Mike Tyson is Underrated Historically

[Dave Rado]

He could have been one of the greatest, but he killed his chances with his indiscipline and attitude. Whether it makes your blood boil to hear them in the same sentence or not, Mike Tyson and Prince Naseem Hamed are remarkably similar.

Tyson in his prime used to work the body, use his jab and attack intelligently out of his peek-a-boo shell. Tyson after the death of Cus D'Amato just headhunted and bullied his way inside. Clearly his inflated ego and mental problems caused this. He needed the father figure of Cus to control him. We'll never know how good Tyson could have been. As it stands, he is well behind Ali, Louis, Lewis, Foreman and Holmes at least.

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.

[Silencers]

I think there are more boxing fans that say he is overrated like you, then fans who say he was indestructable. Which like I've said before is the main reason I believe Tyson is underrated. With Tyson, people tend to see the bad and forget all the good. During his championship reign, he was not one of the most dominant, exciting, fighters ever, he was a TRUE undisputed heavyweight champion. For boxing fans, we haven't even had a heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. You would think that title would be more respected.

Honestly I've seen way more boxing fans call him the greatest thing since sliced bread than calling him overrated, although I may be exaggerating a little.

As I said, Tyson was a really good fighter in his prime and he beat some good opposition but he wasn't nearly as great as he is made out to be, he most definitely had the potential to be great.

The problem is that Tyson fans often offer excuses for his short-comings, such as the time spent in prison, Cus D'Amato dying, Don King, the media, etc. but every other champion in the past had to deal with the same kind of adversity as well which is why he cannot be rated above the likes of Ali and Louis, who also spent their prime years out of boxing and had all kinds of racism directed at them. Despite that they achieved a lot more and spent more time at the top than Tyson did.

No one will excuse Louis' loss to Schmeling even though he barely trained a day for that fight nor Ali's loss to Frazier although he had been out of boxing for 3 long years.

It's a myth that D'Amato's death affected Tyson's career since Tyson had not even fought Berbick for the title by the time Cus had died. You could make the case that firing his trainer Rooney did, though.

Good post.

[Reggie Miller]

Prime Lewis and Bowe would've murked him.

You're a ****ing idiot.

[-EX-]

Tyson wouldn't lose to prime Lewis IMO. All Mike gotta do is touch that chin.

[Dave Rado]

The problem is that Tyson fans often offer excuses for his short-comings, such as the time spent in prison, Cus D'Amato dying, Don King, the media, etc. but every other champion in the past had to deal with the same kind of adversity as well which is why he cannot be rated above the likes of Ali and Louis, who also spent their prime years out of boxing and had all kinds of racism directed at them. Despite that they achieved a lot more and spent more time at the top than Tyson did.

No one will excuse Louis' loss to Schmeling even though he barely trained a day for that fight nor Ali's loss to Frazier although he had been out of boxing for 3 long years.

It's a myth that D'Amato's death affected Tyson's career since Tyson had not even fought Berbick for the title by the time Cus had died. You could make the case that firing his trainer Rooney did, though.

All you're saying is that Ali and Louis had less screwed up personalities, which is true. Both had perfect personalities to cope with the vicissitudes that came their way during their careers (although Louis wasn't able to cope after he retired, sadly). And anyway, even a peak Tyson would have lost to those two. But I think there's a reasonable case for thinking that a peak Tyson (while he was still with Rooney) could possibly have beaten any of the other heavyweights apart from a peak Foreman. But given that ATG status is based on actual achievements as well as on talent, I would rate him near the bottom of the top 10 heavyweights of all time.

D'Amato's death had a long term effect on his career, not an immediate effect. Had D'Amato lived, and more importantly, had Jacobs lived, King wouldn't have been able to prise Tyson from Rooney, Clayton et al. When he left Rooney and joined up with King, the decline started immediately and got more and more pronounced as time went on.

The only reason I think it's fair to say he's under-rated is that so many fans forget how skilled he was when he was still with Rooney, and think of him as powerful and exciting but one dimensional. He wasn't at all one dimensional when he was with Rooney.

Also, I do take into account Ali's long lay-off when considering his loss to Frazier. A peak Ali would undoubtedly have schooled Frazier, IMO. Although his later fights were exciting and cemented his ATG status, it's because of how superlative he was at his peak that I personally rate him as the #1 of all time.

[Jim Jeffries]

That's what happens when you duck an Evander Holyfied, 5-0 with 5 KOs at HW after unifying at CW, and George Foreman, 20-0 with 19 KOs on his comeback trail to fight 43-1 underdog journeyman James "Buster" Douglas.

But seriously, Tyson underrated? Thanks for the laugh.

[BMWM3P]

By Brent Matteo Alderson - The last few years boxing historians have devalued Mike Tyson’s accomplishments as heavyweight champion of the world and have underscored his place in history. They point to his losses to Buster Douglas, Lennox Lewis, and Evander Holyfield to validate this belief and they also downgrade the length of his reign as well as the quality of his opposition. [details]

Great article, Mike is probably the biggest waste of talent and natural aggresion ever in the history of the sport. His biggest enemy was his lack of intelligence and discipline. Had Cus Damato been around I think that Tyson would have been one of the greatest we ever seen.

[StarshipTrooper]

I hate these ATG lists that get passed on to todays boxing fans by old historians and grainy images/video. Not to say that we shouldn't know the history of the sport but to me Tyson is iconic to my memories of boxing and should be to anyone my age. If a Book was written about Boxings Best Fighters of the last 40-50 years can you seriously say Tyson wouldn't be mentioned... you can't. has he was the youngest heavyweight champion of the modern era that alone stamps his imprint on boxings history.

I hate these ATG lists that get passed around by today's boxing fans and Showtime replays. I mean come on: How many go arounds have I had with ignorant buffoons who think if a fighter didn't fight on HBO or Showtime then they must have ****** (read any pre-1980 fighter). I don't have to see a fight in Hi-Def to appreciate what I'm watching nor do I have to have Merchant and Lampley calling the action to tell me how the fighters rate.

Poet

[Pretty_Hitman]

A prime Tyson would have murdered a prime Lewis

[StarshipTrooper]

The biggest problem Mike Tyson has with his legacy is that he has a pack of syncophantic fan bois running around who swear he can walk on water, beat the entire ATG list all in one night, and overrate his abilities in general. That results in an inevitable backlash against Mike where he gets described as a complete bum.

The thing is, these Kool Aid drinking abject nuthuggers consistantly denigrate the very people Tyson has reverence for. Ironic isn't it? Mike Tyson has consistantly given the UTMOST respect to the past greats while his fawning admirers rip them down in a futile attempt to make Mike look good. It's so ironic that the very people who worship the ground Tyson walks on refuse to emulate Mike in the one way that he is classy and noble: His love for boxing and it's history, his respect and awe of the greats that came before him.

Poet