Where Does Mike Tyson Rank As An ATG?

[jimboinbigd]

Not an ATG, no way, he QUIT against Evander so he wouldn't get KO'ed!!!
What ATG QUITS in a Title fight!! I'm so sick of these Tyson fans who think he's a great fight, he fought great against terrible competition his first 20 fights were against "hand picked" guys who couldn't break an egg!
Could he fight great....................Yes! When the stakes were highest against solid men he got beat and/or QUIT!

The style he was taught was extremely hard to maintain as he got older its a style that dictates flexability and stamina and Mike was NOT a disciplined fighter by the time he got to Evander thats how Evander walked him. Push the "bully" back and see what happens....................he QUIT!

Its in file for every Tyson FAN to see he bite Evander to get out of the fight theres no other reason. Every fighter knows its an automatic DQ for biting!!

You saw and OLD Joe Louis try hard against Rocky and get beaten bad but he didn't QUIT!
Who ever said that Max was passed his prime when he defeated Joe doesn't know history! Max is one of the best heavies to lace them up and was technically sound even out of his prime. Joe Louis does NOT have a weak chin anyone who thinks that or says that is a FOOL!

I have Tyson on the Maybe ATG great list in front of George the Animal Steele and in back of "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers!! HA!! right where he belongs! Ray

I'm guessing you're younger than 30 and weren't around or old enough when Tyson came up in the mid 80''s then blew up into one of the most feared and famous heavyweights of all time throughout the late 80's.

For those who weren't old enough or there at the time, Mike Tyson was one of the most skilled, well trained, and ferocious heavyweights there ever was during that period. Cus D'Amato, Kevin Rooney, etc,built him into a machine. He was KO'ing people in the first round and through mere intimidation had most guys beat before they ever entered the ring. Tyson plowed through the entire heavyweight division in the late 80's with no problem and imo, would have given any heavyweight in boxing history problems or KO'd them during this period.

But then there was a series of events like Cus D'amato, his trainer and father figure, dying, his out of the ring problems and lack of discipline with nobody really having any control over him anymore which led to a major drop off in both skills, discipline, and conditioning, then the Buster Douglas fight where she showed up out of shape, partied out, and with a new camp who knew virtually nothing about boxing, and didn't even have an ice pack in their corner or the necessary items to fix a cut or to take down swelling. They were "black militants" essentially devoted to black power and the nation of islam, etc... then of course the jail stint for 3-4 years and after essentially 7 years or so washed away from his prime, he came back and was never the same. Tyson would have crushed Holyfield back in 88 and would have given Lennox Lewis everything he could have handled as well had he fought him in his prime.

Final analysis: Tyson was one of the most famous and all time box office attractions in boxing history that brought a fear factor second to none, and his his prime he was a top 5 HW All Time, imo, but the 2nd half of his career he was merely a shell, and Tyson, even in his prime, did have problems with tall and big HW's and guys like Lennox Lewis, Ali, and maybe even the Klit brothers would have posed challenges to him just like Douglas did that historic night. When Tyson lost to Douglas peiople were on the streets running from car to car telling each other. It was that big of a shock. The baddest man on the planet had been beaten.

So, to those too young, or just recently getting into boxing, don't listen to the pinheads on here tear Tyson down. They only recall his post prime losses, not his unbelievable and historical run for 5 years before his career fell apart.

Because his career fell apart on the back end, no, he's not a top p4p atg, but during his prime, he was top 5 p4p and top 5 box office p4p all time without a doubt.

Boxing hasn't been the same since he retired.

[Ray Corso]

Yes 29 to be exact, yet still older and wiser than young elroy.

I have personal boxing gloves that are older, much older than 30!!!!!!

[jimboinbigd]

Yes 29 to be exact, yet still older and wiser than young elroy.

I have personal boxing gloves that are older, much older than 30!!!!!!

You seem like a die hard and legit boxing fan and I meant no disrespect nor took a side in the debate with you and elroy. I just don't think unless you lived through a particular era you (or any of us) can totally understand how big of an impact or how dominant a fighter really was. Tyson in his prime was not only one of the most exciting, skilled, ferocious, original, dominant, intimidating, and charismatic fighters of his era, but of all time. He came in on the eve of the great welterweight fights between SRL/Hearns/Duran and SRL/Hagler had their historic fights and were nearing the end of their prime, but also right after Larry Holmes dominated the heavyweight division for several years but never really connected with the fans because of his style, him beating down Ali and Cooney, who was the Great White Hope, and a bunch of stiffs. His career reminds me of Floyd's but without the theatrics and controversy Floyd brings to the table including the undefeated record and dominance, but unlike with Floyd, Holmes didn't know how to sell his fights nor did Holmes have that obvious opponent looming in the background like Floyd has with Manny. Anyway, with an aging and boring HW champ at the end that nobody really liked for 7 years, and the era of the legends at WW all but done, Boxing was in need of someone to come in and blow up and there could not have been a more perfect fit than Mike Tyson. The most dominant and most menacing fighter of my lifetime and I watched Ali, Duran, Hearns, Frazier, Foreman, Hagler, Pryor, young Mosley, Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Pacquiao, The Klit brothers, GGG, or any other intimidating one punch KO badasses from the last 40 years. None of them came close to Tyson in terms of raw electricity and intimidation and skill. I don't even know who would be #2. Well before Oscar, Floyd, and Manny were putting up big PPV numbers Tyson was the guy that not just boxing fans paid to see, BUT EVERYONE PAID TO SEE. His Closed Circuit numbers from his time would equal about 3 million buys per fight in this era with everyone having cable and the ability to easily order. There was a reason for this. He scared the phuck out if everyone and people knew they were watching a once in a generation sports and pop culture icon. I;m a Floyd fan inside the ring and I appreciate his skill but he pales in comparison to Tyson in terms of his impact bringing the sport to the masses and historical impact but a 2 fight deal with Manny plus a big Wembley fight with Khan in the UK, and Floyd going up to MW to take on a GGG or Ward could change that but I seriously doubt we'll see that happen.

