Mike Tyson. Underrated or Overrated?

[Zilla]

There is always the woulda coulda shoulda thing with Tyson, Cus this and Kevin Rooney that to prison to wrong people in his life blah blah blah. Every fighter has those instances to Bowe and his diet to to Ali and his exile etc. Every person in Saddo has those same scenarios in their life that coulda defined them but they took different paths. Bottom line; I think he was a good heavyweight champion, but not great. He had intimidation going for him just like certain fighters of today have before they get beat, Sam Peter comes to mind and when they find opponents that can overcome that aura and fight back this is when it matters most and Tyson never showed that he had what it took to dig deep for greatness but he sure new how to sell it like he did.

My take on the intimidation factor with Tyson is that I find people often underrate that characteristic of his game. Almost as though it detracts from his greatness or boxing skills. I don't think it should. When you talk about the fact that he faced mediocre competition, his competition was still made up of professional fighters--most of who have been fighting most of their lives. Full of machismo and violence, these men were turned to little girls when they faced or even discussed Tyson. In and out of the ring. Some tried to talk the talk but it was so obvious they didn't believe the words coming out of their mouths. But, God bless them, they were trying to convince US and themselves they weren't scared. I grew up in the late 70s and 80s, but I've never seen a boxer literally and convincingly strike fear in the heart of opponents. Opponents who up until that point in their lives, probably would tell you that they were not scared of any man. lmao. You can't underrate Tyson's intimidation factor. We have a lot of trash talkers these days, but no one that I can think of actually scares opponents. It was really part of Tyson's package and a significant part of what made him great. If he didn't back it up, it would have been just a bunch of BS. To me downplaying the indimidation factor in a discussion of Tyson's greatness is like saying that George Foreman wasn't a great because all he could do was just hit hard. If a boxer has skills/characteristics that help him win/destroy opponents --it shouldn't be counted against him because it doesn't fit into the pretty box of what a great boxer must posses. For the relatively short time when Tyson was at his prime, IMO he was great. It was clear when he was done and he finally even told US as fans that he just didn't have boxing in his heart anymore. The need for money and fans who wanted him to keep going in hopes of seeing the old Iron Mike extended his career.

Good post.