Now Finito I am all for claiming Ike MAY have been able to make it to the top but I'm not so sure I'd be making statements like he'd smash up Wlad, Vitali, Tyson and Holyfield like that and maybe only lose to Lewis. It's a strong statement given the assumptions you've made.

For one thing, Vitali thrashed Byrd, it was a gift retirement, that's it! Byrd did nothing to deserve that belt, NOTHING!

Anyway Byrd was frustrating Ike before he got whacked. Wladimir wasted Byrd easy.

As for Tua it was a fair even slugfest really, Ike wilting under the power of Tua but Ike throwing and landing a greater volume of shots due to combination punching over Tua's hard single shots.

I think he had the potential though sure!