In his prime, Mike Tyson was the greatest boxer of all time

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Ali fan.

But Iron Mike truly was the greatest in his prime. He personified boxing. Brutal, powerful, nearly flawless techniques. Face it, boxing is the sweet science, but it ain't pretty.

He was the ultimate boxer. He had that killer instinct; I love how he marched down opponents and flattened them. Dude would hit his opponents with the power of a Mack truck behind his dynamite-packed fists.

It truly is sad that his personal life ruined his professional career. Tyson ain't exactly the most stable individual, and that combined with people using him wasn't too good. And, yeah, they ROBBED Tyson in his fight with Buster Douglas. Buster clearly did not beat the 10 count.

You're insane. Even when Mike first went pro, and George Foreman was still fighting, he would have beat Tyson.

Tyson was a great boxer, don't get me wrong. And her certainly brought an excitement to the sport that had been absent for some time. But I can name at least a dozen guys who were better than Tyson in their prime, including Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Marciano, even Holyfield and a bunch more.

Watching Tyson get tuned up by Lennox Lewis was a highlight of my boxing experiences. Even though the fight itself wasn't that great, it was really great watching the final nails being hammered into the coffin that was Tyson's career.

And let me just say that Tyson was never robbed by anyone in his match with Buster Douglas, except for the left and right hands of Buster. Tyson's terribly innappropriate behavior, his rape, his poor attitude and even worse financial management, and his ego definitely prevented him from ever living up to his full potential. I don't see how anyone could ever like or respect such a "man".

Wtf are you talking about?

That ref was counting like he was 80. Watch the clip for yourself, you can see Douglas should have been counted out.

Marciano was better than Tyson? Don't make me laugh. The only reason he was undefeated was that there were no real heavyweights in his time. Now, I'd agree that Foreman had more power than Tyson, but his technique was a lot sloppier. Then again, who needs technique when you have anywhere punches?

atleast he'll always be the biggest freakshow and a half boxing has ever known, he's almost like the michael jackson of boxing crazy.

I think Tyson really screwed up when he started biting peoples ears off. I agree he was a good boxer. Kick my butt anyday!!

truthseeka,

YES, I agree ... to an extent.

When Tyson first "hit the scene" it was like watching a Pitbull in the ring. For the most part he seemed to engage and defeat in a calculated process, almost machine-like. ?! Literallly, use your flaws to beat you down approach.

Then came the death of his Mentor/Trainer [Cus D'Amato], numerous trainer and managerial transitions, to include Don King, and sadly it all changed. He seemed to revert to his street upbringing? ... more focused on materialstic ideals than that which was taught to him by Cus.

IMO, had "Iron Mike" NOT fallen prey to the glitter and prestige, perhaps we would be viewing a different landscape on today's Pro Boxing terra-firma.

While I realize he has ultimately been proven a "flash in the pan", the potential seemed so much more. ?! at the time and aside from 3rd party profiteers ?!

As for the question ... "In his prime ?" [read: 19 yrs old]

Few, past or present, could go the distance. IMO?!


Sadly, the career perspective shows nothing more than a "flash in the pan", followed by a downward spiral.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda ... a rather mute point, now.


[edit: ?sp - Mentor]

[edit on 6/14/2006 by 12m8keall2c]

Tyson was good in his prime, but I think Ali was better. For a heavy weight I still lean towards Geroge Forman. If there had been a way to turn back the clock a little I would have loved to see Tyson and Forman go at it. That would be a match made for boxing.

How about this, If mike would have stayed sane, he would have been the best every.

You ever see Suger Ray fight? Amazing. Ali in his prime? Awesome.

Tyson, big mean dude. No real skill, finesse, or class in my opinion. He only would win from brute strength.

I agree, in fact I've said the same things many times before. Mike Tyson in his prime would have destroyed Ali within five rounds. Ali was never feared like Tyson was in his prime. Other boxers were actually scared to death to step in against mike and his relentless, punishing style.

Peace

When Mike Tyson was fighting under Cus D'Amato he was a totally different fighter. He was more professional, and Cus was like a father to him. When Cus died so did a lot of his teachings when Mike Tyson went over to that wackjob of a mentor promoter Don King and Donald Trump. His marriage to Robin Givens was also not very much of a help too.