Anyway, Tyson took on all comers and thrashed them all until his career went off the tracks and his big named losses were well after he lost his passion for the sport and seemed to only be fighting for the money and too many people look at that era and get confused about his overall impact on the sport and sheer dominance for the first half of his career. I doubt we'll see anything like it again. His signature fight at the height of his skill was the Michael Spinks fight I have as my avatar. Spinks was an olympic champion that was undefeated and who dominated cruiserweight then got a title and the fight everyone wanted to see but Spinks was dragging his feet signing because he was scared shidtless, and Trump who had just come onto the scene ponied up huge money to host the fight and had it been today, it might have done 4 million ppvs. I was 20 at the time and broke but I paid 40 bucks and had a party and about 20 dudes showed up and we all know what happened shortly after that. Anyone want to know what it was like watching a Tyson fight, just go back to that feeling you had when Pac entered the ring against a totally scared shidtless Hatton and of course what happened over the next 5-10 minutes in real time. That was what Tyson was like for several years but an american heavyweight and only 19 and 20 years old and all natural.

We'll never see anything like it ever again, imo.

[Anthony342]

With his chin, I could see Tyson beating Lewis, prime for prime but Holyfield won't be as easy IMO. I see that fight being closer.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Elroy is banned.. Lmao

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Mike Tyson is an atg heavy and atg p4p

He would be somewhere in the top 15 heavies, possible top 10

On an all time p4p list he would be on it but towards the bottom, maybe even the last guy on the list but he would be on the list.

Mike at his peak 86-88, he was a boxing machine, something the world have never seen.. If he dies at 23 like sal Sanchez instead of getting upset by buster, no doubt he would be held in higher regard than he is today..
Everyone remembers the 90s Tyson and not the mid 80s mike.. It seems that only people who actually watched him at his peak remember him that way, and most others just remember the 90s Tyson losing to buster, Holyfield 1,2 beating a bunch of tomatoe cans and ultimately getting best down by Lennox. I think that hurts mike's legacy more than anything

[Scott9945]

Elroy is banned.. Lmao

He'll come back. They always do.

[Suckmedry]

elroy banned. finally.

[greeh]

You do realise Jas, that the overwhelming majority of ppl when asked who is the greatest boxer of all time (not even just HW boxer) are going to say Mike Tyson.

Jeez…

Let me ask you this - what kind of people does this “overwhelming majority” consists of?

I’ll give you a clue; their opinions shouldn’t be taken too seriously, because they aren’t well-versed enough in the history of the sport to claim such a thing with conviction or being able to defend it.

Although the heavyweight division is one of the weakest historically of the original divisions - and I would probably find a spot for him inside the Top 10 myself - jas reasons for leaving Tyson outside is valid and perfectly fine.

Tyson is probably the only boxer who ppl with no attachment to boxing know anyway!

I’ve heard people talking about some Muhammad…..... Shyte, I can’t remember the last name…….. Was it Ali maybe?

He seems to be pretty popular though.

[greeh]

He's in my top 50 All Time Greats P4P.

I guarantee you history will treat him a lot better than the present has. He retired much less than a decade ago. It's still very early to cement him in his rightful place. He will go down in the top 15 or 10 all time when we look back in 30-40 years or so.

Nobody ever made the rest of their division look so inferior than Tyson did. It's not that there were no good fighters, there were. He beat up some TOUGH guys. I'll list em if you want, no problem. And then we can debate whether those guys were tough or not. But Tyson was an unbelievable force and revived the sport, saved boxing, and all as a KID! People don't give him nearly enough credit for the fact that he decimated an entire division, the heavyweight division, of professional boxers, the best of the best, at age 19 through 23 years of age. That is just absurd and beyond human.

This guy deserves to be in the top 10 heavyweights of all time, easily. Shouldn't even be a discussion.

Pound for pound all time? Top 30 or 25. This guy single handedly inspired 2 generations of fighters to get into boxing, and transcended sports like Muhammad Ali did...he's doing it right now with his live show, his cartoon, his products, his promotional company, and plenty of other things that no other boxer has ever or will ever do. It's all Tyson and Ali above everyone else, just my opinion. Remember, Muhammad Ali said on Arsenio Hall's shows pointing to Tyson saying "This man is the greatest."

Thank God you didn’t go into hyperbole-mode.

Seriously though, I don’t really know if you are taking the piss or not.

Praise where praise shall be, Mike was a fantastic fighter, but please - spare me from further outbursts of hyperbolic nonsense.

And one thing I have a strong disdain against is those who takes popularity into the equation when trying to properly assess a fighter - as Ali and Tyson for example, who are globally known. It has NOTHING to do with their in-ring ability, and therefore shouldn’t be taken into account.

Just my opinion though and everyone is entitled to their own.