and relevance to the discussion. I'm certain that I'm not the only poster who feels this way.

 

dude shut the hell up.
you HATE tyson and LOVE foreman. just stop hating on tyson.

 

So you think teh myth of 1988 Tyson could KO Prime Ali? :nut

Ali was NEVER KO'd And he fighted Frazier X3, Foreman, Shavers - you get teh picture man....

 

no he wouldn't but Tyson is not the joke you make him out to be. so just stop hating on tyson

 

No.

 

i agree with the stamina issues of tyson but i wonder if 7 rounds of tyson fury would be enough to beat ali.

tyson has alot of myth and there is also alot of evidence of greatness.

his hands where very fast, head to body combinations, great arsenal of punches

ali would have to use his great chin to the limit as i dont think tyson hits like foreman, shavers or lyle but his punches come fast a plenty.

a prime ali was the most invincible heavyweight i have ever seen. but tyson is great too, not very many fighters could knock out a older but still darn good larry holmes in such a impressive fashion.

i think a prime ali would beat tyson, but i cant see the rope a dope working unless ali can use those deceivingly strong clinches. what makes me scared is how stationary ali is on the ropes. if tyson's combinations are faster then ali's anticipations of the punches, then the rope a dope i think will be significantly less effective then against foreman.

 

This thread takes the cake for both its overrating and underrating of Iron Mike.

 

Ali vs. Tyson is a different thread altogether.

What is relevant here is the rope-a-dope.

Bottom line:

If Ali were to beat Tyson, it wouldn't be because he used the rope-a-dope. It would be because he didn't use the rope-a-dope.

As for Tyson's stamina?

He's been past 7 rounds 12 times in his career.

His record is 9-3 4KO and no close or controversial decisions. His stamina is adequate.

 

Maybe he just has an extensive oppinion. Maybe he is enthused by his own oppinions as many confident well minded people are.

 

I really doubt it. It would play right into Tyson's body-head, hook-uppercut combos.

 

Probably not. The rope-a-dope worked for a low-stamina guy like Foreman, and theoretically would have worked for a guy like Liston or someone of that nature, but Tyson is too high-stamina, and I don't know that Tyson ever punched himself out in his career. If Tyson was frustrated enough, I could see him punching himself out with his man on the ropes.

 

The Rope A Dope was designed specifically for the style of a prime George Foreman, who like to smother an opponent with his whirlwind like blows early in a fight. George did lack stamina, his glaring weakness. Muhammad Ali designed this type of defense because he no longer had the footwork, reflexes, and speed that led him to fairly easy victories in his first title reign as champion from 1964-1967. Ali would have stayed off the ropes against a prime Mike Tyson, using his footwork, reflexes, speed, and stamina to defeat Mike, but Ali would have to fight like he did against Sonny Liston in 1964, not fighting like he did in 1974 against Foreman. The Ali that returned from his 3 and a half year ban from 1967- 1970 might have not been able to defeat Mike, because he was more vulnerable, his 1960's gifts were no longer at his disposal as evidenced against Joe Frazier and Ken Norton.

 

I totally agree. Ali tried the rope-a-dope later with Frazier and Norton and it didn't work because they were high-stamina punchers. That also accounts for Ali taking much more punishment against either of them over Foreman.

 

As a general rule, it’s probably not a good approach against Tyson.

But here’s the thing: Ali did not just use it as a physical strategy, it was also a psychological ploy. Against Foreman, he let the big man whale away and hit him with shots that destroyed Frazier and Norton and just laughed and taunted him, asking ‘Is that all you got?‘ and ‘they told me you could punch’ and Foreman would bluster and try to hit him harder. There’s a point where he’s throwing sledgehammers to the body and you think those punches are going to come out the other side, but Ali never let on (and lord you know those had to have damned near killed him).

There are certainly versions of Tyson that could have beaten versions of Ali, but prime vs. prime or even as late as Foreman-era, I think Ali always takes Tyson because he’s the bigger man mentally. Iron Mike would play his tough-guy games in the lead-up to the fight and Ali would have made him feel like a kid by carving him up with words and holding him up to ridicule. And Ali didn’t care if it made Frazier so mad he’d come all that harder, because Ali wasn’t going to crumble no matter what.

It would be the same with Tyson — he’d come out like a house afire, but eventually he’d have worn off all that energy and Ali is still there and here comes The Greatest, who is just stronger mentally and who would operate in that space between Tyson’s ears until he broke him.