Let’s be honest - Mike Tyson was overrated as fu.ck

[Curtis Harper]

- -Bubbles, is it really you?

Iron Mike wouldn't be safe in my bubble (no h0m0)

[JakeTheBoxer]

Of course he was. His best win is old Holmes. And even prime Tyson lost against Douglas.

People complain Joshua lost against Ruiz. Tyson at age of 24 ( his prime) lost against Douglas. the same Douglas was knocked out in his next fight against Holyfield.

So people should stop acting like Mike Tyson was some special fighter.

[PRINCEKOOL]

Tysons persona is what confuses people.

They quickly (conveniently) forget how awful he was when matched with a real opponent. Had Tyson fought real threats sooner, he would be a better version of Jimmy Thunder.

It happens when promoters keep their cash cow safe in bubbles.

Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis 'None of these guys had a easy night with Mike Tyson'. It did not matter at what stage in his career he was, Mike Tyson always fought back ferociously. From a technical perspective, he was vividly better than 99.9% probably 100% of the fighters active today at heavyweight, anybody can see this just by merely watching his fights. 'Who is there active today with his defensive skills? Combination punching ability? Punching technique from distance, mid or close range? There is nobody 'Tyson Fury sure as anything cannot fight on the inside, neither can Deontay Wilder'

Most of the fighters he beat in the 80's/90's where better than 90% of the fighters active today, they could actually box and had serious amateur pedigree. 'The heavyweight division now is so fundamentally poor, fighters can come into the division not actually knowing how to box' they can ether rely on their size, or loop holes in the political ranking system.

The fact of the matter is? You do not become two time heavyweight champion without facing resistance or real threats, especially not in the 80's or 90's. Mike Tyson was the first undisputed heavyweight champion, and further regained two versions of the heavyweight titles after being released from jail.

In all of his defeats Mike Tyson did not just disappear, he always gave resistance 'It was a complete myth that all you had to do was stand up to him' <<< Sounds like something a teacher would tell a kid in school, who could not stand up for themselves. 'I think as a society we need to stop telling people these kind of things, because it is not how the world works

There was something within Mike Tyson persona that bothered people, and shook them right down to their core. People discredit him to make themselves feel better, to make themselves feel bigger and more capable 'Mike Tyson was a serious fighter and man, none of his opponents have discredited him' Whether he destroyed them, or was beaten by them 'Nobody none of them questioned his will to win' Buster Douglas stated himself that 'Not at any point in their fight did he see defeat in Mike Tyson's eye's' This was during a post studio interview with Larry Merchant.

Sometimes in life you can judge a man slightly, not by statistics but by how other men view you. And the fact of the matter is, Mike Tyson is one of the last universal heavyweight champions who garnered men's respect all around the world. The respect he received transcendent race or religion, unparalleled to anything we can witness today in combat sports. Even with the introduction of social media, there is no fighter in combat sports who has garnered the respect that Mike Tyson achieved.

[Curtis Harper]

Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis 'None of these guys had a easy night with Mike Tyson'. It did not matter at what stage in his career he was, Mike Tyson always fought back ferociously. From a technical perspective, he was vividly better than 99.9% probably 100% of the fighters active today at heavyweight, anybody can see this just by merely watching his fights. 'Who is there active today with his defensive skills? Combination punching ability? Punching technique from distance, mid or close range? There is nobody 'Tyson Fury sure as anything cannot fight on the inside, neither can Deontay Wilder'

Most of the fighters he beat in the 80's/90's where better than 90% of the fighters active today, they could actually box and had serious amateur pedigree. 'The heavyweight division now is so fundamentally poor, fighters can come into the division not actually knowing how to box' they can ether rely on their size, or loop holes in the political ranking system.

The fact of the matter is? You do not become two time heavyweight champion without facing resistance or real threats, especially not in the 80's or 90's. Mike Tyson was the first undisputed heavyweight champion, and further regained two versions of the heavyweight titles after being released from jail.

