The Greatness Of Mike Tyson

Tyson beat two hall of famers and everyone he faced between 1986 and 1989. youngest champ ever and no one else had a violent title reign like him. no one

a prime lennox lewis is not greater then mike tyson

tysons greatness would have been even greater had he not been sent to jail,but how would he have been able to survive in an era with the likes of ali foreman frazier norton would he have been able to withstand 15 rounds of ali taunting him or would he have blew his fuse not for the first time. he will be remembered by lots not for his boxing but for his biting

i agree but sullivan any pre jack johnson fighter is hard for me to rate as i see them as average fighters today. i'd hate to fight sullivan in a bar or the street but thats about it. i admit my bias on the topic of the old fighters of the 20's and before.i just don't know what it is i am not that way..i agree the klits would be good in any era with there size and power.I do not see them as great but i am a bit of a fan . I was rooting for vitaly in the lewis fight soo hard it was funny.we shall never know what he could have done with tyson,holyfield,a in shape prime lewis ect he is better then the berbick's and so on so i would put him on my list if i ever make one just not in the top 20 all time

darrenshyrockford, i just read your previous post. completely agree that it is unfair, perhaps better worded as being uncalculateable, to judge fighters of different era's against each other. and i'm not even going to bother naming the innumerable amount of changes from decade to decade. maybe i'm a bit biased, but i would include vk as being competitive in any era. imagine his punches with 4 ounce gloves. i'm sure a punch from tyson wearing 4 ounce gloves would be just as devestating. you mentioned ali, lewis, foremen, etc. but didn't mention any of the other great fighters. jack johnson, sullivan(who fought bareknuckled early in his career), dempsey, walcott, and marciano would all have been challenging in any era of the division in my opinion.

this is not a debate on tyson being the best ever ....no he is not... just that he was at one time a great fighter ... At his peek i would put him in the ring with any fighter... let me put it this way Ali,lewis,louis,foreman,holmes,bowe,maybe holyfield and tyson are the only fighters off the top of my head i would put in the ring if i had to pick one fighter to fight all the hv champs in history and end up with a winning record...it would be one of them

Mike Tyson is the killer. It's the Junior here that is giving him a bad name.

tyson looked good because almost all of the brutal ko's you've seen were against c class opponents. maybe just my opinion here, but mike never really stood much of a chance against lennox lewis or evander holyfield. an unbaised opinion would dictate that vitali would be able to do the same thing as holyfield and lewis. i actually saw these fights live. and many of his fights before ll and evander either live or recorded from a cheat box. mike tyson's main rep has come from people watching his fights against "bums"(if you want to call them that) on espn classic from 1986 to '88. i saw tyson when he was still full of piss and vinegar, and was not completely impressed, besides the amount of power he put into his punches and being good at finishing off his opponents. damn, i thought some of klitschko's fans(which i am) were crazy, tyson has even crazier fans. well i don't feel i am bias on tyson

tyson looked good because almost all of the brutal ko's you've seen were against c class opponents. maybe just my opinion here, but mike never really stood much of a chance against lennox lewis or evander holyfield. an unbaised opinion would dictate that vitali would be able to do the same thing as holyfield and lewis. i actually saw these fights live. and many of his fights before ll and evander either live or recorded from a cheat box. mike tyson's main rep has come from people watching his fights against "bums"(if you want to call them that) on espn classic from 1986 to '88. i saw tyson when he was still full of piss and vinegar, and was not completely impressed, besides the amount of power he put into his punches and being good at finishing off his opponents. damn, i thought some of klitschko's fans(which i am) were crazy, tyson has even crazier fans.

