Top 10 heavyweights of wlad's era...

[TitoFan]

Peak Tyson beats Wlad, who will not be able to hold off the ferocity of Tyson’s combination punching, speed, accuracy and power. Wlad will try and hold, paw with his jab, panic and get knocked out in 5-6 rounds. Other than that Wlad does OK against Tyson.

Wlad 6'6....Mike Tyson 5'10
Wlad's reach 81".....Tyson's 71"
Weight Wlad 244...Tyson 218

Sure he's quick and fast and all, but I just don't see Tyson beating Wlad at Wlad's peak.

I don't see the point of using height and reach as arguments. Razor Ruddock was 6-3, with an 82" reach..... and prime Tyson handled him just fine. And Wlad's chin is more questionable than Razor's. It's ok to give Wlad his props.... but a prime Tyson takes him apart.

Wlad would not fight Tyson like Buster Douglas fought him.... driving him back.... refusing to be bullied.... trading with Tyson. That's not Wlad's style. And if and when Tyson ever connected one of those haymakers against Wlad, it would be "good night Irene". Gotta keep it real.

[IamInuit]

Peak Tyson beats Wlad, who will not be able to hold off the ferocity of Tyson’s combination punching, speed, accuracy and power. Wlad will try and hold, paw with his jab, panic and get knocked out in 5-6 rounds. Other than that Wlad does OK against Tyson.

Wlad 6'6....Mike Tyson 5'10
Wlad's reach 81".....Tyson's 71"
Weight Wlad 244...Tyson 218

Sure he's quick and fast and all, but I just don't see Tyson beating Wlad at Wlad's peak.

I don't see the point of using height and reach as arguments. Razor Ruddock was 6-3, with an 82" reach..... and prime Tyson handled him just fine. And Wlad's chin is more questionable than Razor's. It's ok to give Wlad his props.... but a prime Tyson takes him apart.

Wlad would not fight Tyson like Buster Douglas fought him.... driving him back.... refusing to be bullied.... trading with Tyson. That's not Wlad's style. And if and when Tyson ever connected one of those haymakers against Wlad, it would be "good night Irene". Gotta keep it real.

Exactly.

There are two Wlads in the same career. The pre-clinch Wlad and the post-clinch Wlad. I’m sure the Wlad that learned how to clinch gives Tyson a tougher out but really the prime Tyson prior to getting ruined completely by King would have butchered Wlad and I’m no fan of either. Reach and height are negated here by speed, pin point freight train punching and some of the best head movement ever. Add this to Wlads notorious slow starts and he’s a goner. He might want to put a couple of ads on the bottom of his shoes.

[p4pking]

Peak Tyson beats Wlad, who will not be able to hold off the ferocity of Tyson’s combination punching, speed, accuracy and power. Wlad will try and hold, paw with his jab, panic and get knocked out in 5-6 rounds. Other than that Wlad does OK against Tyson.

Wlad 6'6....Mike Tyson 5'10
Wlad's reach 81".....Tyson's 71"
Weight Wlad 244...Tyson 218

Sure he's quick and fast and all, but I just don't see Tyson beating Wlad at Wlad's peak.

I don't see the point of using height and reach as arguments. Razor Ruddock was 6-3, with an 82" reach..... and prime Tyson handled him just fine. And Wlad's chin is more questionable than Razor's. It's ok to give Wlad his props.... but a prime Tyson takes him apart.

Wlad would not fight Tyson like Buster Douglas fought him.... driving him back.... refusing to be bullied.... trading with Tyson. That's not Wlad's style. And if and when Tyson ever connected one of those haymakers against Wlad, it would be "good night Irene". Gotta keep it real.

Exactly.

There are two Wlads in the same career. The pre-clinch Wlad and the post-clinch Wlad. I’m sure the Wlad that learned how to clinch gives Tyson a tougher out but really the prime Tyson prior to getting ruined completely by King would have butchered Wlad and I’m no fan of either. Reach and height are negated here by speed, pin point freight train punching and some of the best head movement ever. Add this to Wlads notorious slow starts and he’s a goner. He might want to put a couple of ads on the bottom of his shoes.

Agree with the both of you. Tyson struggled with Tony Tucker, Green and to an extent Ruddock(although that was already well past Tysons best form), but those guys had chins. I can't envision any way Wlad would avoid getting tagged early and hence losing by KO, simple as.

[El Kabong]

It would actually take Mike Tyson quite some time to stop Tony Thompson.

