Tyson's Talents Are Way Overrated

[Madcow]

Ali would've made him look foolish. Louis would've KO'd him.

But to add my last two cents: Tyson was a great physical specimen that ruled almost by sheer physical prowess, but there has to be more. It's like a young pitcher with nothing but a 100 Mph fastball; you may be dominant for awhile, but if you don't develop a breaking ball then you'll get tagged eventually.

Roy Jones dominated a weak division on solely his physical ability..was he great?

Prince Naseem Hamed looked dominant for the first couple of years...was he great?

Again, I enjoyed watching Tyson fight, but his straight-ahead style would've been picked apart easily by an expereienced, disciplined fighter. And not the Pinklons', Bonecrushers', Tillis' of the world.

"???...If Mike had no heart, courage, brain, etc. how the hell did he win 37 straight fights, including becoming the youngest Heavyweight Champion in history?"

Sometimes athletes are bigger or stronger or faster than the rest. Physical ability will take you far in a career, but it takes more to be considered one of the greats.

[Abe Attell]

Louis is actually one of my favorite fighters, if not my favorite, but he held his hands to low.

Ali had a good chance, but Ali did hold his hands low, held them down when moving back to avoid punches, and he tended to drop his left after using it to jab...Tyson was a fighter that put punches in combinations with speed and power, while moving forward very quickly...Tyson would most likely be able to make up room, so it would be very dangerous for Ali.


Saying Tyson was like a pitcher that only had a "100 mph" fastball is a terrible analysis...maybe it is fine for Foreman, but not Tyson...Tyson was able to bob and weave, throw punches in bunches, and throw every punch in the book, including a sharp jab when he used it. Tyson didn't get hit all that much early in his career when he lived in the gym, and he didn't throw one shot bombs like later on.

How many Heavyweights today do you see throwing constant body punches?
Tyson did.




I wonder, what do you think of Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, and Joe Frazier?

Sometimes athletes are bigger or stronger or faster than the rest. Physical ability will take you far in a career, but it takes more to be considered one of the greats

Wow, I guess they should leave Shaq and Wilt out of the Hall of Fame...only if they would of developed the ability to shoot Free-throws and shoot more than a foot away from the baseket, they would of been considered "Great"

So should I cross out George Foreman on my "All time Great" list as well?

Should we also dismiss Sprinters (in the Olympics), like Jesse Owens?


What about Ali? Did this guy ever learn how to properly box? or how about body punching, he didn't seem to throw many of those.
You see, Ali also had a great gift, GENETICS...his ability to take a shot to the chin helped him many times...his ability to absorb punches to the body, though through hard work of course, might have more to do with his thick torso, and waist.

[Franko]

I find it amazing sometimes how much Tyson can be under rated, but sometimes i think people base their opinions on the Tyson we saw after his incarceration, otherwise, their knowledge is poor. When Mike Tyson was at his best he reigned over a division that was obviously far far better than it is today IMO, and at that time Tyson beat some very good fighters who were just unfortunate enough to be around at the same time as him i.e. Tony Tucker, James Smith, Mitch Green, Tyrell Biggs etc. As has been mentioned, it is hard to determine who is/was the hardest puncher in heavyweight history (and from what i read i didn't see Ernie Shavers mentioned), but what i do believe is that Tyson certainly is one of the greatest concussive punchers i have ever seen, and at his best i believe he would be capable of beating any fighter in heavyweight history, or at least he would be more of threat than some people on this thread seem to believe.

[Smokin'J]

Okay, first and foremost, Mike Tyson is without a doubt a good boxer. He hit hard, had quick hands, and had a solid chin. At one time, he was one of my favorite boxers.

But then pieces of **** on this site come and just make me want to go against him. People say he can hit the hardest, has a very good chin, and is the greatest of all-time.

.

when you talk about chins, mention Jake Lamotta

[makaveli_uk]

**** off Tyson was the greatest.

[T-97]

**** off Tyson was the greatest.

Take it you havnt heard of Muhammed Ali then

[them_apples]

How are Tyson's abilities overrated? He unified all 3 belts. He also beat some stiff competition, not as good as Ali's competition or Holyfields competition but it was still very good. I would pick a Prime Tyson over Ali in a heart beat based on styles alone.

I think his power is a bit overrated though, the guy wasn't that big, while no doubt he hit very hard I don't think he hit the hardest.

[randy johnson]

Okay, first and foremost, Mike Tyson is without a doubt a good boxer. He hit hard, had quick hands, and had a solid chin. At one time, he was one of my favorite boxers.