In all of his defeats Mike Tyson did not just disappear, he always gave resistance 'It was a complete myth that all you had to do was stand up to him' <<< Sounds like something a teacher would tell a kid in school, who could not stand up for themselves. 'I think as a society we need to stop telling people these kind of things, because it is not how the world works

There was something within Mike Tyson persona that bothered people, and shook them right down to their core. People discredit him to make themselves feel better, to make themselves feel bigger and more capable 'Mike Tyson was a serious fighter and man, none of his opponents have discredited him' Whether he destroyed them, or was beaten by them 'Nobody none of them questioned his will to win' Buster Douglas stated himself that 'Not at any point in their fight did he see defeat in Mike Tyson's eye's' This was during a post studio interview with Larry Merchant.

Sometimes in life you can judge a man slightly, not by statistics but by how other men view you. And the fact of the matter is, Mike Tyson is one of the last universal heavyweight champions who garnered men's respect all around the world. The respect he received transcendent race or religion, unparalleled to anything we can witness today in combat sports. Even with the introduction with social media, there is no fighter in combat sports who has garnered the respect that Mike Tyson achieved.

vs Buster - If memory serves me, Tyson was losing every rd
vs Holy - Tyson made it ''rough'' with illegal tactics
vs Lenny - Mike was competitive during the press conference dust up.

The thing with supposedly being the best vs guys he would never fight is we got glimpses of how things would be, when he eventually did fight quality guys.

Regardless, should a fan take off them rosy shades and look at Mike's ACTUAL resume, it's not so good.

You say Mike would have beaten these HW's. Well I say 20 year old AJ, Wilder, Fury, Usyk, Andy, Del Boy, Haye would have beaten the Berbick, Thomas, Tubbs and Tucker that Tyson fought (when he fought them)....

Mike came around at the perfect time. Mike's road blocks were Holy and Lenny....no wonder he had a high success rate.

[NC Uppercut]

This is for people who act like these old school boxers were just out there knocking out killers.

Mike Tyson didn’t really beat anyone and he got knocked out every time he stepped up. Holyfield’s resume was somewhat mediocre at HW as well.

I hope you claim intoxicated for this thread!

[CasperUK]

Over-rated.....

Youngest HW champion. EVER.

9 defences of his title.

Undisputed HW champion.

Unified HW champion.

5 times a belt winner.

Pretty lofty achievements for someone so over-rated.....

Who is better than him? Bob Fitzsimmons? Gerry Cooney? Mike Weaver? Dillian Whyte? David Haye? Jack Johnson? Dempsey?

Post your Top 10 list and we'll see how well it stacks up if Tyson isn't on there....

[JakeTheBoxer]

I am not big fan of Wilder, but Wilder does exactly what Tyson did. he stops all mediocre opposition. If Wilder beats Joshua, Ruiz and Fury, he will be remembered as better than Mike Tyson, for sure.

[BangEM]

Tyson even now in his 50s, stoned out his mind would batter AJ senseless.

He couldn't even batter Douglas in his prime and Douglas wouldn't last 5 rds in the ring with AJ.

[Golovkinchamp]

Trolling or trying to build up someone like Joshua.

[Scopedog]

I think he is a little overrated by casual fans or people who flat out don't really know anything about boxing, he's probably the best example of a highlight-reel-bait kind of fighter. It is true that the era of his first title reign was fairly weak and whenever he ended up going against other fighters who can be considered great it usually didn't end favourably for him. That said, his speed and power was unreal, he fought pretty much every worthwhile challenger in his reign as undisputed champ and viciously destroyed almost all of them until he was upset by Douglas - I don't think anyone ever dominated their era as absolutely as he did, even the Klitschko brothers. Even when he lost, nobody ever really had an easy time beating him, with the possible exception of Lennox Lewis, who fight Tyson when he was a shadow of his former self. So I still think he's a great fighter even if I don't think his aura of being some kind of all-time-great on par with the likes of Ali is supported by his record.