[Master]

It would actually take Mike Tyson quite some time to stop Tony Thompson.

Not 12 rounds.

[TitoFan]

Picking a prime Tyson is not hating on Wlad. It's considering some obvious factors. People like to point out the riff-raff that Tyson faced. But he also faced some top opposition, and some tall guys with a lot of reach. Lyle pointed out Tyson's height and reach vs. Wlad's height and reach. But Tyson beat a very good (and hard-punching) Razor Ruddock, who was just as big and had more reach. End of that argument. People also choose to ignore that Wlad was knocked out several times earlier in his career. His chin is suspect. The fact that most bums who have faced him later on come into the ring scared shitless, doesn't exactly dispel the "weak chin" rap. He hasn't been challenged by someone of Tyson's skills, quickness, and explosive power. Someone mentioned Tyson getting KO'ed by Holyfield. That was due to an accumulation of punches. Holyfield fought Tyson without being intimidated, just like Buster Douglas did. They both hit Tyson with numerous punches, before Tyson went down. Doesn't mean Wlad can do it. Wlad fights more timidly, more defensively, taking advantage of scared shitless opposition. Cannot be compared to Tyson. Tyson would gladly take one or two (or three) right hands from Wlad on the way in to take off his head with one of those airborne left hooks. Tyson, as opposed to Wlad, did not have a suspect chin. In fact he had a pretty good chin. Accumulation of punches is what put him down. Boxing is a matter of styles. We're not arguing here who had the greater championship run, or better record. We're arguing who would win between a prime Tyson and a prime Wlad. Prime Tyson was full of head movement.... hard to hit. His bobbing and weaving got him inside many good fighters. Wlad would've been no exception. Wlad would've been scared to get tagged by Tyson, and for good reason. Tyson would've gladly risked a shot or two from Wlad. Heavyweight fights are often defined by a single punch. That's really all Tyson would need against Wlad.

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

It would actually take Mike Tyson quite some time to stop Tony Thompson.

Tyson fighting a soutpaw!! Don't be silly! Tony thompson is better than james smith and buster douglas, trust me.....smith was outboxed by axel schultz, levi billups and marvis frazier lol

A motivated and fully fit thompson would not have lost to david bey, mike white, jesse ferguson and stefan tansgstad, nor would he look like a whale in the ring like buster often did, thompsons size and southpaw stance would have been awkward for tyson when you consider he did struggle at times with rangy tall fighters and he never fought southpaws!

Thompson put up a better fight against Wlad than Chambers, haye, Chagaev, Rahman, Peter II, Byrd II, Austin, Brock, and Brewster II. Chambers lasted longer, but never won a minute of any round.

The only opponent Wlad had more trouble against in the past 5 years was the elusive and skillful Ibragimov.

I also read he beat up Haye in sparring. You underrate thompson, for me he is the best american HW, i rate him higher than chambers, mitchell and kingpin johnson.

[El Kabong]

Hard to break through the defense...he's only been stopped 1 time, and that was by Wlad. Styles make fights and I hate to break it to you but Tyson wouldn't have an easy time with every single fighter since his precious "prime" ended. If a chinny out of shape Ruddock and Bonecrusher Smith could last the distance with Tyson then how is it inconceivable that Wlad could last 12?

[rjj tszyu]

Peak Tyson beats Wlad, who will not be able to hold off the ferocity of Tyson’s combination punching, speed, accuracy and power. Wlad will try and hold, paw with his jab, panic and get knocked out in 5-6 rounds. Other than that Wlad does OK against Tyson.

Wlad 6'6....Mike Tyson 5'10
Wlad's reach 81".....Tyson's 71"
Weight Wlad 244...Tyson 218

Sure he's quick and fast and all, but I just don't see Tyson beating Wlad at Wlad's peak.

I don't see the point of using height and reach as arguments. Razor Ruddock was 6-3, with an 82" reach..... and prime Tyson handled him just fine. And Wlad's chin is more questionable than Razor's. It's ok to give Wlad his props.... but a prime Tyson takes him apart.

Wlad would not fight Tyson like Buster Douglas fought him.... driving him back.... refusing to be bullied.... trading with Tyson. That's not Wlad's style. And if and when Tyson ever connected one of those haymakers against Wlad, it would be "good night Irene". Gotta keep it real.

Exactly.

