many people say his boxing abilty was very underestimated, due to his abilty to be a knockout fighter anyway, jus wondering where you guys think he would stand if at his prime he tryed to box the following ( remember this is in his prime) how would he compare ability wise
holyfeild
lewis
ali
anymore you care to think of
i think his level of boxing skill may not rival these champions but nevertheless i stil think it is underated by many
Tyson in his prime, using the numbers system with Rooney and D’Amato’s principles was far more skilled than Ali, Holyfield or Lewis could ever dream. He beats any version of Holyfield and Lewis on the same night. Ali may of been the guy to cause Tyson a few problems though, stylistically.
Ali, Holyfeild and Lewis where all rangey fighters who fought mainly from the outside.
Tyson was very good at bobbing and weaving under jabs and getting on the inside and doing damage. to be his height and manage to get into a half competent tall boxers range takes a lot of skill. I can tell you from personal experiencce that height can cause give an relativly unskilled fighter an extra bit of edge.
Prime Tyson, had a great defence, hand speed was phenominal, agility and footwork was very underestimated, and dynamite power in his fists. Prime Tyson that knocked out spinks beats any heavyweight past or present IMO.
86 though to 88 Tyson was an amazing fighter, the power was purely a bonus.
But the problem is D’Amato taught him his way. You have to be an incredible athlete a 100% of the time to pull off the bob and weave style of D’Amato, Tyson like virtually anyone, could not keep it going.
Although it is perhaps rightly argued D’Amato was more than just a trainer to Tyson, the hard truth is with hindsight, Tyson really should of been taught by someone with more orthodox views, a trainer with more defensive technical know how than Cus.
With his excellent chin, and one punch knockout power, a defensively better Tyson in the mid/late 90s, would of IMO, been a much bigger threat, and ultimately a higher rated all-time fighter.
Tyson failed to adapt once his body started changing.
very true :coolclick:
I thought a prime super jabbing larry holmes would have given tyson all he could handle even when d’mato was training him…
tyson would have been too much IMO…you cant keep that away for 12 rounds…he’ll catch you up sooner rather than later…
to be honest i really think prime tyson gives any champ a run for their money and probably beats them…he was that good…
Green and Smith survived the 12 against a prime Tyson, by jabbing and holding (both were rangy fighters). Perhaps Holmes and Lewis who were much better than these two would have used similar tactics far more effectively.
I dissagree with the notion that his peak was against Spinks, I’d say he was on the slide before then. Spinks definitily played his part in making Tyson look good that day, It was just pure fear, Tyson didn’t have to do any bobbing and Weaving as no punches were coming his way.
This being said Tyson was certainly dangerous at his best and would have given any fighter in history a tough uncormfortable fight.
I think the only one he’d have a chance against is Lewis due to his susceptability to being knocked out.
Holyfield and Ali would not be scared of Tyson, they keep Tyson on his back foot, smother him on the inside and frustrate him by eating his best shots and not falling. Tyson was weak mentally. As soon as his physical talent did not fold his opponent, he was clueless.
its been overrated and unde estiimated…he was a great great boxer ..and a not so great Champion
good way to put it cc