Mike Tyson: GREAT whether you like it or not

[chimpy]

It seems all anyone does in this world is kick someone while there down. All anyone does is focus on the negatives of Mike Tyson's career. Which is normal because there has been alot of negativity. But what about the positive?
-Youngest Heavyweight Champion of all time
-revived Boxing when it was down
-Gave fans great highlights to salavge for years
-Reguardless of outcomes he fought the best heavyweights available. Sure journeymen to,but he fought Holmes, Spinks, Holyfield twice and Lennox Lewis. (also Razor Rud**** wasn't a bad fighter.)
-He brought alot of excitement to Boxing, I think alot of people would agree with me that Mike Tyson fights are usually very exciting to watch.
Had Mike Tyson not have screwed up so much in the last 10+ years he could have been the greatest. The Mike Tyson story is kind of like the movie Scarface as far as the moral goes. To me the theme of Scarface is when you get to much to soon some people do not know ho handle it. Mike Tyson had to much to soon just like Scarface and he lost it all in the end. Mike Tyson should be a lesson to young fighters coming up, saying when you become successful be careful of the people around and the things you do. Reguardless of what happens with the rest of his career whether your a fan or you hate him Mike Tyson's impact on the sport will forever be wrote in the pages of Boxing history. Mike Tyson's legend will eventually reside in Canastota, New York at the Boxing Hall Of Fame. The reason I wrote this thread is because I think people forget sometimes reguardless of his numerous mistakes he is a Boxing legend.

How to be great by Mike Tyson:

1. Lose every war you are in

2. Never lose a fight on your feet

3. Get KO'd by 2 very good fighters Lewis/Holyfield, 1 fighter's whose 1 and only great moment came by knocking you out, a bum named Williams and a guy who will never have a claim to fame because by the time he KO'd you, you were considered a bum

4.Disgrace the sport by resorting to crimminal behavior in the ring-
butting,biting, attempting to break limbs

5. Beating/assaulting women-Your wife, old ladies, the one who was lying

6. Never KOing a fighter who wasn't afraid-Green, Smith, Tillis, Tucker (Hall of Famers everyone)

Yeah, no doubt about it-Greatness overlooked!

[buddereye]

Mike is the best besides Ali.

[Tony Blitz]

6. Never KOing a fighter who wasn't afraid-Green, Smith, Tillis, Tucker (Hall of Famers everyone)

Running away all night sure doesn't mean "not afraid" right?

[chimpy]

Running away all night sure doesn't mean "not afraid" right?

No genius, you are right! The Iron one gave us the example twice-sitting on his ass lookin accross the ring, oh! and asking the ref for a hand. Running away, it doesn't "not afraid to fight"? Yeah, your "butt puppet" pal gave us the best examples.

[Verstyle]

No genius, you are right! The Iron one gave us the example twice-sitting on his ass lookin accross the ring, oh! and asking the ref for a hand. Running away, it doesn't "not afraid to fight"? Yeah, your "butt puppet" pal gave us the best examples.

that is true most of the fighters that mike went the distance with usually ran.and tried to tie him up constantly. how many boxers do that constantly nowadays. cause they know the power of the other person so the best thing to do is tie up which makes it extremly more difficult if there running and tieing up to knock there ass out.

[Truth]

How Did Thread Comeback? I Made This When I Was Still Mayweatherfan!!!lol!!!

[UntouchableM2]

It seems all anyone does in this world is kick someone while there down. All anyone does is focus on the negatives of Mike Tyson's career. Which is normal because there has been alot of negativity. But what about the positive?
-Youngest Heavyweight Champion of all time
-revived Boxing when it was down
-Gave fans great highlights to salavge for years
-Reguardless of outcomes he fought the best heavyweights available. Sure journeymen to,but he fought Holmes, Spinks, Holyfield twice and Lennox Lewis. (also Razor Rud**** wasn't a bad fighter.)
-He brought alot of excitement to Boxing, I think alot of people would agree with me that Mike Tyson fights are usually very exciting to watch.
Had Mike Tyson not have screwed up so much in the last 10+ years he could have been the greatest. The Mike Tyson story is kind of like the movie Scarface as far as the moral goes. To me the theme of Scarface is when you get to much to soon some people do not know ho handle it. Mike Tyson had to much to soon just like Scarface and he lost it all in the end. Mike Tyson should be a lesson to young fighters coming up, saying when you become successful be careful of the people around and the things you do. Reguardless of what happens with the rest of his career whether your a fan or you hate him Mike Tyson's impact on the sport will forever be wrote in the pages of Boxing history. Mike Tyson's legend will eventually reside in Canastota, New York at the Boxing Hall Of Fame. The reason I wrote this thread is because I think people forget sometimes reguardless of his numerous mistakes he is a Boxing legend.

