Boxers you are confident could have beaten Mike Tyson at his peak?

[Rusty Tromboni]

I like all of what u said here. I just always pipe up about “prime tyson”. I feel like a broken record always saying this, but I feel I have to or I’m accused of being a Tyson hater, even though I’m a huge fan. My dad said a guy named Evander Holyfield will beat Mike Tyson after the Spinks fight. He put his money where his mouth is when they finally fought, and would only take even odds. So thats my reality. I find it hard to separate how good a guy could have been with how good they actually were to quantify their greatness. Training, focus, determination, heart, will, consistency, longevity is all part of boxing. Tyson being in jail, hard to quantify the damage. But Holy was taking tons punches during that time on the other hand. It’s like one car sitting in a barn seizing up while another is being bagged on. A lot will agree that when Tyson fought McNeely he was in his best looking physical condition at 220lbs. When people use the term “shell of their former self” that doesn’t leave much room to describe fighters even worse off. If the Tyson who fought Holy was a “shell” then what was the Tyson who lost to Buster? Or the Tyson who blew everyone away leading up to the Holy fights that made him a favourite each time?! I mean Holy lost twice to Bowe and to Moorer? People said he was washed up. It’s not like anyone was saying Tyson was slower or was less of a puncher than Holy. I just think Tyson was tailor made for Evander. Tyson missed, Evander makes him pay. Tyson looks to the ref in the clinch, Evander never stops fighting. Evander took the right to the body, right uppercut. He’s all wrong for Mike.
Okay I wrote a bunch on my critique of one matchup, sorry, but truthfully I really liked everything you said. It was refreshing to hear. I apologies, because I could just as easily right a bunch on backing up all the other matchups u described. I’ll try to do that next time. Good post.

This os a really good post. I'm really busy these days. Instead of taking my kids to activities, i'm helping them with school work.

Right now i'll address Holly. Yes, he too wasn't at his best. He yo-yo'd in the 90's.

That being said, he always rose to the occasion. The Foreman fight, the Mercer stoppage, Bowe rematch and the Lewis rematch. When he perceived a weakness he came alive. Against Czyz and Moorer he resigned himself to mediocrity.

Beating Tyson was what he aspired to most. And yeah, you're right, Tyson look scary heading into their fight. But he was lobbing punches, and not throwing combos.


I do believe the best Heavyweight Holly (I dunno who that is) could beat the vest Tyson. Like you said, terrible style match for Mike. But I dunno if the timing was ever right for that fight, even if Mike didn't go off the rails.


Also, if mike keeps himself together, Rooney makes him a better fighter. That means developing an inside game, and learning to master the fight over the distance.

[HOUDINI563]

Ali
Foreman
Lewis
Holyfield
Louis

[NChristo-]

- - When Mr Field was going life and death with Tubby Qawi who had been booted out of the LH division and almost died in the hospital afterwards, Mike was knocking grown heavy champs out and setting records .

Insert snickers here:

******!!!SNICKERS!!!)))

Qawi was anything but tubby and it's no reflection on how Mr Fields handled Tyson and shut him down. Unless you have to grab fighters from that timeframe and not taking heavyweight Evander, if that's what you have to do to even the playing fields and give Mike a win then sure.

If you wanna be like that though, while Tyson was getting knocked senseless by Buster Douglas, Holyfield was beating the soul out of Douglas in his very next fight.


But I guess going by Queensburys reasoning for this thread.

Ali was struggling from Parkinsons so we can rule him out.
Lewis had no experience at the world level at that point
Foreman hadn't yet made his comeback
Fury wasn't even in the womb yet
Bowe wasn't on the scene
Vitali was in a test tube in Russia
Joe Louis was dead.

So you're all wrong, Mike Tyson was in fact unbeatable and trying to have fun in a thread by discussing who 'could' beat him is not allowed.

[Sadiqkingofko]

You don't make no sense.

Holyfield was camped out at Cruiserweight. And Lewus in the amateurs.


THEY didn't want any part of Tyson. Yet you're saying they beat him!?!? Too bad you weren't around to tell them that.

And while they stop Tyson, Fury only gets a UD?!?

The question is peak vs peak, Peak Holyfield stops him, Peak Lewis probably also stops him late, while Fury would beat him by evading and moving imo, I think all other great heavyweights fall to a prime Tyson, Styles makes fights brother

[NachoMan]

Fury is the obvious answer. And it wouldn't even be competitive. He'd **** Mike.

