Your Honest opinion Of Mike Tyson?

Top five all time heavyweight finisher, to be on safe footing.

Top ten all time heavyweight, with some interesting statistics to his career.

Imploded spectacularly, perhaps more so than any champion in history.

Grossly overrated when I started posting on this forum, perhaps about in the right place now.

Absolutely scary at his peak, but in hindsight he always had weaknesses, that wee not immediately obvious.

 

Good post.

It seems Atlas really has succeeded with that "fragile bully" narrative, but Tyson didn't quit in any fight when it still mattered. Both Buster and Holy just beat him down until he had nothing left, and, yes, he could probably have gotten up one more time against Lewis but only to be knocked down again. He was thoroughly beaten and couldn't have changed the outcome with all the will in the world.

 

I don't blame him folding against Lewis. There was absolutely no point in getting up again and again just to have his face rearranged mercilessly by heavy 1-2's and uppercuts. His slim chance was gone after the first round honestly, a quick blitz going for broke was his only chance. It would have been completely impossible to win a decision at that point, he had neither the tools to outbox Lewis, nor the stamina to even hear the final bell. And Lewis was way too cautious and disciplined to get caught by a wild desperate bomb. He simply wasn't winning.

Tyson was difficult to put down, but not difficult to keep down. Guess it was a trade off. Cus did him a disservice by essentially training him to knock guys out, not necessarily to win long drawn out wars. He was fortunate that the few people who were able to go the distance with him weren't in the same zip code in terms of overall talent and ring IQ. Even if he stayed with Rooney, he had certain stylistic issues that might've lead to him struggling with certain opponents.

 

Underated before jail —- totally overrated after jail !!! Top 10 atg

 

Mike Tyson was a very talented champion in his era, but what puzzles me is a fighter who becomes totally co dependent on his corner and mentor. Agreed that a corner can be a help but after over 20 fights, a great fighter knows how to fight on his own, makes the necessary adjustments needed to win a fight, many past greats did not need anyone to hold their hand to win a boxing match on their own. Losing a prime at 23 is also very alarming, most fighters have not even reached their primes at that age. Most champions prepare for a title defense by preparing themselves by staying out of bars and staying away from the party scene before any fight, not listening to other people who are Leeches, only very few champions partied during their training regiment, and were successful. In all Mike was his own worst enemy. He married someone who did not really love him, just his money, he went for just looks which is a immature attitude, there is more to a woman that you are going to marry inside, getting to know that individual. Then he gets charged with committing a horrible act with Ms. Washington, true or not, he put himself in that predicament. In all he had the potential to be the greatest of all time but threw it away.

 

He was incredibly well marketed from the beginning, even before he turned pro. That has, to this day, an undeniable impact on the perception of him.
He was very, very well schooled. The whole Cus system has a number of holes in it- like any other system it has good and bad to it- but Mike Tyson was the perfect fit for that system. I don't know that he would have done as well fighting any other way. On the other hand, if somebody believed in him and put that time and effort into building him while teaching him to fight some other way, who knows?
Sometimes he would forget to jab his way in and would walk in and accept clinches. In my eyes he was probably too squared up- his hips and shoulders were square to his foe- to be an effective fighter inside. But he was fast and he generally knew how to fight and could do a ton of damage with his slip and counter punches on the way in and, if he caught you on the way in, he knew what to do once he got close. There were holes in his game though. I wonder if Cus hadn't finished his education when he died, and then Rooney just didn't know. Rooney is considered the be all end all as far as training Tyson but I find that funny. In no way did he know what Cus knew and in no way did he have the respect of the fighter in the same way.
At his best, when he is on his game, Tyson is a tough night for anybody. There are many guys that I could see him blowing out easily...just as I could see him losing to those same guys if it was one of those nights if he walked in looking for one punch and letting himself get tied up.

 

Overall, one of the most overrated fighters of all-time. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t excellent. He was arguably great in his prime, but he fizzled out quickly and the loss to Douglas wasn’t balanced out due to it being a fairly mediocre era. His talent was great there’s no doubt. But when you see people putting him top 2-3 heavyweights and in the all-time pound for pound rankings then you see how he’s overrated. That’s the power of marketing and it’s not his fault. Just like Canelo today. The marketing is working on the casual fans.

I would say he’s anything from 8/9 to 12/13 on the heavyweight list. It’s not the deepest division. Pound for pound probably wouldn't have a case for being top 100.

 

My observations on Tyson see two distinct groups.

1. Casual fans: A lot of people who grew up watching him fight, many of which became boxing fans because of him, see Tyson as this unstoppable juggernaut who beat everyone in a round while destroying the heavyweight division. Listen to them long enough and you’ll think he knocked out Godzilla, ate people’s souls and was the pinnacle of everything great. These people are wrong.

2. Boxing Purests. These people saw Tyson as a capable but limited fighter who was exposed the second anyone stood up to him. They will point to Tokyo Douglas and say he was still the same man who captured the title at twenty. He wasn’t. They point to Holyfield and say Tyson would always lose to this style or that type of boxer. These people are wrong.

The truth lay somewhere in the middle. Simply put Mike Tyson was a machine.

Tyson and Cus D’Amato talked about him becoming the youngest champion ever. That was the goal. When he did that, which was after Cus died, he and Jimmy Jacobs then created a new goal of holding all three major belts. When he did that Jimmy Jacobs died and he had no more goals. Nothing new and challenging to motivate him. Tyson lost his fire.

Tyson was a machine. He fought often because the people who knew him, knew it was the best way to keep him ring ready and out of trouble. If you keep the machine in use, maintain it well and make sure nothing gets stuck in the gears it works well. If you don’t, the machine breaks down.

Once the people who maintained the machine Tyson were gone or dead, it broke.

 

Fair points, the 80s heavys were a mess, Tyson included. I guess my point was that Tyson was able to rise above them in the late 80s and went on a run none of them could maintain, even with all of his distractions and vices he had. His ceiling was high enough that he continued to win despite his lack of dedication where a lot of his contemporaries who had similar issues didn't.

 

that's the kids today that act like they have a tic in their neck. like mike.

better quit holding your chin up, little mikey's.

 

This basically

 

A fascinating fighter and person. Tyson was everything. Overated by some, then underrated by a good segment of fans. A true Superstar, talented, flawed, a Champion, an inspiration, a bully, the bad guy, a disgrace, look at him now...that champion found himself.
I'm glad he fought when I was alive to see it.