nice post .......

[Truth]

nice post .......

LOL, thanks UntouchableM2. But its funny I made this thread last year at this time. Its weird how old threads sometimes resurface.

[Mike Tyson77]

From Doghouseboxing.com :http://www.doghouseboxing.com/DHB/Goodrich101604.htm

Mike Tyson (born Michael Gerard Tyson on June 30, 1966) made his professional debut on March 6, 1985 when he knocked out Hector Mercedes in one round. What ensued was the most exciting and electrifying heavyweight champion since Jack Dempsey. Tyson would go on to fight every other weekend on ESPN. For fighting aficionados, we were introduced to Michael Buffer ‘manning your battle stations’, and could not help but think he should have never replaced the loquacious Chuck Hull. In time, Buffer’s resonant and ridiculous shtick changed to ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’, and the rest is history. Tyson’s first claim to fame transpired on a national broadcast of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, as Jim Lampley and Alex Wallau called his 6th round knockout of Jesse Ferguson on February 16, 1986. Tyson soon challenged Trevor Berbick for the WBC heavyweight title. On November 11, 1986, he entered the ring with a record of 27-0, with 25 KO’s.

The mercurial and ferocious Tyson tore through Berbick, utterly destroying him in two rounds. What is often overlooked is the fact that Berbick had easily beaten Muhammad Ali himself, yet no one dare insinuate that he was in fact better than Ali. Oh, the good ole days when fight fans use to recognize that a great fighter always loses to good fighters when he is past his prime, does not train properly and takes his skill for granted, thinking that will alone is enough to win every fight. Tyson then defeated James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith for the WBA heavyweight title on March 7, 1987. Tyson eventually beat Tony Tucker on August 1, 1987 for the IBF heavyweight title that Michael Spinks had vacated, after having beaten Larry Holmes, the linear champion, two years prior.

For the first time ever, one fighter held the WBA, WBC and IBF titles simultaneously. With the exception of traditional ‘lineal’ boxing purists, mainstream America agreed that Mike Tyson was the best heavyweight in the world, hence the era began of Tyson being ‘the baddest man on the planet’ (1986-1991). We all know that in short order, Tyson would usher in ‘the maddest man on the planet’ (1991-2001), and would ultimately find himself as ‘the saddest man on the planet’ (2001-present). However, for those who hate Mike Tyson - and just plain have an agenda to get their names in neon lights without reporting facts, and speaking truth - he has had signature, career defining wins over Tyrell Biggs (a former Gold medalist); Larry Holmes (a former WBC, IBF, world and lineal champion) and Tony Tubbs (a former WBA heavyweight titlist).

Yet, one thing eluded Mike Tyson. He was still not recognized as the undisputed lineal World Heavyweight Champion. When Tyson signed to fight Michael Spinks on June 27, 1988, most boxing writers picked Spinks in an upset. After Tyson beat the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion into a near oblivion in just 91 seconds, two amazing things happened. One, Tyson was rightly considered one of the best heavyweight champions ever; and two, Spinks was not wrongly denigrated as being over hyped or overrated, but rather, just out punched and out sized. Tyson would lose his undisputed titles to James ‘Buster’ Douglas on a fateful February 11, 1990 evening in Tokyo, Japan. However, he had wins over heavyweight titlist Frank Bruno (twice), Bruce Seldon, and even former cruiserweight champion Orlin Norris that was ruled a 'no contest'.

