Mike Tyson is Underrated Historically

[P4P Opinion]

All true, but so many people forget or fail to acknowledge how skilled and intelligent a boxer he was before Don King fcuked him up and he split with Rooney. That's why I think it's fair to say he is seriously under-rated by most people. Too many people just think of him as a powerful but limited knock-out artist, whereas at his peak he was a truly great boxer-puncher. Unfortunately his peak was very short indeed because of his personality flaws and the way King played on them and screwed him up for his own commercial gain. But as the article says, the peaks of Aaron Pryor and Henry Armstrong were equally short.

Agreed. I meant to add to my post but forgot that the Rooney split was just as important as the death of Cus. I think though, that Tyson missed Cus most when he needed that father figure; when he was being swamped with money, publicity and when he had his temptations to do wrong. Obviously his prime run came after the death of Cus.

[Dave Rado]

Do people make excuses for Foreman's loss to Ali? The circumstances were very similar to Tyson-Douglas. He was also off for 10 years, came back and managed to regain the title.

Foreman is rated as an ATG by most people. I rate him in the top 5. And even after his loss to Ali he destroyed Frazier for a second time.

I just think a lot of people forget how good a boxer-puncher Tyson was before his split with Rooney - they think he was just a puncher. That's why I consider him to be under-rated.

[elfag]

You are judged on your actual record and accomplishments not on potential. The author was making excuses about he couldnt focus and had a hard childhood. So what? He lost to douglas and was never the same after that. Yeah he couldnt focus as well without Cuss around but we have to rate him on his actual record without making excuses.

You could do the same thing with a lot of fighters, like say Golota and make a ton of excuses "oh it wasnt his fault he was crazy, if he wasnt crazy he would have beat Bowe and Lewis" Bottom line is he folded under pressure and has to be rated on actual accomplishments.


Author did make a very good point when showing that he beat most of the top ten of 1987. He did dominate the division, but it was a short reign and although he beat some good fighters, he never beat a great fighter.

[larryx]

yes he is..tyson is an atg and top 10 heavyweight

[Kris Silver]

The majority of the public over rate Tyson.

He's such a name people just think he simply had to be the best.

A friend is relatively up on his boxing, I told him Lennox Lewis would've likely beaten prime Tyson and had a better career, and he couldn't believe it. He literally just assumed Tyson being the name and beast that he is, that he's 2nd to only Ali. That's common.

So in short, I disagree with this article a great deal. Boxers are under rated by SOME people all the time, it's hardly true of Tyson whom is more commonly over rated.

[joe strong]

the one thing I laugh at is people talking about in his "prime" he'd beat lewis or Holyfield.if you open up your ****in eyes you would see both were older than Tyson when they kicked his ass!

[Dave Rado]

You are judged on your actual record and accomplishments not on potential. The author was making excuses about he couldnt focus and had a hard childhood. So what? He lost to douglas and was never the same after that. Yeah he couldnt focus as well without Cuss around but we have to rate him on his actual record without making excuses.

You could do the same thing with a lot of fighters, like say Golota and make a ton of excuses "oh it wasnt his fault he was crazy, if he wasnt crazy he would have beat Bowe and Lewis" Bottom line is he folded under pressure and has to be rated on actual accomplishments.


Author did make a very good point when showing that he beat most of the top ten of 1987. He did dominate the division, but it was a short reign and although he beat some good fighters, he never beat a great fighter.

I don't judge him on his potential, I judge him on the skills he showed in his prime, which was a very short prime. As the article pointed out, some other ATG's primes were also very short, such as Aaron Pryor. And Mike McCallum never beat a truly great fighter, but he's considered an ATG. Different reason, but the point is that Tyson at his peak was one hell of a boxer-puncher whose skills in that period (which ended when he split with Rooney) are under-rated by many; and it is possible to be considered an ATG without necessarily having beaten a great fighter in their prime.

[Dave Rado]

the one thing I laugh at is people talking about in his "prime" he'd beat lewis or Holyfield.if you open up your ****in eyes you would see both were older than Tyson when they kicked his ass!

You're missing the point so badly I think you must be doing it on purpose just to irritate people. Tyson's prime ended when he split with Rooney. It had nothing to do with age.

[msagrain]

All tyson had was power. Take that away he would of been ****.

[larryx]

the one thing I laugh at is people talking about in his "prime" he'd beat lewis or Holyfield.if you open up your ****in eyes you would see both were older than Tyson when they kicked his ass!

physically tyson was older..and that tyson fought nothing like prime tyson..prime tyson had it all speed defense head movement quick hands and feet..later on he was only trying to ko people and wasnt working for the ko...