Was Mike Tyson a "great" boxer or just a very good boxer?

[lopetego]

I don't think Tyson was very game. He was usually good enough to dominate fights from the start. He had a bully mentality. When things didn't go his way he was not good at coming from behind to win. He tended to give up mentally. He deliberately fowled out by twice biting Holyfield rather than hanging in there and trying to legally win.

Holyfield was subtly using his head as a third arm in that match though

after like the eleventh consecutive headbutt from Holy unnoticed by the referee, Tyson lost his mind and started munching ears.

You might argue this is still a proof of mental weakness as you're supposed to behave professionaly even if you're facing a dirty fouler

[VatoMulatto]

Holyfield was subtly using his head as a third arm in that match though

after like the eleventh consecutive headbutt from Holy unnoticed by the referee, Tyson lost his mind and started munching ears.

You might argue this is still a proof of mental weakness as you're supposed to behave professionaly even if you're facing a dirty fouler

Tyson lost his mind because he simply couldn't hurt Holyfield. A KO artist worst nightmare is an opponent that he can't hurt even when he lands his best shots. Holyfield was the physically stronger fighter and bullied Tyson and he couldn't take it.

[Dr Rumack]

Tyson had great skills, superb defense, great head movement, great combinations, lethal power with both hands, attacked the head and the body, ect. I actually don't think it was heart that was his problem, , more so that that explosive style is very taxing and exhausting in the long run. His gameplan was built to take guys out early but even an athletic specimen like Tyson could only sustain that style for so long. Would have been interesting to see Tyson seek out another trainer, when Cus passed away, to tweak his fighting style a bit and use those great skills he had to pace himself as he aged and guys were lasting the rounds with him. Sadly, Tyson is the biggest example of "woulda-coulda" when we talk about boxers.

I dunno man, it really looked like his heart gave out in that first Holyfield fight. I agree with the rest of what you're saying. Hid head and upper body movement in particular took incredible conditioning to maintain.

[hugh grant]

CU's dmato obviously saw something in him.

[Pigeons]

He is very overrated,who is the best fighter he actually beat??

Michael Spinks was lineal at LHW and HW. Ended Holmes's run. Beat him twice. Only loss was to Tyson. Hall of Famer.

[KillaCamNZ]

Peak Tyson - absolutely great.

We know how he could maul pro boxers for fun. His defense, when he cared about it, was brilliant.

What cements him as a great in my eyes - he put fear into his opponents. To step into the ring with tough guys, people who fight for a living..and scare the hell out of them? He had most of his fights won before the bell rang.

Peak Tyson was vicious. And he was barely out of his teens at his best.

Later years Tyson? Lost his work ethic, the layoff clearly didn't help. He probably missed his chance to be the greatest.

[mathed]

In his prime, under Cus, he was a monster. The guy had a lot going against him, mental issues, daddy issues, woman issues, drug issues, you name it. His size, strength, speed, and agility were phenomenal....I mean off the charts.

[////]

Very good, but with his size disadvantage and low shelf life style I think we saw about his maximum. I Don't think staying out of legal trouble would have changed much.

[Reloaded]

He was a great puncher and ordinary boxer .

[BKM-]

One of the greats for sure. Youngest heavyweight champion, the first one to unify all the titles to become undisputed and did it in an incredible timespan.

I believe he's still the only heavyweight to ever be ranked #1 pound for pound boxer in the world.

He's got a solid list of fighters on his resume but unfortunately for him they all went down on substance abuse.

Also coming back from a 4 year prison sentence to take back the title is also a feat that might not be done again(Vitali didn't spend most of his off-years in a jail cell).

At his best one of the most technical offensive and defensive heavyweights and one of the most physically gifted ever, second most famous boxer of all time.

Fought pretty much his whole career against guys with massive size advantage.

Probably just outside the top 5 but easily 5-10. Easily.