mike tyson: underrated or overrated

[Wacko3205]

Little bit of both in my opinion.

He was great against lesser opp but when facing someone that could not or would not be intimidated by him...he lost out.

[Kev]

He was overratted in the 80's for sure, when practically everybody, myself including at the time, felt he was the greatest ever, and the most dangerous man on the planet.

Recent history history has not been good to him however, and now he tends to be underatted by a large potion of boxing fans.

Truth is, at his best in the 80's he would have been a handful for anybody, and would have beaten most heavyweights who have ever lived.

There were flaws however, and I think now an all time great position Heavyweight position of around number 10 would be fair.

I can't see him beating Ali, Lewis or Foreman in any era or even pn his best day but he probably could mix it with everybody else.

I'd imagine he would be much too strong for Joe Louis, who stuggled with 180 lb Billy Conn and was knocked out by Schmelling. Likewise Jack Dempsey, Jor Frazier and others.

However he never really filled his potential so a place higher than 10 would be undeserved, even though I think he could probably beat all but 5 or so of the best heavies.

[El Kabong]

from what i heard, in his prime, HE WAS A HOUSEHOLD NAME AND EVERYONE REALLY BELIEVED THAT HE WAS THE TOUGHEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD, THEY WERE TERRIFIED OF HIM!
he had a fearsome rep. THERE WAS NEVER A BOXER WITH THE REPUTATION OF TYSON IN HIS PRIME, PEOPLE WERE SHIIT SCARED OF HIM!

in his prime the guy was a technical master! he was a come forward aggressive figHTER WITH A GREAT DEFENSE (bobbing and weaving) same style of fighting as Jack Dempsey, but tyson i think was a little more sharper and tidier with his punches, he was bigger ofcourse!

prime tyson is no pushover for any of the greats, he could have beaten ali and foreman at his best but so could they have beaten him!

I'n not disagreeing with the rest of your comments, but people were just as scared of Joe Louis in his prime as they were of Tyson.

...and Sonny Liston and George Foreman

(perhaps Jack Johnson, but people disguised it with hate)

[El Kabong]

But,,,

Joe Louis had alot more controversy to deal with, one, he was African American having to be a Heavyweight Champ in an era that didnt accept him as a Champion. He also had to present a different image of himself for the public to become more acceptable. Joe Louis was more feared for his skills than he was his attitude.

Nowadays for someone like Mike to show up on the scene, yes, he could be the one tht you either liked or hated...

But, no matter what, no matter how much people hated Mike Tyson, even in his last few losses, he still packed a house when he was on the card...

So overall, I would say that he was neither over-rated or under-rated as a fighter...

He was exactly what he wanted to be when he was younger, thing is, he got older and couldnt do half that shit anymore...

When he lost his first fight, it was only because Douglas was in the right place at the right time for the fight...Mike was on the Decline and with poor management...Douglas did the unthinkable...Would he have done it if Mike was a little more clear headed and more into the fight like he should have been I dont quite think so...But, Shit happens and thats that....

Mike did the one thing in his era that noone else was able to do and that was bring life back to the HW division...Now that Mike, Holyfield, Lewis, Moorer and others are not in the division anymore all we have left are the "What Ifs"!!

Mike became what all of the heavyweights in the world today cant become and that is "THE UN-DISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!", well they can, but, who is it going to be I just dont see it happening soon....

OK I'm not going to say that Mike seemed flawed early in his career because he just didn't, whether it was blind admiration or that he just didn't have many flaws.

I do think however, that his style was DEFINANTLY beatable and if a fighter was able to keep their head while in the ring with him using a good jab, tying up on the inside, using the uppercut, and not submitting to Tyson's bully tactics they would have a GREAT chance at going the distance if not winning a decision vs Tyson.

Ali and Sonny Liston showed the flaws in Cus D'Mato's coaching style...or at least the short comings but no one ever used those styles vs Tyson perhaps because no one had that kind of skill but Douglas used what he had to perfection and he would have beaten anyone on that night.

