Why was Mike Tyson so hyped up? And his 5 best wins.

[Marchegiano]

15 fights all ending in KO wins in your debut year makes a big splash. Kid Dynamite was on everyone's radar from day one.

Thing about resume is it's all hindsight. It's fine today to say he lost when he stepped up to great boxers, but when Mike was on the rise he was absolutely destroying top ranked opponents.

It's a bit like cutting down Joshua's resume because since fighting Joshua his opponents haven't done so well. Thing is they were great opponents when Josh fought them and it makes sense for a resume whore to exalt AJ for fighting them. Same for Tyson, he rose quickly, cleared out everybody, and handled his mandos like a champ. It's not like he won a bunch titles all at once, he fought for each title and went undisputed for a couple of years.

Tyson was champ from 86-90. Four years might seem short for such an indelible affect on on pop culture, but, Ninja Turtles was only actually popular for six and they've had a huge impact on pop culture as well.

[Redd Foxx]

Tyson was a cultural phenomenon. His hype goes faaaaar beyond resume. And, deservedly so.
The problem is, you get guys trying to make him into something he wasn't. He wasn't the greatest HW of all time. He was good though and did some impressive things. More importantly, he got people excited about boxing and his legacy enhances the sport as a whole.

[bluebeam]

There's no doubt that Tyson had really good power, speed and skill, but came unstuck every time the going got tough. He was the ultimate C/D level bully beater, but was no more than B-Level himself.

His 6 losses.

Lennox Lewis - Outclassed.

Evander Holyfield x2 - Outclassed x2.

Buster Douglas - Knocked out and only really won 1 round in the fight.

Danny Williams - English journeyman W53 L28. Knocked Mike out.

Kevin Mcbride. Irish journeyman W35 L10. Knocked Mike out.

Of course as Mike Tyson lost these fights, his fans conveniently label him as past prime. So what are these wins in his prime that made him so unbeatable?

Was it the two times he blew away a prime Rid**** Bowe? Or the time he outpointed a prime Lennox Lewis? Or the time he won a war against Evander Holyfield? No, because these things never happened, and couldn't happen. Mike wasn't on that level. Facts.

His best 5 wins below:

1. Larry Holmes - aged 45 (a 40 year old Larry beats Tyson up)

2. Michael Spinks - A light heavyweight. What else could have happened in this fight?

3. Tony Tucker - the most padded 34-0 record in the history of boxing. The bum went on to lose 7 times to many only average fighters.

4. Tony Tubbs - Another massively flattering record. Entering the fight 24-1 and ending his career W47 L10.

5. Frank Bruno - The original Danny Williams.

I'm not getting the fuss over Iron Mike and his legend seems to grow and grow. It's bizarre.

Pick any 19 year old you know and imagine him as heavyweight champion.

It will never happen again.

Iron Mike Tyson

[QballLobo]

People hype up Prime Tyson and for good reason. His prime was really only 3 years when he was with Cuz but those 3 years he was a beast and one of the most complete fighters at HW.
Yes we all know what happened after. Success changed him, he went to prison, and his hard living caught up to him. After he came back in 1995 he just wasn’t the same guy and mentally was a weak fighter.
People act like he is ranked as the best ever. I’ve never seen that. He had a 3 year run where he was the best fighter in the world and it all went to ****. 19-22 year old Tyson would give any HW past or present problems.

[CubanGuyNYC]

I’ve had this discussion more times than I care to remember. Lol Tyson was a phenomenon. Hard to appreciate if you didn’t live through that era. Yeah, he’s usually overrated by (usually) casual fans, but he was something back in his heyday. Great fighter, make no mistake; just not THE GREATEST, like some seem to think. But reading off his resume really misses the point. I would argue that on his best day, Tyson might’ve beaten anyone in heavyweight history. That’s saying something.

[The D3vil]

Ugh, how many times do we have to go through this.

Mike beat just about everybody he could beat.



He beat 8 of the 10 best heavyweights of the year he became champ, including the champion Spinks and Bruno twice.

It's not his fault he didn't fight in the '70s or that he was past his prime by the time he got out of prison in '95.

His skill level was immaculate. His power ridiculous. His defensive better than anybody ever outside of Ali's in the Cus/Rooney era.

Nobody who actually watched Tyson in his time perpetuates this bullshxt, it's always these newbies who started watching 10 years ago, who pop shxt.

[taskgoal]

Even if you weren't a huge fan of boxing, if you saw Tyson's early fights (1980–1986) you would see that he was something special. Fast, powerful, and evasive like a locomotive wrecking ball.

[N/A]

Mike Tyson was the undefeated WBC, WBA, IBF and lineal world heavyweight champion. Only three men in history can say that and the other two didn't have to win the four titles one by one like Tyson did.

[Curtis Harper]

Tyson would put you in a coma lad let’s be honest about it

TBF, the thread starter would have about the same skill level as most of Mikes early (1st 25 fights) wins.

[Curtis Harper]

Mike Tyson was the undefeated WBC, WBA, IBF and lineal world heavyweight champion. Only three men in history can say that and the other two didn't have to win the four titles one by one like Tyson did.

Berbick, Smith, Tucker and Tubbs (IIRC)

Not exactly a murderers row