Printable View
Seen some debate about this and it makes me wonder, what if Tyson fought, say Corrie Sanders?
With the height, reach and southpaw stance, surely he'd cause him troubles?
Did they avoided putting him against southpaws? If they did, they must have seen something in his style to worry them about that situation.
I'm not totally sure as Tyson could switch hit quite effectively.
With all respect to Corrie, he didn't have the defensive skills or the chin to go up against Tyson. he would have been annihilated.
Michael Moorer would have stood a better chance IMO.
It's hard to think of a whole lot of good HW southpaws!
I think southpaws would have been easy meat for Tyson with the big left hook and right hand through the middle which were Tyson's favourite punches.
Who else really was there for him to fight that would stand more of a chance than all the title holders, Holmes and Spinks?
The reason Mike is so so fondly remembered and people always say "we need another Tyson" is because gor those few brief years in the eighties he went through practially a whole division leaving no wuestion as to who the best was. Before the Douglas fight, the only other possible marquee fight was with Holyfield who had moved up a weight but he wasnt a southpaw and at that point, not many would have given Holyfield much more of a chance than Spinks had.
Tyson was a converted southpaw. Hence the power in his left hook. He could square up in the pocket though and lead from either side. I think he would have been fine against southpaws but just never really had any to fight. Southpaws are rare in the hevs and have been throughout history compared to just about any weight class. Sanders never stated boxing until 1989 and as a result would have not even been on Tysons radar. I suppose he could have fought Moorer but he did not jump to hev until 1991. Tyson was fighting Razor at the time so Michael would have been off the screen as well. It probably could have been made in 1995 though after Moorer beat Holyfield. I’m not sure that the Moorer people would have wanted the fight though. Perhaps the Foreman late ko took the wheels off the apple cart.
Who is the greatest HW southpaw of all time? You probably cant think of many can you. Chances are if he did face a southpaw they would be far below him on the genetic superiority ladder and he would have turned them into mince meat.
Byrd.Quote:
Originally Posted by OMGWTF
Probably Jeffries but like most of his day along with those that followed in the early 20th century he was forced to fight right handed. Being left handed was thought to be a birth defect.Quote:
Originally Posted by OMGWTF
Whereas now we know that left handed people are Satan's children.Quote:
Originally Posted by IamInuitBeing left handed was thought to be a birth defect.Quote:
Originally Posted by OMGWTF
Lol exactly and great pickup. Once a deficit philosophically now an asset physically. Tons and tons of converted southpaws through the weight classes today.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobthepenWhereas now we know that left handed people are Satan's children.Quote:
Originally Posted by IamInuitBeing left handed was thought to be a birth defect.Quote:
Originally Posted by OMGWTF
Tyson's people didn't avoid southpaws. In 1985, there weren't any southpaw HWs. About that time I conned a friend of mine into taking up boxing, as a HW, and also convinced him to box southpaw. Since he didn't know anything anyway, he was learning from scratch, and my thought was that he'd do ok against more experienced guys because there were no leftie big guys around. He did ok for awhile and, fortunately, came to his senses before I got him killed.
Was Tyson left handed? If so he had the greatest "weaker hand" in boxing history.Quote:
Originally Posted by IamInuit
You don't need to switch hit to fight a southpaw, so I do not see how this would be an issue.
With the rare exception, southpaws are weaker than orthodox fighters.
Cooney was a converted southpaw.
Who said you had to switch hit to fight a southpaw?Quote:
Originally Posted by boyla
That statement has no basis in fact.Quote:
With the rare exception, southpaws are weaker than orthodox fighters