These two fighters were two of my favorites of all time. As much as I respect Mike Tyson, and as great as he was in his prime, the Muhammad Ali heavyweight era from the 1960's to 1970's was simply too good and filled with elite heavyweights. I think Tyson would've been a B+ class fighter behind guys like Ali, Frazier, Liston, Foreman, etc.
1. Probably only once because Ali would defeat Tyson in convincing fashion. Maybe twice, but the result would be the same no matter how many times they fight in my opinion.
2. Definitely.
3. Here's my analysis on how these fights would go.
Mike Tyson
vs. Sonny Liston.
This one is somewhat hard to call for me. Sonny Liston had a knockout jab, which is what you need to beat Mike Tyson. But Tyson is great at slipping the jab and coming back with combinations and power. This could be comparable to Liston-Patterson, but Tyson's power and chin was far superior than Floyd Pattersons. That being said, I think early on it will be a little back and forth, with Liston landing that jab and right hand in some rounds, but Tyson landing hooks, uppercuts, and combinations. In round eight, Tyson would be gassed out, and Liston will finish him off.
Liston KO8.
vs. George Chuvalo.
George Chuvalo has one of the best chins of all time, probably the best heavyweight chin only behind Evander Holyfield. He also had heart, courage, and guts. But Tyson would be too good for Chuvalo all night. Tyson would do what he does, the only reason this doesn't end in KO is because of Chuvalo's chin.
Tyson UD15.
vs. Joe Frazier.
Joe Frazier was always a slow starter, but he had very much heart. If you watch the Frazier-Foreman fight, he got up six times after getting knocked down six times.
I think in the first round, Tyson will drop Frazier twice and overwhelm Smoking Joe. His slow starting will hurt him early on. Tyson will dominate early on. Then Frazier will begin to wear him down, and Tyson will also begin to gas out. In about the tenth round, Frazier will get an exhausted Mike with a solid left hook that will put down Tyson for the ten count. Tyson early on, Frazier finishing off.
Frazier KO10.
vs. George Foreman.
No swarming fighter could beat Big George. This fight would be similar to Foreman-Frazier. Foreman had a very good chin, and could take Tyson's shots. Tyson would keep coming forward and trying to brawl, but you cannot do that with George Foreman. You try to brawl with George Foreman, you get knocked out.
Foreman KO6.
4. The 60's Ali would've moved around Tyson and keep sticking him with the jab. Ali's great movement would trouble Tyson, because Mike would not be able to catch him! Once Tyson does hit him, Ali could take the punches of Liston, Foreman, and Shavers, so he could take the power of Tyson. Ali would wear Tyson down and Tyson will get tired of stalking, and in the fifteenth and final round, Ali will begin unleashing combinations at a very exhausted Tyson and knock him down and out.
Ali TKO15.
A 70's Ali would not move as much, get hit a little more, but still outbox Tyson and could take Mikes best shots. Tyson always had stamina issues, so the middle rounds is when Ali really does his damage, and will emerge victorious in a unanimous decision victory.
Ali UD15.
Thanks for the great questions!
It is extremely difficult to situate Mike Tyson in any period of Clay/Ali era because many of the guys Tyson fought on his rise in 1985-90 were mere fringe or lowly rated contenders who would have been no better had they emerged in the Clay/ALI era or ageing leftovers of the past Larry Holmes era. There's not much really to go around to make a scholarly theoretical analyses. The prominent guys Tyson fought and utterly defeated like Marvis Frazier, Alonzo Ratliff, Frank Bruno, Trevor Berbick. Pinklon Thomas, Larry Holmes were already old and past their best prime. The guys who gave him some problems as James Quick Tillis, James Bonecrusher Smith, Razor Ruddock and Tony Tucker were also neither here or there in the heavyweight reckoning. The situation is even made harder by the fact that Tyson never fought the likes of Tim Witherspoon and even the comebacking George Foreman when he had the opportunity to face them in the 90s.
I would not want to make a comparison between Tyson and the fighters in the Clay/Ali era because, while Tyson seemed a rarity at the time of his emergence, his type was really common in the earlier years, including the subject era. This was the reason Tyson was referred to as a throwback fighter.
I would not hazard a half-baked or erroneous analysis.
Q1: They would've met just twice just like with Sonny Liston, with Ali winning via 8th round TKO in the first fight and again via disqualification in the second for some stupid illegal move by a frustrated Tyson.
Q2: Yes, why not?
Q3: He'd lose to Liston and even Mike would admit that. Liston was bigger and had a long reach equipped with one of the best jabs ever in the heavyweight division. Tyson would be hard pressed trying to bob and weave his way because of Sonny's jab. It would just stop Mike in his tracks and stymie his offense.
Tyson wouldn't knock Chuvalo out but he'd win anyway because, for all his toughness, Chuvalo didn't have enough in his offensive arsenal to beat a strong and highly-skilled boxer like Tyson.
Tyson-Frazier would be heads-up brawl. Whoever gets tagged first would go. I'm betting on Mike though because he had faster hands and more explosive combination punches.
Big George knocks Tyson out in 5.
Q4: Whether it's young Cassius Clay or the older Ali, Tyson would lose. Clay was too fast on his feet and had tremendous reflexes that Mike wouldn't find anything to hit and he'd punched himself out after the 5th. Against the experienced and smarter Ali, Mike would fall prey to the rope-a-dope and other Ali tricks and he'd fall like George Foreman.
Mike would have given Ali the same amount of trouble guys like Chuvalo and Shavers did, with similar results.
Tyson's style wasn't suited to the Olympic rules, Mike couldn't get past Henry Tilliman in his own era, and he would have fared similarly during Ali's Olympic run. Mike was at best a poor amateur boxer and wouldn't have made either Olympic team.
Tyson would have lost badly to Liston, Chuvalo, Frazier and Foreman, all four would have KOed Mike quicker than Holyfield did.
Either version of Ali would have destroyed Mike with ease.
Sweet Science fans,
Firstly I am a Muhammad Ali fan, but also respected Mike Tyson's reign back when he too was laying down the 1st round, uppercut KOs!
.......FOUR QUESTIONS, ....
Q 1. If Mike Tyson had boxed during Muhammad Ali's era what do YOU presume would be the number of times they could have met in the ring?
Q 2. If Tyson was learning the ropes like Then-Named Cassius Clay, in the 60s, is there a chance these two might have BOTH been representing TEAM USA in boxing?
Q 3. How would Tyson have been VS. Then-Named Clay/Ali's opponents:
Tyson VS. Sonny Liston?
Tyson VS. George Chuvalo?
Tyson VS. Joe Frazier?
Tyson VS. George Foreman?
Q 4. Lastly, Tyson VERSUS Then-Named Cassius Clay, circa early 1960s? and Mike VERSUS Muhammad (Ali) later after he had changed his name?
NOTE:
The aforementioned were not intended to disrespect Tyson nor Ali, but merely to hear what others think of the possibilities had they BOTH been in their primes together!
