Was Mike Tyson the greatest P4P and inch for inch heavyweight of all time?

[Mr Objecitivity]

I can't think of any past heavyweight boxer below 6 feet tall and below 220 pounds that had the same accomplishments, success, achievements, records and statistics against modern sized (height, reach and weight) heavyweights and modern type (boxers with modern day techniques) heavyweights.

You can go through names like Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Joe Frazier and etc. However, none of those guys regularly faced modern sized and type heavyweight opponents as Mike Tyson did. None of those guys have a higher KO% against modern sized & type heavyweights than Mike Tyson.

In the modern era, no other boxer below 6 feet tall has had the same level of success and accomplishments at heavyweight than Mike Tyson. There were only even a handful of boxers below 6 feet tall competing at heavyweight, such as David Tua for example. However, he was relatively unskilled and therefore didn't have anywhere near the same level success as Mike Tyson. Otherwise, I can't even name any boxer below 6 feet tall that even competes at the top level.

Doesn't that make Mike Tyson something extremely unique and special? Doesn't that earn him greater respect because of that?

We have seen many boxers that are similar in size and style to Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and so forth so on. However, I can't think of any boxer resembling Mike Tyson in that manner. I think he was more special and unique compared to other great fighters of his era like Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

The world may never see a Mike Tyson like boxer again, but we have seen and most likely will continue to see boxers like Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali and etc.

This is what makes Mike Tyson the greatest P4P and inch for inch boxer ever.

It makes Mike Tyson the most special / unique boxer ever in my opinion.

[Ray Corso]

It's important to have an opinion, most folks do!

Do you respect him for biting Evander to get out of the fight also? How about forgetting the lessons that were taught to him once his mentors had past on? How about his choices in management and promotion again once his first and best team had past away. Do you think he "forgot" those lessons learned?

Mike was a unique pro boxer no doubt about that but just because he was shorter than the average heavyweight you think he was "special" performer.
Is Tyson Fury the opposite for being so tall, does he secure a position of "high praise" for being 6'8"?

It's not the size of the dog in the fight it's the size of the fight in the dog...........

Ray

[LockardTheGOAT]

Someone Tyson's size having his success today would be even more impressive considering how much taller and bigger heavyweights are now.

I mean, you got guys like Klitschko as high as 6'6, and Tyson Fury as tall as 6'9. Imagine how much they would DWARF someone Mike's size lol.

[boliodogs]

In my opinion Tyson was not the best heavyweight in history pound for pound. The inch for inch stuff is meaningless since real size is weight, not height. Tyson was actually a big heavyweight and always weighed at least 220 rock hard, lean pounds even as a 21 year old. He weighed more than a prime Liston or Foreman so the idea he was a small heavyweight is false. Dempsey only weighed about 180 pounds when he won the title from 250 pound Willard. They listed his weight as 190 to avoid the fight being declared a miss match and canceled. Marciano only weighed 184 in street clothes and full of food 8 hours before his fights back in the same day weigh in days. Joe Louis weighed 198 pounds when he won the title. These heavyweights and a few other heavyweight champions were much lighter in weight than Tyson and pound for pound they were better than Tyson.

[MasterPlan]

Robin Givens said his inch game was laughable.

[New England]

It's important to have an opinion, most folks do!

Do you respect him for biting Evander to get out of the fight also? How about forgetting the lessons that were taught to him once his mentors had past on? How about his choices in management and promotion again once his first and best team had past away. Do you think he "forgot" those lessons learned?

Mike was a unique pro boxer no doubt about that but just because he was shorter than the average heavyweight you think he was "special" performer.
Is Tyson Fury the opposite for being so tall, does he secure a position of "high praise" for being 6'8"?

It's not the size of the dog in the fight it's the size of the fight in the dog...........

Ray

tyson had once in a generation power and some of the best head movement you'll ever see on a HW. he was more than short, ray.

[Mukuro]

I give that to Rocky. I can't call a mentally fragile **** up like Tyson the best.

[juggernaut666]

It would certainly take elite skill at 5'10 to defeat guys the way he did no matter how hard you hit ,because the skill level still has to be there also having to train twice as hard to cover distance with those 6'3 plus guys . Anyone who claims height is irrelevant at HW simply isnt short and never stepped in with guys that are at least 6'3 . What Marciano did is not even close to how Tyson fought guys as big as 6'5 .

I dont even think Marciano fought anyone taller than Louis and thats just one guy off hand,and he was a stationary 6'2 not a mobile 6'3 plus one the kind Tyson had to cut rings off and chase down underneath long jabs.

[Redd Foxx]

No, because if you go back to the 70's there were guys like Frazier, Ali, etc that weren't monsters either, but had mad skill, and were mentally stronger. Marciano was mentioned and I don't really include him because he wouldn't be a HW today, or maybe not even in Tyson's era. But, if we include him, he's pretty hard to beat lb for lb, inch for inch at HW.

I really like Tyson and love watching his early fights, but the legend exceeds the fighter himself.

[juggernaut666]

No, because if you go back to the 70's there were guys like Frazier, Ali, etc that weren't monsters either, but had mad skill, and were mentally stronger. Marciano was mentioned and I don't really include him because he wouldn't be a HW today, or maybe not even in Tyson's era. But, if we include him, he's pretty hard to beat lb for lb, inch for inch at HW.

I really like Tyson and love watching his early fights, but the legend exceeds the fighter himself.

Ali was one of the taller fighters of his era , and Frazier had more reach and a few inches on Tyson ,Frazier vs Buster Mathis grossly overweight will show Tysons superiority bc Tubbs when Tyson fought him was superior to Mathis who at 6'3 and 240 gave Frazier a hard time directly bc of size even with health issues .