Tyson at his prime- could any boxer in history beat him?

Tyson was a borderline great heavyweight but by no means invincible in his prime. I doubt that he ever could have beaten a prime Lennox Lewis, for example. He would have to catch Lewis flush early in the fight with a power punch. Easier said than done when Lewis wasn’t overconfident. Many people buy into the Tyson invincibility myth and make excuses for his losses, disregarding the fact that a somewhat past his prime Holyfield mopped the floor with him.

I'd pickJames J Jeffries, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, and Lennox Lewis.

I'm 165 lbs. I could have beaten him. Seriously.

Why has nobody mentioned Balboa or Ivan Drago????

Seriously, you people are out of touch with reality.

I remember a reporter talking to Tyson before the Buster Douglas fight. Tyson said he wasn't in the right frame of mind before the fight but Don King made him fight anyway. After the fight he said numerous times that he really didn't care to fight anymore and it had nothing to do with the Douglas loss. See what his colleagues had to say about his career prior to the Douglas loss. There is your answer.

Even in his prime, he was an animal.

When cornered and threatened all animals, even small ones, will savagely bite back.

That primal instinct was always there in him, even in his prime.

So no, another fighter would not beat Tyson, he would have DQ'ed himself.

Tyson could take punches and still bite.

No one ever managed to come back to the fight after a good bite from Tyson

Interesting, Naturalguy,

I (kickboxed and boxed and am the same age as Tyson), was a big fan of his fighting style, it was different, cut off the ring, march the opponent into the corner and move his legs and core with his punching, like you do with an uppercut, but he did it with his hooks from down low. It was scary to watch.

I think this happened to a lot of boxer in the 60-90s and maybe still:

Have a handful of pro fights and look good. Start getting some easy fights to make sure your record looks as good as you do, then once ranked by one of the governing bodies, start fighting better guys and fighting often....move up the ranks...get a record like 30-0....start fighting for the American, then North American titles. Defend once or twice, take the world title, take the undisputed world title, defend it maybe once, then stop fighting.

Instead of fighting 5-10 times per year, fighting once per year. The sharpness goes, the fitness goes, the details are gone. You start to lose.

That's what it appears they all do. Was it a big fix by Don King? Looks like it. Lose a couple of times so you have rematches...big paydays.

Tyson seemed to be incredible, but did fight some bums along the way, and appeared to get into big trouble like beating up Robin Givens, beating up that former heavyweight on the street??? Moore? Forget now....looked at him against Buster when he came out, looked less fit...just a little....didn't have that incredible snap....got caught with his left hand down for one split second and got rocked. Done.

Cus dies, gets sued, charged, jailed, loses again....life in shambles.....

Thoughts?

Anyway, to the person who was suggesting he was 5'6", I don't think so. I think he was so stocky he looked 5'6" - I think he was as measured, 5'8" or 5'9". Powerful when jacked (steroids? - angry and volatile as hell).

Yep. Watch youtube videos of Tyson's right hook / right uppercut combination.

Well, that lightning quick bob and weave style was very effective for setting up his power shots, but there was a down side to it: it used up a tremendous amount of energy. That’s why Tyson’s effectiveness would drop off so badly after the first few rounds, even during his heyday.

There is no such thing as the perfect fighter, but the closest there’s ever been to that in my opinion was prime, lightweight version, of Roberto Duran.

Ghjhgffg wrote:

Holyfield from 89 on always has his number. Holyfield Tyson, basically the minute Holyfield moved up from cruiser, was the biggest money fight out there. There is a reason Tyson's team avoided him for 2 years.

Ali, Holmes are also sure bets, although Holmes was vulnerable to the right so Tyson has a punches chance. Foreman is 50/50.

Lennox Lewis is greater in historical terms and has the size and skill to win. But hard to see a guy who got knocked out twice lasting the distance.

Wlad Klitschko is in the same boat as Lewis, but his chin was worse. Vitali is an interesting matchup.

Tyson was great at his peak. Probably not top 10 heavy in all time terms due to longevity issues. He did have some high quality wins and brought life to the sport,

Anything that happened after the prison conviction is nonsense. Tyson was never the same. Not even close. His loss to Buster and 3 years in prison hurt him mentally. He never had the same fire he displayed earlier in his career.

Those Holyfield fights were not Tyson at his meanest/best.

Nope Tyson was not a big guy.

Very short.

I walked behind him on 43rd street in Manhattan in 1985.

Massively wide back.

But no more than 5’8.

Most heavyweights are 6’ to 6’3

He couldn’t have handled a big fighter.

He boxed in a very soft period.

Agree, fought during a soft period. Tyson wasn't really a boxer, he was more of a freak show.

It’s egun wrote:

Nope Tyson was not a big guy.

Very short.

I walked behind him on 43rd street in Manhattan in 1985.

Massively wide back.

But no more than 5’8.

Most heavyweights are 6’ to 6’3

He couldn’t have handled a big fighter.

He boxed in a very soft period.

Watch the earlier fights. Tyson had a good left jab. He could have beat anyone, especially Lennox or Bowe.

What are you saying??? wrote:

The following four would have beaten Tyson four out of five: Ali, Foreman, Frazier and Larry Holmes. Tyson did not fight great athletes. In the 1970's NFL did not pay well. There were better athletes in the heavy weight division than today prior to 1980's. Tyson, when Cus was alive was angry and fit. Tyson was never as skilled as Ali,, Frazier or Larry Holmes. George Foreman loved to brawl toe to toe. No one could successfully brawl toe to toe with George Foreman. Frazier tried to brawl toe to toe with George Foreman. Frazier lost.

NO WAY Frazier beats Tyson.....Joe was willing to take ten punches to deliver 1--that worked fine against Ali, but look at what Foreman did to him. Knocked him down 6 times in 2 rounds, destroyed him in two fights. Tyson was a better boxer than Foreman, and had at least as hard a punch as Foreman. Marvis Frazier was never comparable to his father, but go watch his fights against Holmes and Tyson--that's what would have happened to Joe if he was in there against a prime time Tyson *maybe* a couple of rounds longer.

Ali would've beaten Tyson easily, just as Viren would've crushed Mo Farah in a 10k. Theres no improvement in sports over the years. Everything stay exactly the same.

Early Tyson was simply unbeatable. Watch his fights before Atlas left and before he fired Rooney. He was the peek-a-boo style perfected. He had defense and speed and power and amazingly fast combinations for a heavyweight.

Ali would beat him because Ali always found a way.

It’s hard to rank Tyson. Given his whole career he’s barely a top 10 fighter, but for a short time he was a top 2 or top 3 heavyweight of all time.

Alan

Joe Louis.

Tyson Fury would KO Mike Tyson. Not much power behind the punches of the much vaunted Ali, Frazier or the likes, But Fury has a lot of weight and power behind his.

the only one who would have stood a chance is pre-incarceration Ali.

When Cus was alive, Tyson was stronger and faster than Frazier or Foreman. He was a newer, better version of those fighters. He obviously did not have it between the ears to stay n top for long, but at his best, he would have killed those guys.

Ali was different. Before prison he was a better athlete than anything we've seen in the division. He would have been tough for Tyson.

But after prison? No way. if he would have pulled any of that 70s rope-a-dope crap on '88 tyson, he would have been knocked out cold with a hook and an uppercut. Tyson was never given enough credit for how ACCURATE his punches were. He'd have gotten though ali's defense in the 70s.