Was Mike Tyson a great champion?

[Jim_Davis]

Mike Tyson was well under 6 foot and used to KO 6"4 muscle bound heavyweights. To me he seemed like a bully with a good heart and deep down good intentions. The way he grew up probably made him that way. Like the story of where he offered the zookeeper loads of money to let him inside a cage to beat the **** out of an ape, because it was bullying the other apes.

Mike Tyson IMO was one of the greatest heavyweight champions.

[Mike Tyson77]

[QUOTE=Naz-Fan;2094780]Like the story of where he offered the zookeeper loads of money to let him inside a cage to beat the **** out of an ape, because it was bullying the other apes.[QUOTE]


Tyson KO1

[Verstyle]

*waits for ppl to talk about non championship tyson*

[Mike Tyson77]

*waits for ppl to talk about non championship tyson*

Man, why'd you have to say that. Now all their going to talk about is the Buster Douglas fight.

[Verstyle]

Man, why'd you have to say that. Now all their going to talk about is the Buster Douglas fight.

thats how it is. they talk about prime tyson and all of a sudden u hear he has no heart no stamina. im like WTF? r u ******ed or did u not read the thread title

[psychopath]

Yes he is a great Champ. He won the belt twice and defended it 10 times. He defended it ferociously against bigger challengers.

[Mike Tyson77]

I justed wanted to see what others think. 20 or so people actully voted no for Lewis on his thread, that's just plain ******ed. So I just wanna see how they view Tyson. I voted yes for Lewis and Tyson, their both great.

[hugh grant]

Before we can even answer the question, we have to ask ourselves what the definition of great is. What is it a boxer has to do to be great?
I personally think Tyson was great because on his best day i think he might have been able to beat any heavyweight boxer ever, including Ali.
If the definition of great is how many years u reigned for and how many title defences u made and long your career was then he might not be great.
You see people have so many differing opinions on what they need proved to them before they give u the medal or title "GREAT"

[j]

what the hell is wrong with you people?

there are so many things wrong with what you guys have pointed out i don't know where to start.

1 - i never called homes a c or d level opponenet.

2 -

but how is he not a good champion cause his opposition was low? thats not fair its suppost to be performance not what his opponents were. u cant hate cause they werent par with ppl u think r real good that didnt exist at the time of his reign. he fought the best that were out there.

i agree that he was among the best when he was fighting. there just was not many great fighters around that could test him, especially in his early championship days. my favprite, vitali klitschko, i have to say the same thing about. klitschko is a damn great fighter, but he is not known as a great champ because who is there to really challenge him?

and don't start saying i hate tyson. i don't mind him at all. i was watching him since 1990. how many of you guys were?

3 - he fought razor ruddock twice. frank bruno twice. ruddock was fringe b level at best and bruno as well.


and tyrell biggs? he fights 15-0 guy for a title defence? at least wait until the guy has 20 fights under him.

i'm not saying that tyson was a bad fighter in his era at all. just didn't think his championship experience was great. he did lose to really every good fighter he has fought.

[Mike Tyson77]

Before we can even answer the question, we have to ask ourselves what the definition of great is. What is it a boxer has to do to be great?
I personally think Tyson was great because on his best day i think he might have been able to beat any heavyweight boxer ever, including Ali.
If the definition of great is how many years u reigned for and how many title defences u made and long your career was then he might not be great.
You see people have so many differing opinions on what they need proved to them before they give u the medal or title "GREAT"

It's a combo of everything you said. Take into account that Tyson made Boxing the #1 sport back in the 80's. He got people excited about the sport, and he's still doing it today with the help of ESPN Classics.

I jumped on the Tyson bandwagon 20 years too late.