Mike Tyson is Underrated Historically

[StarshipTrooper]

A prime Tyson would have murdered a prime Lewis

Do you have any idea how gay your avatar is?

Poet

[La_Vibora]

Most OVERRATED boxer EVER!

That title would belong to lennox lewis imo. He never beat a great fighter in his prime(that BS win over Vitali doesn't count since Vitali was clearly winning that fight), he got three fight gift wrapped for him(Mercer, Holyfield rematch, and Klitschko fights) and he got KOed twice by two fighters that were known best for being sparring partners. Funny how Rocky Marciano gets belittled for beaing over the hill fighters but Lewis doesn't when all of his biggest wins came against shot fighters. He was also very technically flawed and I still can't believe these people that actually think he had the greatest jab of all time.

[La_Vibora]

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.

He did not duck Holyfield or Foreman, that is a load of bull****. First off, when Mike was champ, George hadn't done anything to deserve a title shot at that point. Tyson was going to fight Holyfield right after Douglas and then again right before he got incarcerated.

[StarshipTrooper]

right before he got incarcerated. and dropped the soap

Not to mention getting traded to Bubba for a pack of Newports

Poet

[La_Vibora]

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.

First of all no true boxing fan that I have ever met has ever rated Tyson above Ali or Louis on all time great list so there was no point in saying what you did in your first paragraph. Secondly, you are going to sit here and tell me that Cus' death had no effect on Tyson's career/life? You are going to tell me an immature 20 year old kid who had the keys to the whole world given to him on a platter is not going to be effected by the death of the only father figure he ever had in his life? That is just ridiculous.

[joe strong]

he was on the path to greatness until he hooked up with don king.I believe that's when he got rid of Rooney.he was never the same after the Douglas fight.it's funny how Holyfield was a 20-1 underdog.that's ridiculous! Holyfield come off 3 fights with bowe,mercer,&moorer & he fought mcneely,buster mathis,a half retired frank Bruno,the infamous 2million take a dive for me Bruce seldon.18rounds of boxing in 5years.he never was prepared for top heavyweights in their primes by that point.that's what tarnished him.living off his name before the Douglas fight.he really only beat aging past their prime boxers when he came up.don king used him & abused him.when mike Tyson stepped up to the big boys(Holyfield,lewis),he got killed.he never achieved what he could have.if only he never went to jail & signed with don king.his 2 worst decisions.it's funny but do you notice how most of kings clients get rich but then go broke.too bad but Tyson could have been much more.

[TheGreatA]

First of all no true boxing fan that I have ever met has ever rated Tyson above Ali or Louis on all time great list so there was no point in saying what you did in your first paragraph. Secondly, you are going to sit here and tell me that Cus' death had no effect on Tyson's career/life? You are going to tell me an immature 20 year old kid who had the keys to the whole world given to him on a platter is not going to be effected by the death of the only father figure he ever had in his life? That is just ridiculous.

What about George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, etc.?

All of them had their troubles.

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.

Joe Frazier had achieved everything by 1971, had suffered numerous injuries and had lost the motivation to train as hard as he did before beating Ali yet his loss to Foreman drops him below Mike Tyson in many people's lists.

Jack Dempsey had been inactive for 3 years before fighting Gene Tunney but this is treated by most as a career-defining loss.

Jack Johnson was 37 years old and lost in the 26th round to a much bigger man but again, is rated by many below Tyson.

What effect did D'Amato's death have on Tyson? It surely didn't ruin his career since he went onto win the title and defended it for years afterwards.

[revs1227]

Prime Lewis and Bowe would've murked him.

noooo shot ...i agree with this post ..ppl hate on him 2 much he was great and could hav ebeen the greates ..ali no he was overrated

[joe strong]

first of all I've watched the mercer fight many times & I have always thought that fight as a draw,secondly the klitschko fight you refer to was the right decision.so what he was leading on the scorecards ! In the 6th round.fights are 12 rounds & his eye was ****ed & would have closed.he would not have seen the right coming within the next round or 2 & would have got ko'd or hurt very badly.he may have lost his eye if the fight went longer.lewis was out of shape,half into retirement.vitali NEVER got it done!mccall went on to have a decent career & never got put on the canvas(drugs hurt hid career),& Rahman is a 2 time world champion.hardly embarrassing to lose to him.holyfield fought EVERYONE! Tyson didn't.he couldve been so much more.I've got every heavyweight of the last 15-20 career collections.all fights that can be viewed I have.i'm not right all the time because people look for different things during a fight & I'm open minded but Tyson was overrated!

[Abstraction]

Underrated imo