please learn a bit of boxing history before posting such stupid questions ...
I think that when discussing Mike Tyson people feel either let down because of how he lost his focus in life, or perhaps are too young and don't really remember not only who he beat but HOW he beat them. The undefeated Michael Spinks was gone in 90s - and Tyson was still young and had tremendous developmental potential. Boxing commentary is terribly subjective but I cannot help thinking that his ring performance eventually suffered from what went on in his personal life, meaning that recalling Buster Douglas's great victory does not, in my opinion, capture the essence of Tyson. I feel he would have given hell to anyone; perhaps a George Forman would have had the answer.
I think that Tyson was SO dominant, maybe even great, that after his life fell apart, people still hoped he would get it together and redeem himself and realize his potential. I still believe it could have been a reality had he had the right people around him.
By the way, I would put Tyson's list of opponents against Louis's Bum-of-the-Month-Club anyday. You can bet that no light heavyweight would come close to beating Tyson as Conn did with Louis. Remember undefeated Michael Spinks? 90 seconds.
Tyson the boxer gets lost in the hype that is Tyson the train wreck. Until Don King and Robin Givens got a hold of him, Mike Tyson was a great Boxer. He was a student of the game and was better defensively than he's ever given credit for. He was so dominant and so intimidating that his defensive ability was rarely noticed. Under Cus D'Amato and Kevin Rooney, Mike Tyson was on his way to becoming one of the greatest of all time. Obviously, it didn't play out that way. Tyson never ducked anyone and beat the hell out of everyone they put in front of him, not merely defeated them, but battered them. His decline was the beginning of the end of boxing. Mayweather dominates a dying sport.
Overrated? No. You have to remember that there's a huge difference between Mike Tyson in his prime and Mike Tyson from Buster Douglas onward.
Yes, he didn't have extremely good competition, but that's not what made him so great. What made him great was how he decimated his opponents. No one, and I mean no one else in boxing history ever dominated fights like Tyson did during his prime. That's what made him great. He may not have fought many great fighters, but everyone he fought was still a professional heavyweight fighter, a lot of them champions... and he beat them up as if they were highschool boys. He made it look so easy, and anyone who can consistently humiliate professional boxers like that deserves respect. No one has ever taken out fighters and cleaned the ranks like he did in his prime.
Does that make him the greatest of all time? No. But he certainly deserves the respect that his badassery has earned.
If any, he's actually underrated. People nowadays remember Tyson for is punching power and bad attitude. And that's it. People have forgotten that in his prime, Tyson had some of the fastest hands among heavyweights. His knockouts were usually the result of 5-8 punch power combos that he whipped out lightning fast, instead of what most people thought of just single knockout punches. His defense also deserved merit, as he was considered pretty hard to hit. In short, people nowadays remember Tyson as someone who can't go the distance and relied a lot on a one-punch knockout. People have forgotten that once upon a time, he was actually a skilled, fast, and powerful fighter who came very close to being as complete a package as you can get.
Boxing experts place Mike Tyson pretty accurately amongst Heavyweight Champions, it's the casual Boxing fans that tend to overrate his ability and I can't really blame them when you don't know enough about Boxing history to truly judge Tyson's greatness.
Mike Tyson is without question an all-time great and anything different is completely irresponsible on anyone who would call themselves a Boxing fan because if you did your homework you'd give Tyson his credit.
First and foremost to the the people that say "Mike Tyson never fought anybody" I say name a better list of Heavyweights from the late 1980's for Mike to fight. Tyson fought who was their, its not his fault that the late 1980's didn't produce names like Joe Frazier and George Foreman.
Say what you want about guys like Trevor Burbick and Tony Tucker but those fighters were title holders, he cleaned out the division and did exactly what he was supposed to do with those fighters.
No fighter was ever as dynamic as Mike Tyson and for the short period in time he was baddest man on the planet. Is he the greatest Heavyweight of all-time, no, but he's without question a top 12 Heavyweight. I can't name that many Heavyweights that I would rank above Tyson.
Tyson actually knocked out Douglas for 11 seconds. You are exaggerating things. the media played mind trick on everyone who rates him overrated.
Somehow, the fact that Tyson between the age of 26-29 was in prison gets lost in discussions, that was still his prime. We missed Tyson in his late 20's, period. Nobody ever mentions that.
The questioned can not be answered it is a what if? Tyson's loss to Douglas was inexcusable at 23 though excuses abound,. If he would have fought and beat Holyfield before prison i would say no he is not overrated but he didnt so all i can say is we will never know.
No way, man. Tyson's perceived lack of quality competition wasn't his fault but he did beat strong and talented heavyweights like Bonecrusher Smith, Tony Tucker, Frank Bruno, and yes, the undefeated Michael Spinks. Mike had the same predicament as Roy Jones, who has also been criticized for less than impressive competition, but just like Roy, his prodigious talent, skill and phenomenal physical attributes - strength, speed and punching power - make him an all-time great, hands down.
No. Tyson just had the unenviable luck of emerging at a time when the great heavyweights of a passing era were aging and fading. Had he caught them still in their prime, I have little doubts that he could beat many of those heavyweights except Larry Holmes and perhaps a well conditioned and motivated Tim Witherspoon.,
I agree 100% with you, finally someone with some boxing sense realizes what I have been saying for the last 10 or 15 years, Mike Tyson was a heavy puncher but a mediocre boxer, and certainly NOT an all time great.
Tysons competition is questionable but so is Rocky Marciano.
It is important to know that Tyson had more title defenses as undisputed heavyweight champion than Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey and Jack Johnson [though they had to do more to get the title].
People say Tyson is an alltime Great and love to ignore the fact that Tyson got dominated for 8 whole rounds by Buster Douglas then got Knocked out silly by him, lol Who did Tyson beat that was any good? Besides Mike Spinks and a old and Fat Larry Holmes? Tyson is not an alltime great at all, just a guy that Koed a bunch of bums
Mike tyson had a great ko percentage but he never beat quality compeition.
No. Tyson goes in same category as the Klitschkos, they are considered great, but never beat one.
how dare you?!!!!
tyson knocked down buster, he just cant finish cus hes already fu
his power was still talked about cus such power tyson possessed barely comes to a fighter
tysons power aint overrated, maybe his achievements are but nobody talks much about that...
unbelievable power dumass, is always worthy of note due to its rarity
he suffered defeat just like ali, but who talks about maciano's 49 and 0?
same thing might happen to floyd, genius!
I'd say ONE of the most overrated, simply b/c his popularity greatly exceeds what he actually accomplished as a fighter.
Tyson is one of the most popular fighters ever, but not one of the greatest.
I'd say currently it is Mayweather, no way is he top 20 best ever as a lot of people think. But from retired fighters I'd say it would be Jack Johnson. He was a ducker of note.
Mayweather has never fought a great fighter in his prime. Tyson fought prime Evander Holyfield twice and prime Lennox Lewis. All Mayweather has is faded Sugar Shane and Oscar and lightweight Marquez lol Canelo will get beaten repeatedly and will be shown to be a B+ fighter.
