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

[QballLobo]

The Kid Dynomite that was the youngest heavyweight champ and a few years after that yes he was a truly great fighter. The footwork, head movement, and power were just scary and he was in his opponents head the second he walked in the ring.
But that era of Tyson was very short lived and even leading up to the Douglass fight he wasn't the same guy. So overall yes, his career is overrated but there was a point where he was a great fighter.

[MrRolltide91]

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[MrRolltide91]

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

Spinks or holmes

[motivational]

One of the best boxers of all time in my opinion, easily.

As mentioned below, he went through hell as a kid in the form of drug abuse, alcohol and woman.

If he had of been more intelligent and D'amato had of lived longer, I honestly think he could have been one of, if not the best boxer of all time. There's almost no fighter who could naturally best Tyson in his prime. Unfortunately with jail and drugs, Tyson never got the chance to fully develop but he was still a fantastic boxer regardless.

[Jubei]

He was great when he was young, first couple years in he was unbeatable, if Cus' d'Amato had been around longer, Tyson would have had a totally different career. He was out of his mind when he fought Douglas, just partying and women, not really training.

Then came Don King and his first wife who screwed Tyson over, since then he wasn't the unbeatable Destroyer anymore. they took his soul.

[Damn Wicked]

I'm a Tyson "hater" and think he's overrated, not a top 10 HW, and has some of the most delusional fans in boxing history. And those Buster Douglas scorecards were an absolute disgrace and thank goodness Buster put his ass out of his misery. He lost to the best fighters he's ever faced and idiots have ridiculous excuses for every single one of his losses.

But I can't deny he was a great fighter. He unified the div ision at the age of 21.

This is the way I see it too.

Tyson was an excellent fighter but he had mental flaws that prevented him from being among the absolute best. He also always had a distinct height disadvantage which good big fighters like Lennox Lewis could exploit.

[juggernaut666]

Tyson by far was the most flawless fighter ever ,even by that short period . If you actually looked at some opposition in the time frame he fought them and then compared the same guys years later,its easy to calculate why and where he should at least reasonably rank.

Of course the one thing that is consistent is EYE objectivity.Do you really think 80's Tyson struggles with some more than he would with other top guys like a Lewis ,who himself grew in HIS own era? My opinion is Tyson actually was that GREAT under Rooney ,at this time frame i only have , Lewis and Vitali realistically winning and you would have to STUDY boxing not just read or watch it ,to know why!

[redmyth79]

he was a very good boxer but lost it all after Dundee died.

[Larry the boss]

He had great talent but lacked mental fortitude

[Larry the boss]

he was a very good boxer but lost it all after Dundee died.

Dundee??? you mean Cus right