TYSON,the most over rated fighter of all time,what did he ever do?

[H-O-S]

This is a picture of Tyson during his weigh in for that infamous WBC world title fight in 1986.

At that moment in time nobody on the planet could of beat him, nobody !

Out of all the fighters that have been and gone since 1986, none of them would of beaten Tyson at that moment in time, Lewis, Holyfield, Bowe all would of failed in 1986.

He was the most unbeatable heavyweight ever when he was younger.

Since 1986 it has always been a down hill journey for Tyson, he never lived up to what most thought he could achieve. All his fans watched him deteriate over the years, but still supported him, even through the bad years when he was in prison his fans stood by him. Why ?

I was one of those that were lucky enough to be following Tysons career early on before he was world champion.

They kept putting opponents in front of him and he kept destroying them, he didnt stop, he went all the way to the top, from zero to hero.

I dont think any boxer in history has ever been so unbeatable as Tyson was in the mid 80's.

Us Brit's dont like using words like awesome, but he was.

[The_One77]

i never realised that Tyson fought for the WBO, thats wrong

[H-O-S]

i never realised that Tyson fought for the WBO, thats wrong

Yeah sorry mate, meant WBC.

[Hairdoo]

i never realised Tyson fought for the IBA, thats wrong

[drgoodlooking]

Sick of talking about Tyson.

[mattress]

I honestly believe that a 20 year old Mike Tyson would have beaten any heavyweight in history, I really do. He was far from a man who only had power, he had great boxing and brawling skills. If only he had the discipline and drive of someone like Holyfield, who knows how good he could have been?

[undefeated]

TOP 15---WTF

top 5 is more like it

ali
tyson
foreman
frazier
louis

[Hairdoo]

Sick of talking about Tyson.

yeh thats why some forums have a whole section dedicated to debating about the man, to stop too much Tyson topic pollution!

[Cortez The Killer]

I was lucky enough to have watched most every Tyson fight live (telecast) when I was growing up. I remember having to sneak into the local pub (underage) a good 3 hours before the card started in order to get a decent seat. It was easy for a kid to escape the attention of the barkeep in what would eventually be a sea of people, all clammering for an unobstructed view of the TV. Those who arrived late would drive from pub to pub hoping to get lucky and secure a stool somewhere. If you missed a Tyson fight, you may as well have been invisible for the next three days. Everybody would be talking about it... you knew this. At school, at work, at home. I live in Australia, which is hardly a boxing heartland, but everybody knew when Mike was fighting... and everybody watched.

So I'm watching a Tyson doco on tele the other day. It's just like every other film made about the man. It chronicles his rise to greatness... self-destruction... fall from grace... blah, blah, blah...
Not sure why I bothered watching it. Maybe because I haven't sat down and watched some of his fights in a while. To be honest, i doubt i'd care if he was fighting tommorow. He is no longer a boxer I would go out of my way to watch.

Anyway, I asked myself if maybe he wasn't really all that I remembered. Maybe he just seemed that good because I was young and maybe I got caught up in Tyson-mania. So I kept watching.

I'm glad I did.

Pre-nineties Tyson was great. He fought every fighter worth fighting in the division and made them all look ordinary at best. He built a name for himself with little other than his ring prowess. His record spoke for itself. The fans saw it and more importantly, his opponents saw it. He stepped in to the ring against Trevor Berbick as a 21 year old contender for the heavywieght championship of the world. Even as I type that last sentence, it is still hard for me to comprehend how good one would need to be not only to get to that position, but also to come into the ring knowing that a bigger, more experienced, title holder is intimidated by you. Seasoned campaigners... scared. And why not? He was a formidable package... Strength, speed, balance, instinct. Wasted talent? - I say "no". He reached the pinnacle of the sport. His tenure wasn't as long as some of the other greats, but he made his mark earlier than most.

Sorry about the longwinded post, but my belief that Tyson is and always will be one of the greatest was reaffirmed recently, and it would take much argument to convince me otherwise.

Dayyum boy...ur a smooth talker...im wiping the tear away from my eye...that speech was even more beautiful than the one at the end of Jerry McGuire...anyway, u had me "I was lucky enough ...". I totally agree. People who question Tysons place in history tend to do it out of dislike for him as a person rather than recognising what he achieved and how he achieved it.

Lol, cc's for both of you. I could say more to give my take on Iron Mike but not nearly as poetically. I was watching a lot of Tyson fights the past week (including some of his amatuer bouts) and the first word that came to my mind was "incredible".

[FLH2o]

I didn't even read all the posts, I just want to say that anyone who thinks Tyson would beat Foreman (young or old) needs to watch Foreman-Frazier again.

[Purist]

And anyone who thinks it would be close to Foreman Frazier needs to realise that Frazier and Tyson both have completely different styles and watch the Jimmy Young fight and realise that Foreman's lack of defense would cost him against the defensive cutie peek a boo Tyson who also had explosive power.

[FLH2o]

PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE!

When did Tyson ever beat a good big man?

If you think Donovan Ruddock or Trevor Berbick are worth mentioning alongside Foreman you're f#cking nuts.

[Purist]

We're talking about styles here, and not resumes

[FLH2o]

YOU'RE talking about styles, I'm talking about Tyson b!+ching out every time he met anyone CLOSE to an all time great. Lennox whipped his @$$, Evander whipped his @$$ twice and he was scared $h!+less of big George, you know the story so don't waste my time.