Was Tyson's power overated?

[-CANE-]

Personally I think so.
He was powerful and very explosive but because of the quality of his opposition especially early on it looked better than it actually was.

Don't get me wrong when knocking out these lower grade fighters nobody looked more impressive than Tyson he looked awesome.

But as the fighters got bigger,tougher and a whole lot better he struggled.
It wasn't that he wasn't landing he was they just weren't having the same impact.

Power is the last thing you lose as a fighter so even when past his prime he caught everyone cleanly with plenty of shots but to no effect.

You don't lose power if you want proof just look at George Foreman.

He couldn't put down Tucker only Lewis could
Against Ruddock it was a premature stoppage and Ruddock was on his feet clearly aware of everything that was going on, and he proved it by slugging with Tyson in the rematch.
Lewis blows Ruddock away in 2 one sided rounds.
Tyson landed plenty of clean shots on Holyfield yet the smaller man out punched him and stops him twice
Lewis takes his best shots without flinching (So much for a glass jaw) and outpunches Tyson in every department
Even Danny Williams took loads of clean shots before firing back and knocking Tyson out.

So while I think Tyson was powerful he wasn't as powerful as many people think and I think Shavers,Foreman,Louis,Lewis and even Lyle all hit harder

[demirturk]

he hit larry holmes , holmes couldnt get up anymore, shavers hit holmes, holmes got up...

[-CANE-]

he hit larry holmes , holmes couldnt get up anymore, shavers hit holmes, holmes got up...

I think you'll find Holmes got up twice from Tyson shots before getting knocked out.

Tyson said that the first punch that put Holmes down was the best punch he had ever thrown.

Holmes was 38 and hadn't fought for 3 years and was a slow fighter

Holmes almost survived that round. It took a whole round a 3 knockdowns to keep him there.

Holmes in his prime would have survived and gone on to beat Tyson just as he did with Shavers.

[Celtic_Warrior]

he hit larry holmes , holmes couldnt get up anymore, shavers hit holmes, holmes got up...

Holmes was an old man in boxing terms by the time he fought Tyson.
There is no comparison to be made here.

Tyson was a big puncher but certainly not the biggest in Heavyweight History, I don't think his power was overrated its just that when he made his seconding coming he had lost some of the snap.

[brently1979]

I hate treads like this. I can't see how his power was overrated. Watch the Botha fight again you'll see it's not over rated. Look how short that punch was.

[BROOKLYN CESAR]

Id hardly call tysons power overated!!! He was one powerful mother!!!

[-CANE-]

I hate treads like this. I can't see how his power was overrated. Watch the Botha fight again you'll see it's not over rated. Look how short that punch was.

And Botha was one of the most durable fighters ever.
Lewis's ko of Botha was more impressive as was his ko over Golota

Yes he was powerful I'm not saying otherwise, but some people say he is the hardest hitting heavyweight ever which I disagree with. I think there were a handful of heavyweights who hit harder

[THe TRiNiTY]

Forget who these guys are, or what kind of chins they had.. this video might answer this question better than anyone can. (NOTE: I'm not too high on Mike Tyson)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bvZ2roRDPYU

[Maxy]

Personally I think so.
He was powerful and very explosive but because of the quality of his opposition especially early on it looked better than it actually was.

Don't get me wrong when knocking out these lower grade fighters nobody looked more impressive than Tyson he looked awesome.

But as the fighters got bigger,tougher and a whole lot better he struggled.
It wasn't that he wasn't landing he was they just weren't having the same impact.

Power is the last thing you lose as a fighter so even when past his prime he caught everyone cleanly with plenty of shots but to no effect.

You don't lose power if you want proof just look at George Foreman.

He couldn't put down Tucker only Lewis could
Against Ruddock it was a premature stoppage and Ruddock was on his feet clearly aware of everything that was going on, and he proved it by slugging with Tyson in the rematch.
Lewis blows Ruddock away in 2 one sided rounds.
Tyson landed plenty of clean shots on Holyfield yet the smaller man out punched him and stops him twice
Lewis takes his best shots without flinching (So much for a glass jaw) and outpunches Tyson in every department
Even Danny Williams took loads of clean shots before firing back and knocking Tyson out.

So while I think Tyson was powerful he wasn't as powerful as many people think and I think Shavers,Foreman,Louis,Lewis and even Lyle all hit harder

I think you're right and its no disrespect to Tyson. He hit incredibly hard but in terms of power for power he didn't hit as hard as some heavyweights.

[Dynamite Kid]

its about style and power IMO you need to have a style where you can incorporate power into your shots and Tyson style was perfect for these 6 ft guy who could'nt see the hooks coming when he rolled a shot and came up with counters ,most tall people will tell you that the hardest punches to see when your fighting a smaller guy are the hooks

Nigel Benn compromised his Aggresive style some what after the Watson & Eubank fights and focused more on evading shots and countering instead of leading and going all guns blazing for the knockout that is why IMO his ko ratio went down when he moved upto SMW ,you saw a diffrent Benn in the second fight with Eubank he was better prepared tacticly and won the fight IMO ,the old Benn would have been Ko'd by McClellan but the new Benn with his more measured aproach lasted the pace and was behind on the scorecards IMO but well in the fight ,McClellan would have eaten the old Benn for breakfast in 1 Round Benn was way to reckless in those days