There are two Wlads in the same career. The pre-clinch Wlad and the post-clinch Wlad. I’m sure the Wlad that learned how to clinch gives Tyson a tougher out but really the prime Tyson prior to getting ruined completely by King would have butchered Wlad and I’m no fan of either. Reach and height are negated here by speed, pin point freight train punching and some of the best head movement ever. Add this to Wlads notorious slow starts and he’s a goner. He might want to put a couple of ads on the bottom of his shoes.

And who in his prime did he take on and beat that makes you think he would beat Wlad? It's ok saying he'd blow such and such away. Tyson blew bums away, I never ever in all his career saw him blow out a top notch fighter in his prime. He fought a past his prime Evander and got fucking hammered and a prime Lewis (to be fair Tyson was in clear decline by this time) and got obliterated.

Wlad is a top notch fighter whether you like his style or not. I think Tyson has serious issues with Wlad.

[p4pking]

The issue becomes whether Wlad could really avoid taking a SINGLE flush shot. It's well and good to say Tyson struggled with guys, but he would only need to land once against Wlad and the fight is over. Not to mention how easy it is to flip that arguement around and ask who Wlad has fought that measures up to Tyson... And he's still managed to get knocked senseless.

[IamInuit]

Peak Tyson beats Wlad, who will not be able to hold off the ferocity of Tyson’s combination punching, speed, accuracy and power. Wlad will try and hold, paw with his jab, panic and get knocked out in 5-6 rounds. Other than that Wlad does OK against Tyson.

Wlad 6'6....Mike Tyson 5'10
Wlad's reach 81".....Tyson's 71"
Weight Wlad 244...Tyson 218

Sure he's quick and fast and all, but I just don't see Tyson beating Wlad at Wlad's peak.

I don't see the point of using height and reach as arguments. Razor Ruddock was 6-3, with an 82" reach..... and prime Tyson handled him just fine. And Wlad's chin is more questionable than Razor's. It's ok to give Wlad his props.... but a prime Tyson takes him apart.

Wlad would not fight Tyson like Buster Douglas fought him.... driving him back.... refusing to be bullied.... trading with Tyson. That's not Wlad's style. And if and when Tyson ever connected one of those haymakers against Wlad, it would be "good night Irene". Gotta keep it real.

Exactly.

There are two Wlads in the same career. The pre-clinch Wlad and the post-clinch Wlad. I’m sure the Wlad that learned how to clinch gives Tyson a tougher out but really the prime Tyson prior to getting ruined completely by King would have butchered Wlad and I’m no fan of either. Reach and height are negated here by speed, pin point freight train punching and some of the best head movement ever. Add this to Wlads notorious slow starts and he’s a goner. He might want to put a couple of ads on the bottom of his shoes.

And who in his prime did he take on and beat that makes you think he would beat Wlad? It's ok saying he'd blow such and such away. Tyson blew bums away, I never ever in all his career saw him blow out a top notch fighter in his prime. He fought a past his prime Evander and got fucking hammered and a prime Lewis (to be fair Tyson was in clear decline by this time) and got obliterated.

Wlad is a top notch fighter whether you like his style or not. I think Tyson has serious issues with Wlad.

And who has Wlad fought at any time in his career that is anything like Tyson. The only thing I alluded to concerning style is that Wlads is tailor made for a prime Tyson.

I'm no fan of Tyson or Wlad so I have no dog in a fight. Tyson imo makes short work.

And yeah Wlad is top notch is the lamest heavyweight era in history and he's been floored about 11 times during it.

[rjj tszyu]

Peak Tyson beats Wlad, who will not be able to hold off the ferocity of Tyson’s combination punching, speed, accuracy and power. Wlad will try and hold, paw with his jab, panic and get knocked out in 5-6 rounds. Other than that Wlad does OK against Tyson.

Wlad 6'6....Mike Tyson 5'10
Wlad's reach 81".....Tyson's 71"
Weight Wlad 244...Tyson 218

Sure he's quick and fast and all, but I just don't see Tyson beating Wlad at Wlad's peak.

I don't see the point of using height and reach as arguments. Razor Ruddock was 6-3, with an 82" reach..... and prime Tyson handled him just fine. And Wlad's chin is more questionable than Razor's. It's ok to give Wlad his props.... but a prime Tyson takes him apart.

Wlad would not fight Tyson like Buster Douglas fought him.... driving him back.... refusing to be bullied.... trading with Tyson. That's not Wlad's style. And if and when Tyson ever connected one of those haymakers against Wlad, it would be "good night Irene". Gotta keep it real.

Exactly.