Pie

Unfortunately we'll never know, but, in my opinion, Ali would have beat Tyson.
Ali beat Foreman when Foreman was the Tyson of that era. Foreman was unbeatable, nobody even came close. Someone once said, "a tough guy isn't so tough when fighting another tough guy". The person that said that also beat the snot out of Tyson; Holyfield. He spoke the truth. Most of Tyson's apponents, while tough, were scared, everyone know's it. You can't fight scared in professional boxing. The few guys that fought fearless beat Tyson.
A lot of my friends were Tyson fans and all I heard about for years was how "Douglas got lucky", "Tyson didn't train", "Tyson wasn't same in that fight", "Tyson got robbed on the count". I've watched that fight from start to finish about 10 times over the years and not once did I ever see Tyson "look different", or "out of shape". He got his ass handed to him, end of story. You tend to look and act different when someone hits you with the type of punches Douglas hit Tyson with. If Tyson got unlucky with the count, well, # happens. How many times did Tyson elbow someone in the clinch, # happens. Tyson lost by a complete underdog, IN HIS PRIME. Why? Because Douglas wasn't afraid, and Douglas stuck to his gameplan, and beat Tyson to the punch. I think Ali would have done the same.

I heard Paul Harvey address this issue a few years back. He talked about the boxers that claim they are/were the best ever. Then he talked about a boxer in ancient Rome who retired after 125 fights. He was undefeated in all 125. Every fight was to the death. Sure wish I could remember his name. Anyway,

wupy

Every time I start talkin' 'bout boxin a white guy's gotta pull Rocky Marciano out their ass. That's their one, that's their one, ROCKY MARCIANO ROCKY MARCIANO

Let me tell you something once and for all, Rocky Marciano was good, but compared to Joe Lewis, Rocky Marciano ain't s***!!

Although he did did whoop Joe Lewis's ass.

Originally posted by ZeddicusZulZorander
Tyson, big mean dude. No real skill, finesse, or class in my opinion. He only would win from brute strength.

I dont know about that dude. First off let me say my opinion doesnt carry much weight, I aint a boxer. But, it seems to me in tyson's first days he seemed like he used a lot of skill and was pretty good. To me it seemed like later on he just used power

Personally I would have loved to see him fight Ali just so Tyson could have used him like a mop and end the argument once and forever

Mike Tyson's Punch-out was one of the best video games ever.

I agree. Tyson was absolutely fierce, and intimidating. Do you remember when he fought Spinks? Spinks was terrified. I've never seen a pro fighter scared before. Tyson knocked him out in 93 seconds.
He really was Iron Mike. He looked like he was carved out of Steel. He wore no socks, and came to the ring with a towel with a hole cut in it as a robe. He would run across the ring when the bell rang delivering punches that would probably kill me.
Remember the first fight against Ruddick - Tyson was lifting him off the floor from body blows.
Too bad that the combination of Cus D'Amato dying, and what that vampire Robin Givens did as his wife ruined him. He was truly a legend in the making.

Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Rocky Marciano (yeah I said it), Roy Jones, Jr., Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, and that's the short list.

In his prime, Tyson was a great fighter. But not a great boxer and certainly not consistently over his career. In a street fight, and in his prime, Tyson may have been unstoppable. But in a boxing ring, Ali in his prime would have made a fool out of him.

And while I'm at it, anyone participating in this thread, or even interested enough to read it, needs to come over to www.sportztawk.com... and register. It's a "sister" site to ATS and we could use some new contributors over there.

C'mon now. Sports galore of every type. Get yer game on!

can you imagine tyson vs norton?

Tyson the greatest and the biggest nutjob in boxing history. I mean, you'd have to be nuts to work for Don King, j/k. Besides, we all know that the best boxers were before and during Tyosn's time as a professional. I mean Sugar Ray Robinson hardly ever lost a fight. Joe Louis, need I say more. Joltin' Joe Frasier of the 1960s and 1970s. Muhammad Ali, the greatest of all time, PERIOD!!! Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran who had some of the most historic battles in boxing history. Hell, even George Foreman won the title back in 1994. I forget who he beat for it though.