prime tyson vs prime lewis

[The Promoter]

I think saying that Tyson was mentally toughest with Rooney in his corner is a little misleading. First of all Tyson at his most mentally and emotionally sound is still less than what I think necessary for great fighter. Not to mention he was beating up a bunch of average fighters at best. Who doesn't feel on top of the world when they are beating up a bunch of cans?

Spinks is a hall of famer, he took Holmes to two razor close decisions, that's no fluke! Tyson took him out in one round. Look at Lewis' record the only great name is Holyfield. If your trying to say Tysons opposition was limited, Lewis never really fought anyone either until Holyfield!

thats not true lewis beat razor ruddock in 2 rounds and ruddock gave tyson 2 hard fights ill give u list of good people he beat

tommy morrison
razor ruddock

andrew golota and golota was fresh off battering bowe around
frank bruno
tony tucker was 49-1 when he fought lewis and tucker gave prime tyson tough fight
gary mason ok gary mason wasnt world class but he was 35-0 when he fought lewis
henry akiwande ok again he wasnt world class but he had 32-0-1 record at that time

Don't give me Morrison & Ruddock. Morrison was blasted out by Mercer who went on to loss to a Holmes who Tyson cooled in 4 rounds. Tyson fought & beat Ruddock 3 years after his prime! Look @ my previous posts I'm talking up to Spinks. Tyson's prime ended in 88 IMO. Plus Tyson had already taken care of Tucker in 87, 6 years before Lewis. My comment about Lewis comp was only to state that Lewis' opposition was no better than Tyson's on the way up. If anything Tyson's was better.

Tyson's "prime" ended at 22 years old?...you play these "telephone" references with Morrison, Mercer, Spinks and Holmes...but the fact is Tyson beat up a 38 year old Holmes after a two year layoff if you want to count that fight you have to count the Lewis/Tyson massacre as a valid fight...arguing about Spinks is ridiculous, he was a great Light Heavy that capitalized on an opportunity to pocket 13.7 mil and because a fight ends in one round or 12 rounds is generally irrelavant if you believe styles make fights...ask yourself a question, why did Tyson avoid Mercer, Holyfield,Morrison and Foreman? a Tyson/Morrison fight would have been the biggest grossing fight in history..... and why did Mike make such "b" level fighters like Douglas and Ruddock look so good? Answer: because Tyson was/is overrated, face it...

Bro I don't count the Holmes fight not at all, only using it to show how bad Morrison & Mercer were. Someone else brought those two guys up, just saying Tyson had already out done them. Arguing Spinks is ridiculous, what are you on about he went 30 rounds with Holmes who was in no way past his best!!! Fights like Douglas & Ruddock came when Tyson was on the slide, as I said in all my posts here Tyson was going down hill after the Spinks victory. You could see it in his 1st fight with Bruno. Put any of those guys in with a Tyson prior to 88 & he knocks them all on their a**!!!

Tyson going Down hill at the time of the Spinks fight? Tyson was 21 years old for chissake! So was his prime when he was 19 years old? Was his prime when he decisioned Smith, Tucker or KO'd the neighborhood "crack addict" Biggs The Berbick KO was nice but remember Berbick was KO'd by Bernardo Mercado in a one round blowout so it had been done before...

If Mercer and Morrison were so bad, why wouldn't Iron Mike have any part of them? they would have been huge paydays and (according to you) easy blowouts?..Instead Mike chose Frank Bruno, Carl Williams and Buster Douglas(oops)...When you compare Tyson's opposition prior to 1988 it was good not great, with about 3 or 4 tough top tier fighters...Over the course of Mike Tyson's title reign his opposition(and results) pale in comparison to LL and Holmes, it's just a fact...

Mike Tyson was an exciting fighter that fought great at times but overall he did not have the championship legacy that Larry Holmes, lennox Lewis or even Evander Holyfield did...Mike was the youngest ever and no one can deny it or take that away from him, but that's as far as his legacy goes...