Amusing Tyson has a solid chin but he was knocked out 5 times?Some fool said Marciano punched harder? (Well know you are white because no black,hispanic,latino or asian would ever say some 180 pound piece of dirt could punch harder than any decent 220 real heavyweight)Then some fool said Tyson was the hardest puncher or all time (Probably a black guy for those who think i pick on a skin color.I just tell it how it is.Most people are racial biased but i am not i am just logical)How many of you fought Tyson?Well Holyfield did and said Foreman punched harder so i will take his word over some fanboy.
If you read my post about Tyson you would of seen me say this before.I hate Tyson....he is a coward and a woman beater but Tyson would of destroyed any fighter before Ali.No glass chin guy like Louis or some 180 pound bum like Marciano would make it past one round with Tyson.Styles make fights some people say and I don't see how Ali would be able to beat Tyson seeing how much trouble Ali had with the slower Joe Frazier.
On the other hand any decent sized 6'4 or so fighter with a good chin and good boxing ability and some punching power would always give Tyson or any other 5.10 or so fighter problems.Tyson kind of used his jab when he was in his prime but that would never work against taller fighters who used theirs as well.Tyson was also knocked out 5 times in his career.I know Tyson fanboys will say it took alot of punches to knock him out but he point is he was stopped.Foreman fought from 38 to 48 and took alot of punishment in some of those fights and was never knocked down.Another thing is Lewis,Holyfield, and Douglas were and are older than Tyson so if you are going to say he was past his prime then so were they.Another thing is punching power doesnt go away because you are in your 30s.Your speed may leave you...your stamina and maybe even your chin in some fighters but not your power.Tyson landed punches on McBride and couldn't hurt him yet on the other than Foreman was able to knock out Moorer at 45 hurt Holyfield when he was 42 and hurt Briggs when he was 48 and all of those fighters were better than McBride.
We also know that fighters like Bruce Seldon and Clifford Etienne probably took dives for Tyson so who can say other Don King controlled heavyweights didnt take a dive for Tyson?Look at his early opponents and you will see he fought bum after bum after bum padding his record but his fans will pretend he fought world class fighters from the get go.Tyson was overrated but so are most boxers including my favorite fighter George Foreman.The only difference is even when Foreman was older people respected Foremans power.Foremans chin was great enough to him to fight to almost 50 and not be knocked out by bums like Kevin McBride.

[sleazyfellow]

Okay, first and foremost, Mike Tyson is without a doubt a good boxer. He hit hard, had quick hands, and had a solid chin. At one time, he was one of my favorite boxers.


Amusing Tyson has a solid chin but he was knocked out 5 times?Some fool said Marciano punched harder? (Well know you are white because no black,hispanic,latino or asian would ever say some 180 pound piece of dirt could punch harder than any decent 220 real heavyweight)Then some fool said Tyson was the hardest puncher or all time (Probably a black guy for those who think i pick on a skin color.I just tell it how it is.Most people are racial biased but i am not i am just logical)How many of you fought Tyson?Well Holyfield did and said Foreman punched harder so i will take his word over some fanboy.
If you read my post about Tyson you would of seen me say this before.I hate Tyson....he is a coward and a woman beater but Tyson would of destroyed any fighter before Ali.No glass chin guy like Louis or some 180 pound bum like Marciano would make it past one round with Tyson.Styles make fights some people say and I don't see how Ali would be able to beat Tyson seeing how much trouble Ali had with the slower Joe Frazier.
On the other hand any decent sized 6'4 or so fighter with a good chin and good boxing ability and some punching power would always give Tyson or any other 5.10 or so fighter problems.Tyson kind of used his jab when he was in his prime but that would never work against taller fighters who used theirs as well.Tyson was also knocked out 5 times in his career.I know Tyson fanboys will say it took alot of punches to knock him out but he point is he was stopped.Foreman fought from 38 to 48 and took alot of punishment in some of those fights and was never knocked down.Another thing is Lewis,Holyfield, and Douglas were and are older than Tyson so if you are going to say he was past his prime then so were they.Another thing is punching power doesnt go away because you are in your 30s.Your speed may leave you...your stamina and maybe even your chin in some fighters but not your power.Tyson landed punches on McBride and couldn't hurt him yet on the other than Foreman was able to knock out Moorer at 45 hurt Holyfield when he was 42 and hurt Briggs when he was 48 and all of those fighters were better than McBride.
We also know that fighters like Bruce Seldon and Clifford Etienne probably took dives for Tyson so who can say other Don King controlled heavyweights didnt take a dive for Tyson?Look at his early opponents and you will see he fought bum after bum after bum padding his record but his fans will pretend he fought world class fighters from the get go.Tyson was overrated but so are most boxers including my favorite fighter George Foreman.The only difference is even when Foreman was older people respected Foremans power.Foremans chin was great enough to him to fight to almost 50 and not be knocked out by bums like Kevin McBride.

P4P marciano did hit harder than tyson, thats not really a question. Louis did not have a glass chin either, yes he did get knocked down but he usually recovered real nice and could come back and win (unlike tyson). You say some fighters took dives in tysons fights? Thats just ignorant. Alot of greats fight so called bums, its called cleaning out the division. Primes are diffrent for diffrent fighters, being young doesnt mean youre in your prime automatically, look at archie moore, jersey joe, and others.

[Boogie Nights]

P4P marciano did hit harder than tyson, thats not really a question. Louis did not have a glass chin either, yes he did get knocked down but he usually recovered real nice and could come back and win (unlike tyson). You say some fighters took dives in tysons fights? Thats just ignorant. Alot of greats fight so called bums, its called cleaning out the division. Primes are diffrent for diffrent fighters, being young doesnt mean youre in your prime automatically, look at archie moore, jersey joe, and others.

P4P has nothing to do with it, how do you detrmine punching power by P4P when their styles were similar. however you gonna cut it, tyson hit much harder than marciano did

it bothers me when people say that marciano hit so hard blah blah blah

rocky was a good puncher, but tyson and pretty much any good puncher above 200 pounds hits harder

and also rocky marciano was overated when it comes to placing him in top 5. he deserves to be top 15 there.