Larry Holmes is going down in history as one of the best fighters ever the Ring mag has him 5th best hv in 1999. So we may ask "so who did he beat".? Answer just the best of his time or lack there of. He beat an old past prime Ali a past prime Norton and a Cooney..a chin less Shavers and a useless Leon Spinks.Holmes never had the best chin but he did have great heart he got up off the mat time after time to win .But what if we put Holmes in the 50's 60's 70's and so on. would he be as great? yes probaly.Can we do the same with Marciano? i don't think so but does that not make him great no. You see to judge a fighter against fighters from another time is not fair. So why must we always do it with Tyson ?.The answer is because he was great if he was not we would not waste time on such fantasy fights . You never see John Ruiz vs Ali and take it serious because Ruiz is not a great fighter and should not be but in such discussion . Even the most heated Tyson haters most give a prime Tyson a chance against the very best if only a chance.

the first thing that always comes up. "well who did Tyson fight" ? only the best fighters of his time. there is no doubt many were past there prime but they were the best we had to offer.you can also say "well tyson lost all his big fights" . Mike Tyson only lost big fights to Lewis and Holyfield when past his own prime. If you look back the Tyson vs spinks,holmes,berbick,smith,thomas,tucker,ruddock fights were important.The ting is tyson destroied these men i the words of Roy jones jr "they were somebody before i fought them ".Yes tyson lost to Buster who is one if not the most underrated fighters ever to live . Most fighters have atleast one upset in there career so i forgive Tyson for Buster.the 1999 ring magazine boxing almanac has Tyson as the 14 greatest heavyweight of all time Holyfield 3rd Bowe 23rd i wonder if Tyson had beat Holyfield and Buster how high would he be .

I think Tyson is an alltime great because he is the youngest heavyweight champion of all time and is a two time heavyweight champion. Not only that but over the last 20 years he has become a sports icon. For good or bad he has always been in the spotlight.

i just didnt feel like naming them all .... ok 90% is high maybe more like 80%. i agree foreman would put up a good fight but some of the others... i would pick tyson not that he is going to blow them out mind you.. just that i think he would win like.... prime tyson vs prime. o what the hell ken norton is thought of as n all time great tyson would kill ken norton so how do you put norton down as a all time great and not tyson?

Ugh. Foreman > Ali > Frazier > Prime Holmes > Lewis > Louis > I think you get my point.

Seeing how shitty Vitologys title riegn was it makes you appreciate the greatness of mike tyson. he ruled the division for 4 years and crushed everybody. Vitology only defended it 1 times then retired out of fear. Tysons greatness is aprecciated. i'm with you on this but tyson did it to himself he will never get the respect as a fighter he deserves . he was a great fighter hands down he would have beat 90% of the all time great champions. maybe not the very best of them ALI LOUIS but a prime tyson i would take any day over a klit, bowe, lewis, ruiz, byrd ,holmes, atleast he was fun to watch which is in fact what we enjoy about boxing it is fun to watch. he was interesting which made us tune in to see what he was going to do next. he made us buy fights for unheard of amounts that we knew would only last around or so.if he is not great then what makes a fighter great?great is not the same as the best just that you are among the best in which in the 80's he was .

....Your a mistake alright. One I bet your parents wish they could take back. mate, stick to the topic. hes said hes mistaken now alot of ppl wudnt say that but he had the courage to say that. prime iron mike will flatten vitali

you are right. my mistake ....Your a mistake alright. One I bet your parents wish they could take back.

Thinking about, the reason why Tyson was so good in his prime was because he used to fight like he was fighting for his survival, like it was him or his opponent, and he made damn sure it wasn't him. Bit like a cornered grizzly bear.

Tyson in his prime would have killed anyone, he was a beast, he would have beaten Vitali in a few rounds, I truly believe that. And I'm a fan of Vitali. I agree with you...He had it all.

mike tyson is not a great fighter , he is a great talent that was wasted. dont get me wrong he is highly entertaining but never rose to the occasion in big fights.if he was mentally strong he would have been possible the best heavyweight ever. he is not in my top 10 great heavyweight fighters. but i am a fan of his it is so sad that he could not use that talent throught his career instaed of the begining. if things were different he would have possibly been a big debate who was better ali or tyson