you have got to watch these videos of his career. love him or hate him, there are few more fascinating case studies in multiple genres than mike tyson... it starts with the u.s. junior olympic boxing championships, when the 15-year-old protégé of cus d'amato knocked out don cozad in just eight seconds to reach the finals. Rise and Fall of Mike Tyson
I believe Tyson could have been the greatest of all time but he had some mental health issues I believe and got around the wrong people.
Tyson really benefited from the training and discipline of Cus D'Amato who was like a father figure to him. Once Cus was out of the picture, Tyson reverted to his old ways and was undisciplinened both in and out of the ring.
i still believe he was the greatest fighter of all time, albeit not for very long. however, in his prime.... around the michael spinks knockout, i don't think we have ever seen another fighter that could beat THAT version of tyson. i really believe that. he was an animal. he would even scare ali.
I think questions of best ever are hard to answer. I will say, imo, the era when Tyson was moving up was the most EXCITING time I have ever had in boxing. I am not a reguilar boxing fan but will buy the occassional mega fight. I remember Tyson fighting on regular TV it seemed like once every month or so. And I watched and followed all of them. It was incredible.
THat was sooo not his real house in the movie Hangover.... He has got to be absolutely broke. A total shame considered he used to be the best.
I remember all the Saturday night Tyson fights on HBO. We would sit around drinking beer before going out for the night and Tyson would walk out in his black trunks and black shoes and KO everyone in less than two minutes. Don King killed his career.
Tyson beating Seldon to get the WBA belt prior to Tyson-Holyfield I is all anyone needs to see to understand the fraud that was heavyweight boxing in the 90's.
I don't know how anyone can dispute that perhaps the greatest era/year in boxing was 1980, look at the boxers who were all fighting during this year. Sugar Ray Leonard Tommy Hearns Roberto Duran Marvin Hagler Wilfred Benitez Aaron Pryor Leon Spinks Muhammed Ali Larry Holmes Ken Norton Teofilo Stevenson (Cuban Olympian 3 heavyweight gold medals) Donald Currey that is just off the top of my head, when tyson got there the competition was considerably diminished...
Once a fighter made Tyson actually have to box instead of braul, he could not win. How can he be ranked ahead of Evander Holyfield when he never beat him and Evander was older by 4 years????.
My point isthat most of MT fights ended so early that it was simply MT beating the crap out of the opponent. Once someone could make it out of the 2-3 round and make MT actually have to think about how he (MT) was going to beat him could you see that he was beatable. And that was when MT realized that he was beatable. Evander Holyfield has to be ranked ahead of MT no matter where you have MT ranked.
The idea that Tyson could only win a fight via early onslaught is somewhat misplaced. When Tyson was unifying the title, he was actually fighting some pretty long fights. Unanimous decision against Smith to take the WBA title, March 1987. Unanimous decision against Tucker to take the IBF title, August 1987. Two other 1987 fights were knockouts in the 6th round or later (Thomas and Biggs). At his peak, he was both ferocious and accomplished. Unfortunately, his peak came at the age of 21.
Donovan Razor Ruddock extended Tyson in their two fights. IIRC, the second one went the distance and their first fight was stopped under questionable circumstances. This was a few years before Buster Douglas. I think that was prolly the canary in the coal mine. Whilst we're on the topic, Lennox Lewis does not get the credit he deserves. Besides the two knockouts to Oliver McCall and Rahman, he was money in the bank. For the record, he avenged both of those KO's in convincing fashion. I think he would have been competitive with the greats.
