Is Mike Tyson one of the most overrated fighters ever?

[iamboxing]

No. He went from overrated to underrated. Overrated in the 90s as someone invincible and which, he himself, admits led to his downfall when he become drunk on his power. After Rooney he wasn't the same. Underrated nowadays by the 00 generation who didn't follow him back then and don't realise the ****storm Tyson was going through. No, Douglas and Holyfield (AKA Evans) didn't expose him. The only person who beat Tyson was Tyson.

[g27region]

Tyson wiped out his division beat:
Pinklon Thomas (World Champion with 1 loss)
Razor Rud**** 2x (tuff son of a ***** ,with 1 loss)
Tony Tucker (undefeated world Champion)
Bruno 2x (tuff challenger with 2 loss) (world Champion)
Bonecrusher Smith (world champion)
Tyrell Biggs (undeated challenger)
Tony Tubbs (world champion 1 loss)
Carl Williams (went 15 rds with Larry Holmes only 2 loss)
Larry Holmes (Former Champion, went the distance against Holyfield)

He was the youngest champion in the history of boxing. Give the man his props!

You do understand that epithets like "undefeated challenger" can be used even to describe Dominic Wade? "World champion 1 loss" sounds like Danny Jacobs. "Tuff challenger with 2 loss" might be Lemieux. And so on. The fact remains, Tyson's best wins are small Spinks and old Larry Holmes.

I'm not trying to discredit him as a fighter - for me he's top 10 heavyweight of all time. I talk about casuals who says that he's the best fighter EVER regardless of divisions. That's just ****** and it's getting on my nerves because I've got tired of arguing. There's tens of way more accomplished fighters. Why Pernell Whitaker doesn't get mentioned? What about Sugar Ray Leonard? What about Duran? De La Hoya? I can name them all day. But these casuals will tell you that there's only 2 great boxers ever lived - Ali and Tyson. And maybe Roy Jones. And all those other boxers are bums compared to these two. When in reality, Tyson is nowhere close to being even top 25 of all time in terms of resume.

And yes, he had all potential in the world. But there's a lot of guys who had enormous potential but lost it eventually

here is a reality...Lennox win over Tyson was when he was washed up already. Fact, This was not the same Tyson everyone feared. FACT.

That's why when I've mentioned best Lewis wins I've said it's Tua, Holyfield, Klitschko but not Tyson. Mike still doesn't have wins of that caliber. Sure, it wasn't prime Tyson but don't forget that Lewis is actually older than Mike too. Is it Lennox Lewis fault that Mike Tyson had worse condition than him despite being younger? Definitely not

[MONGOOSE66]

Hell No Tyson isn't overrated. If you were old enough to watch the live fights you'd know he was a giant killer. He was almost ALWAYS THE SMALL GUY. What happened to him is that he peaked very early. Once he lost his speed $hlt changed. He also was his own worst enemy.

[NUCLEAR]

Tyson after prison was fighting no hopers.

Tyson is definitely a global superstar but the man isn't even top 5 of my heavyweight list. He is a bully if something fights him back he gets frustrated.

[Elroy The Great]

early tyson had arrogant ''class''. i dont mind guys who are hyper confident if they can go out and back it up. he went out there and just destroyed the guys he fought. most times before laying a glove on them.

but they were bums. we all knew it. if it went past 3 rds, tyson was wanting to put in some rds.

once king got his claws into tyson, it was a wrap. the partying, the slacking off, believing the headlines.....

i dont rate him very high and if the hof were called hall of greatness, he wouldnt be able to buy a ticket.

def overrated

[g27region]

People who say that Tyson isn't overrated I'm gonna put it this way

Is Tyson the best boxer since Ali?

Is Tyson in top 3 of boxers of all time?

Like some casuals says

It's like people doesn't even read my first post. I've never said that Tyson isn't a great boxer. Just not as good as casual fans thinks he is

[BIG GUNZ]

I love Tyson but it pains me to say it that he's likely not a top 5 heavyweight. I'd say he's definitely top 10 though.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Don't get me wrong, I love Tyson, he's the face of boxing right now for me, a charismatic person.