Vitali probably wins the most one-sided victory after that.

Foreman, after Fury, has the best chance to stopping Mike. But I suspect he only musters a UD, and it's competitive.

Wilder is less likely than Vitali to run away with a lop-sided decision. And less likely to stop Mike than Foreman. But he's the next best in each category. Great fight. Steel pipe vs. Bowling ball. I favor Wilder, but not by much.

Wlad should win a snooze fest. And could stop Mike late. But that would be the ugliest if all the fights.

Ali from FOTC beats Tyson, but it's competitive. Neither man is stopped - unless Tyson really is as fragile as his detractors maintain.

Holyfield is a 50-50 pick. His raison d'etre was to defeat Tyson. He carefully charted his career to accomplish the task. And he fashioned his style to be the perfect Tyson foil. In the rematches with Bowe and Lewis we saw the skills that make me believe at his best he COULD beat a prime Tyson. But even the shot and hopeless version of Tyson was making a fight of it in their matches, so i'm not too optimistic for Holly.

Lewis, Holmes, Bowe, Young, Joshua, Golota and Wallin are all competitive. But for one reason or another I wouldn't make them favorites. Not tonight.

Jesus, I cannot tolerate this level of disrespect!!! Forget all of the rest, no fcking way does a prime Iron Mike Tyson lose to Wlad. Wlad would've entered the ring with a line of **** running down his leg and would have been asleep within 30 seconds. Fcking Hell, Iron Mike gets less respect than Amir Khan these days!!

[Rusty Tromboni]

The question is peak vs peak, Peak Holyfield stops him, Peak Lewis probably also stops him late, while Fury would beat him by evading and moving imo, I think all other great heavyweights fall to a prime Tyson, Styles makes fights brother

Fair enough. But who were Prime Holyfield and Prime Lewis?

We saw them lose to lesser men than Tyson.

[Rusty Tromboni]

Jesus, I cannot tolerate this level of disrespect!!! Forget all of the rest, no fcking way does a prime Iron Mike Tyson lose to Wlad. Wlad would've entered the ring with a line of **** running down his leg and would have been asleep within 30 seconds. Fcking Hell, Iron Mike gets less respect than Amir Khan these days!!

You mean he's scared of the little turd who couldn't put away Mitch Green?

Wlad showed more heart and guile in his loss to Joshua than Tyson showed at any point in his career.

In fact, at least Wlad can say he held it together to actually have a career.

[HOUDINI563]

Both Wlad and Tyson had heart and or toughness issues. Tyson was very durable but he tended to become a much more sedate more ordinary fighter when he was being severely tested. There was no Ali Frazier 3 in Tyson’s career where he was pushed to the absolute maximum and won.

Wlad was koed three times in laughable fashion by Purity, Brewster and Sanders. His chin is not the best as he falls in sections when clipped and he generally appears to be looking for the exit when badly hurt. Wlad was just not that tough.

[HOUDINI563]

I do agree that Wlad would soul himself mid ring faced with the prospect of facing Tyson.

[QueensburyRules]

Qawi was anything but tubby and it's no reflection on how Mr Fields handled Tyson and shut him down. Unless you have to grab fighters from that timeframe and not taking heavyweight Evander, if that's what you have to do to even the playing fields and give Mike a win then sure.

If you wanna be like that though, while Tyson was getting knocked senseless by Buster Douglas, Holyfield was beating the soul out of Douglas in his very next fight.


But I guess going by Queensburys reasoning for this thread.

Ali was struggling from Parkinsons so we can rule him out.
Lewis had no experience at the world level at that point
Foreman hadn't yet made his comeback
Fury wasn't even in the womb yet
Bowe wasn't on the scene
Vitali was in a test tube in Russia
Joe Louis was dead.

So you're all wrong, Mike Tyson was in fact unbeatable and trying to have fun in a thread by discussing who 'could' beat him is not allowed.

- -Kinda lost the plot in the oft recited kiddie mantra of Field always having his number.

Iron Mike cleaned out the seedy DKing/tubby Lar era in a record setting fashion as a KID. There was the Tyson era, and then the three ring circus era where Field, Lewis, and Bowe jump thru their hoops. Mike was only a part timer in this era, yet his residual reputation such that he was setting the PPV records in spite of his obvious handicaps sorta like Ali in his 2nd career.