[TyBuff]

IMHO when talking about Tyson you cant include the post prison Tyson. He was very simply a different person/fighter after prison. Before prison he had so much hate built up and unleashed it in the ring, after prison that hate wasnt there anymore for whatever reason. The preprison Tyson would be a top 5 heavy imo, but atg status is judged on the whole career, and I dont think Tyson matches up. I am a huge fan of the preprison Tyson, he was nearly unstoppable. And it took a man fighting beyound himself to beat him. You can question his opposition but he could only beat the people that were in the ring with him. In the 80's there simply wasnt that many good heavies. There were a few with great potential but none that lived up to it. By the time he actually had the opportunity to fight anybody that could be considered great he was past his best.

All in all I would have to agree with the majority of the people here and say that he is a great fighter but not an atg.

[SimonH]

He is the most underrated overrated fighter of all time.

And he is the most overrated underrated fighter of all time.

[Scrap]

Hind site is a wonderful thing,how about this. newsflash, this morning Mike Tyson died in a car crash 2 days after knocking out Micheal Spinks in the first round for the undisputed World heavyweight Title. Now tell me how good you rate him, because after that fight everything after went tits up where Mike was concerned.

[frozensolid_702]

everything after went tits up

thats hysterical........ have cc 100 on me

[Scrap]

Im not a fan of his but, tell me a 22 year old that went through the shit He did Givens and her mom , Don King . Cus and Co had cocooned Him, lots of the shit was probably down to himself we know. But He got where He trusted nobody.They gave him trainers who tried to mend something that wasnt broke, and didnt know Boxing as He had been schooled ,as I said Hindsight is a wonderful thing Its the one thing Tyson like everybody didnt have at 22

[TyBuff]

Im not a fan of his but, tell me a 22 year old that went through the S*** He did Givens and her mom , Don King . Cus and Co had cocooned Him, lots of the S*** was probably down to himself we know. But He got where He trusted nobody.They gave him trainers who tried to mend something that wasnt broke, and didnt know Boxing as He had been schooled ,as I said Hindsight is a wonderful thing Its the one thing Tyson like everybody didnt have at 22

Of course at 22 there isnt much to have hindsight about.

[Scrap]

Thats what I mean Ty Hindsight is how we see the reflection of History is it not

[boxman]

Mike Tyson was deffenatley overrated. Sure he did great things in boxing but he did them at a time when there were no real threats in the heavy weight division. He only faced 3 great fighters in his whole career Holmes, Hollifield, and Lewis and the only one he beat was Holmes who at the time of their fight was past his prime. The other two dissmantled him. Hollifield did it fresh of a loss to a fat sluggish Bowe and in the midst of a pretty bad heart condition. You take that and add what was done to him by those two BUMS Mcbride and Williams and I think the answer is clear. Tyson was overrated.

[El Kabong]

...Michael Spinks was a great fighter but more at 175 than Heavyweight

Bowe was AWESOME...you had better check that "fat and sluggish" comment, he didn't get fat and sluggish until he fought Golota.

McBride and Williams yes they are bums but relatively young compared to Tyson.


and it's spelled HOLYFIELD

[BoxingCoachBW]

...Michael Spinks was a great fighter but more at 175 than Heavyweight

Bowe was AWESOME...you had better check that "fat and sluggish" comment, he didn't get fat and sluggish until he fought Golota.

McBride and Williams yes they are bums but relatively young compared to Tyson.


and it's spelled HOLYFIELD

Thats cuz Golotta FUCKED Bowe up!!!

Set aside the low blows, Golotta was the best HW comming out at the time....His is the Euro version of a Mike Tyson basically....

But, what Golotta did to Bowe in their two fights(As short as they were) was very damaging to Bowe...

[El Kabong]

...I think the Bowe-Holyfield trilogy took everything from Riddick.

Golota just came along at the right time...only he missed fighting guys he actually stood a chance with

Michael Moorer
Evander Holyfield
Shannon Briggs
Ray Mercer
Hasim Rahman
Oliver McCall
Oleg Maskaev

He was smart to avoid Rudduck and Morrison as we saw people who jump on him from the start of the fight usually beat him even old Tyson did that