I appreciate that he's the fighter who made pro boxing popular among youth in Russia in 90's (this is where I'm from). People wouldn't care that much about the sport over here if it wasn't for him

Some dog owners name their pit bulls after Tyson. I had a friend and he's called Tyson because he loves ****ing people up. Tyson has that kind of fame that went over American borders. Even Pacquiao and Mayweather never had that kind of international fame when you think about it. When you ask a casual person about some boxers, Tyson is always the second name that gets mentioned after Ali. I don't know how it is in America, but that's how it is over here. Ali, Tyson, maybe Roy Jones and that's it, they barely know any other names

And I get that he was famous not because of his resume but because of the manner how he was winning fights. Definitely one of the most entertaining fighters of all time. But when you look at his resume you start thinking that all this hype isn't justified. Holyfield and Lewis were much better and they were coming from the same generation of heavyweights. I made this thread because I got tired arguing with casuals when I say that Tyson is not even top 5 heavyweight of all time

Man, you can even make an argument for Golovkin's resume being better and I'm not hating on Tyson, I have a lot of respect for him

Nah, when he was young and focused he was a beast. He plowed through one guy a month when he started and without effort and he almost never got hit. It was incredible. Even beating an old Larry Holmes, he still stopped him in four rounds. No one else ever did that to Holmes before or after. He unified the heavyweight title and earned the name "baddest man on the planet" and he was boxing for a while. He was all you heard about. In his day, Tyson was unreal.

Now, when he came back, he wasn't the same. He still enjoyed some success but his outside life was in turmoil and his career paid for it with him abandoning his amazing head movement which hurt him a lot versus Holyfield and Lewis. He wasn't perfect but no fighter is. He's definitely an ATG in my book.

[original zero]

How many fighters have unified the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles?

How many fighters have unified the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles on multiple occasions?

Mike Tyson wasted a lot of talent. Mike Tyson was a piece of ****. But Mike Tyson was a great ****ing fighter.

[sugar ray lenrd]

You do understand that epithets like "undefeated challenger" can be used even to describe Dominic Wade? "World champion 1 loss" sounds like Danny Jacobs. "Tuff challenger with 2 loss" might be Lemieux. And so on. The fact remains, Tyson's best wins are small Spinks and old Larry Holmes.

I'm not trying to discredit him as a fighter - for me he's top 10 heavyweight of all time. I talk about casuals who says that he's the best fighter EVER regardless of divisions. That's just ****** and it's getting on my nerves because I've got tired of arguing. There's tens of way more accomplished fighters. Why Pernell Whitaker doesn't get mentioned? What about Sugar Ray Leonard? What about Duran? De La Hoya? I can name them all day. But these casuals will tell you that there's only 2 great boxers ever lived - Ali and Tyson. And maybe Roy Jones. And all those other boxers are bums compared to these two. When in reality, Tyson is nowhere close to being even top 25 of all time in terms of resume.

And yes, he had all potential in the world. But there's a lot of guys who had enormous potential but lost it eventually



That's why when I've mentioned best Lewis wins I've said it's Tua, Holyfield, Klitschko but not Tyson. Mike still doesn't have wins of that caliber. Sure, it wasn't prime Tyson but don't forget that Lewis is actually older than Mike too. Is it Lennox Lewis fault that Mike Tyson had worse condition than him despite being younger? Definitely not

I am not comparing Tyson to Oscar, Sweetpea, Sugar Ray Leonard...hey that's me :-) . As far as casuals go I have nothing to do with what they think. Every fighter had there achiles heal. Lennox got KO'ed by Oliver McCall & Hasim Rahman. That's the equivalent as if Tyson would've got KO by Razor Rud****, and we all know he didn't. He also fought to a MAJORITY dec against Ray Mercer. Fact is although they are good fighters Rahman, McCall, & Mercer are not your hall of fame murderers row. I mean if you gonna look at Tyson record thru a micro-scope Lennox wasn't all that either. You mentioned David Tua!!?? I was a fan of his but what did he ever did? he was a poor man's Tyson.you are the first person to mentioned him in the last 17 years!!!. He wasn't all that. The only great fighters that he beat were Holyfield & Vitaly and that's just 2.

Mike Tyson was the deal....son!