There are two Wlads in the same career. The pre-clinch Wlad and the post-clinch Wlad. I’m sure the Wlad that learned how to clinch gives Tyson a tougher out but really the prime Tyson prior to getting ruined completely by King would have butchered Wlad and I’m no fan of either. Reach and height are negated here by speed, pin point freight train punching and some of the best head movement ever. Add this to Wlads notorious slow starts and he’s a goner. He might want to put a couple of ads on the bottom of his shoes.

And who in his prime did he take on and beat that makes you think he would beat Wlad? It's ok saying he'd blow such and such away. Tyson blew bums away, I never ever in all his career saw him blow out a top notch fighter in his prime. He fought a past his prime Evander and got fucking hammered and a prime Lewis (to be fair Tyson was in clear decline by this time) and got obliterated.

Wlad is a top notch fighter whether you like his style or not. I think Tyson has serious issues with Wlad.

And who has Wlad fought at any time in his career that is anything like Tyson. The only thing I alluded to concerning style is that Wlads is tailor made for a prime Tyson.

I'm no fan of Tyson or Wlad so I have no dog in a fight. Tyson imo makes short work.

And yeah Wlad is top notch is the lamest heavyweight era in history and he's been floored about 11 times during it.

Tysons era was as bad if not worse IMO. Witherspoon was about the best of the rest and he never even fought him. Much of that was due to Bonecrusher sparking him. Then again if Bonecrusher had tried before the final 30 seconds against Tyson he might have sparked him too. I'd say Haye is probably as good as anyone Tyson fought barring Holmes and Holmes was way way past it when Tyson fought him.

How is Wlad tailor made for Tyson? He hated being clinched, Wlad is the best I've ever seen at it. I'm not defending his style, I wish Wlad would open up more, but for me his intelligence is his biggest enemy. He knows he can control fights without having to get involved in a brawl.

Wlad also hits very hard, If Evander can KO him Wlad would put him to sleep. I'm not knocking Evander here, I'd have him to beat pretty much anyone since the 70's on his best day and that even includes Lennox. But Evander wasn't a Huge puncher as a HW.

To talk about Wlads defeats isn't really appropriate either. If you watch the first Peter fight and then watch the second, for me they were the beginning and the end of a new learning curve for Wlad, a learning curve that made him the best HW in the world BY FAR! He got floored multiple times (3 i think) and got up to win the first fight which to me showed that Wlad really wanted it now, I don't actually think Wlad didn't want it as such but after winning the olympics I think he just expected it all to just come and forgot he really had to work, I mean he gassed against Purrity! Could anyone see him gassing now? I don't. By the time Peter and Wlad fought again Wlad had improved so much that Peter didn't stand a chance.

Now if that was "PRIME" Tyson fighting them 2 fights I'd go with him to beat Wlad in the first fight but by the time the second came along? I don't see it! Wlad has completely got over his losses now and is in his prime (just watch him capitulate this weekend now), he's confident (which is a huge part of it), he's as big as you can get without seriously losing athleticism and he knows how to use it. A few years ago I thought Vitali was the better of the 2 because of his toughness, BUT Wlads boxing skills are so much more superior I think he's better now than Vitali ever was!

Wlad now beats Tyson at any point who to me is nowhere near as good as the Legend suggests.

[AdamGB]

If it was most talented Haye would be top 10.

But as he hasn 't applied those talents much he can't be top ten of Wlad's era.

So far his most notable achievements have been winning the wba strap and stopping John Ruiz.

As I said he hasn't done as much as a lot guts whom he may have more talent than. He hasn't achieved what Ruiz has at heavy for example.

[TitoFan]

If it was most talented Haye would be top 10.

I might not agree with top 10 (all-time we're talking here), but he certainly is very talented. That cannot be denied.

But as he hasn 't applied those talents much he can't be top ten of Wlad's era.

Agree 200% with this statement.

So far his most notable achievements have been winning the wba strap and stopping John Ruiz.

Agree with this also, since Valuev and Audley are the others.

As I said he hasn't done as much as a lot guts whom he may have more talent than. He hasn't achieved what Ruiz has at heavy for example.

And as much as you'll get shit for this statement, it's true also. I'm no John Ruiz fan (shudder at the thought), but Ruiz did accomplish more in his relatively short reign. Talentwise, no contest. Haye is obviously more talented.

Well put. Coming from a fellow British boxing fan, it may be better accepted by Haye fans in general. Coming from me..... I'm a hater. Go figure.

[AdamGB]

God I definetly didn 't mean top ten talented of all time! Just this era!