Mike Tyson

[hardmanbrit]

Where would you rank him?

Is he one of the greatest Heavyweight boxers of all time?

I have always truly believed that, when Tyson was the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World in the eighties, no one could have come close to him. His raw pace and aggression in those days was just astounding and he obviously had the great Kevin Rooney training him.

Then, in 1990, the Buster Douglas fight happened. The biggest boxing shock of all time. All because Mike hadn't trained and did not take the fight seriously, mainly because of outside influences.

Then he went to prison for four years and was obviously never the same as he was when in his prime. However, he still won back two World titles in the late nineties after his prison stint, which I find amazing. How many boxers have ever done something like that?

[ATFsven]

in his prime (when he became undisputed and twatted spinks) he would have crushed anybody. dare i see even Ali.

[Boogie Nights]

Where would you rank him?

Is he one of the greatest Heavyweight boxers of all time?

When he was the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World I truly believed that no one throughout history could come close to him due to his raw pace and aggressiveness, and then he did not bother to train against Buster Douglas and lost and he seemed to lose that air of invicibility.

Then he went to prison for four years and was obviously not the same. However, he still won back two World titles in the late nineties after his prison stint, which I find amazing.

in the eyes of many his out of the ring reputation has diminished his accomplishments. and there're lot of hypocrites running around downplaying all the hype they helped create in the beginning when it was all going dandy, and this guy was suppoused to be the model for a perfect fighter. as soon as the **** hit the fan they started playing a different tune.

i rank him as one of the greatest fighters ever. on his best day, a truly focused, ready to fight mike tyson could take on all of them.

[hardmanbrit]

I totally agree.

I love the man myself.

Not in a gay way, though!

[hardmanbrit]

If I can digress here somewhat, is it true that Kevin Rooney used to make Mike watch videos of the great Rocky Marciano, purely because the only unbeaten Heavyweight Champion of the World in history was also a short man for a Heavyweight?

[Boogie Nights]

If I can digress here somewhat, is it true that Kevin Rooney used to make Mike watch videos of the great Rocky Marciano, purely because the only unbeaten Heavyweight Champion of the World in history was also a short man for a Heavyweight?

i dont know if it was specifically only rocky marciano. tyson had access to a huge library of old boxing fights owned by Jim Jacobs. he was a big student of the fight game. teddy atlas said that when he was training tyson they used to watch videos of henry armstrong, who was cus' favourite fighter. cus used to say that if you could get a heavyweight to fight in armstrong's style, you had an exciting crowd pleasing fighter. lennox lewis who sparred with mike as a youngster, also remembered watching fight films with him, and said tyson always used to look for dirty tricks, so he could use them.

[SkillspayBills]

He get's horribly overrated. Especially with the "in his prime he would have beaten anyone" He looked DAMN impressive in his prime, but his competition wasn't the best of all time which we really can't blame him for but it is what it is.

[guzi815]

People will say what they wanna say. Thruth is "IRON" Mike Tyson was hard to beat. "VERY HARD" to beat. Evander HolyField, Lennox Lewis..they knew the right time to fight Tyson....when he wasn't under "Jacobs" influence and when he self distructed. Prime "IRON" Mike Tyson was VERY HARD TO BEAT. Even a head-butting Holyfield wouldn't have had the succes he had against the Tyson who dismantled, James "Bone-Crusher" Smith, Tyrell Biggs, Michael Spinks, Carl Williams, Pinklon Thomas...if he fought Tyson 10 years earlier than when they fought in '96. Lewis didn't fight Tyson till 2002!!! They knew when to fight Tyson...when he wasn't "IRON" anymore.

[hardmanbrit]

Spot on, Guz.

[xEDDIEx]

prime mike tyson is the greatest heavyweight ever.