Though Tyson’s official record stands 50-5, his two victories over Norris and Golota should reflect 52-5. That leaves us with three options. One, ignore his fifty victories; two, focus only on his five losses; or three, look at all of the accomplishments, achievements and attainments in his career, and then objectively evaluate his record. Tyson of course reclaimed the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles by beating Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon, but still gets no credit whatsoever for doing so. This is in spite of the fact that Bruno beat Oliver McCall who beat Lennox Lewis; and Seldon beat Tony Tucker who claimed George Foreman’s vacant crown for refusing to fight his mandatory challenger. Simply put, Tyson was not responsible for having not beaten Foreman who was the technical ‘lineal champion’. He simply beat who he faced for the titles he won.

I have no problems saying Mike Tyson ceased to be a great fighter in 1991. His chaotic lifestyle, lack of training, managerial problems, promotional issues, personal demons, marital squabbles, ring defeat and bodily incarceration forever robbed him of the discipline, power, speed, balance and skill that Cus D’Amato had taught him. Yet, it is not fair to polarize ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson for losing to Evander Holyfield while the former was past his prime, and the latter obviously was not. Holyfield was a great fighter. In turn, it is no shame to lose to Lennox Lewis, when he was passing his prime in 2002. With the exception of Douglas and Williams, Tyson only lost to great fighters. Both had to beat him down for rounds of punishment that would have taken the fight out of any notable heavyweight boxer. Tyson often gave as well as he got, for as long as he could.

Yet, Mike Tyson is now judged on his losses to James Douglas and Danny Williams. Say what you will, but neither of these fighters would have lasted long with a prime 1986-1990 Mike Tyson. I doubt Lewis would have either. Simply put, you take the same Tyson who beat Spinks in 1988, and face him off against any other heavyweight champion - at their best, in their prime - and I wager he would have been the betting favorite. He would have given any heavyweight great fits, and that includes James Sullivan, Jim Corbett, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali. Again, bluntly put, when Tyson was in his prime, he was a great heavyweight champion.

Rather than looking at the fighter who is now a shell of his former self, I choose to remember this great fighter and bad person as a one-time great heavyweight champion who could have been one of the very best ever. Tyson was a money machine. He drew interest to the fight game. He made boxing as popular as the NFL. He owns six of the top ten all time pay-per-view sells. He was a household name in his prime. I recall ministers, teachers, policeman, fire fighters, sports fans, talk shows, politicians and the like all saying two words periodically throughout the years - Tyson fight. Be there, watch it, how long will it take before he knocks them out? Nobody, including Ali who said Tyson would have probably beaten him, believed Mike Tyson was overrated or over-hyped.

For those who doubt Mike Tyson’s one time greatness, simply ask yourselves who else lost a 42-1 prize fight? Who else opened a 25-1 favorite over Evander Holyfield? Who else is considered to have lost his titles in a greater, more shocking upset? For every one loss to a bad or mediocre fighter, Tyson has 45 such wins against the same class or caliber. For his three losses to great fighters, he likewise has equal wins in kind. I vividly recall hearing a sports celebrity recently state that Mike Tyson cannot be a great fighter because he never beat a great fighter. I suppose his signature victories over Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks are mere aberrations? Considering disqualification and injury, Tyson has only legitimately been beaten three times.

The fact is, Tyson was the first 'Alphabet Undisputed Heavyweight Champion'. He was and still is the youngest heavyweight champion in history. He won the WBA heavyweight title twice; the WBC heavyweight title twice; and the IBF heavyweight title once. He unified the heavyweight crown twice, and fought for it thrice. He made ten successful title defenses. He should no more be remembered for his losses than Muhammad Ali was for losing to Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. The same hyperbole hypocrites who mock and scoff the name Mike Tyson only prove their ignorance. With the rare exception of Rocky Marciano, no other modern day heavyweight champion has ever retired undefeated.

That was well put. Mike Tyson is great...whether you like or not.

[Revere]

Tyson great? Well had he not been such a screw up we might have known. Had he fought Holyfield and beat him, had the balls to fight Foreman and win,then beat Bowe we might say yes.
All three of these guys could have beat all the ones Tyson beat in his prime. So to grant Tyson greatness is subjective at best.