Who here believes Mike Tyson is a TOP TEN ATG HW?

Question

Who here thinks Tyson deserves a spot in the top ten?

I like Tyson a lot, but being objective, I personally never believed he comes close to deserving a spot in the top ten ATG's at HW.

His entire career does not constitute a top ten spot, or even close to it IMO.

I bring this up, b/c someone tonight was trying to argue with me that Tyson would've beat Liston, and was an overall better HW than Liston was. I highly disagreed with that, but could not convince him otherwise. In fairness, I don't think he'd ever seen Liston fight before (I have seen Liston fight, at least on youtube).

Either way though, I'm open minded to this subject, and would love to hear what other people on here think. My friend is a good dude, and knows his stuff. BUT, he isn't any historian like some of you guys are.

My opinion may be changed if somebody can step up with a convincing argument!

Answer 1

I do. People tend to see Mike's bad side and they overlook the fact that Tyson, though relatively small, was the complete package. Beneath that compact muscular body was a freakish combination of strength, speed and tremendous power. Mike didn't just punch hard, he had the handspeed of a middleweight and he threw his punches correctly. His defense, consisting of a lot of head movement, was underrated but allowed him to get inside and unleash lightning fast combinations laced with debilitating power. Tyson, to this day, remains on record as the youngest heavyweight champ at 20 and he went on to dominate the division from the mid-80's to the early 90's, this despite an upset loss to Buster Douglas. Of course, the caliber of his opponents is quite questionable but we shouldn't be faulting him for it. The fact is, he cleaned up his division and became undisputed champ in just two years. That's quite an accomplishment. And let us not forget that after Ali left the scene, he was the next crowd-drawer in the sport and until his last fight, he was the most exciting, albeit controversial fighter in the sport of boxing.

Answer 2

I would put Tyson probably around the 10 spot. That is at his very best. His prime years were 1986 to 1988. He was the youngest heavyweight champ in boxing history. He won the title with a 2 round knockout over Trevor Berbick on November 22 1986 at the age of 20 years 4 months and 23 days of age. He cleaned the divsion out over the next 2 years. His best moment was his win over Michael Spinks in 91 seconds and he was 3 days short of his 22nd birthday. He seemed to hit his peak very early. Shortly thereafter he fired Kevin Rooney and he did not fight again for 8 months his longest layoff ever. He beat Frank Bruno on February 25 1989 but did not seem like the Tyson of old. Kevin Rooney was not the best trainer but he had a way of motivating Tyson and Tyson respected him. It was all downhill from there. His marriage to Robin Givens was a disaster. He knocked himself out in a car crash. He had an undiagnosed and untreated mental condition. From 1986-88 he was absolutely awesome and if he stayed focused witout any distractions he could have been one of the top heavyweights in history. When Buster Douglas beat him on February 11 1990 he was unprepared mentally and physically. Tyson had underrated boxing skills and power in either hand. After Douglas the aura of invinsibility was over. He also was just depending on the one punch knockout instead of the things that got him to the top. Liston vs Tyson would be an interesting contest. Liston was meaner than Mike and had a left jab that could destroy. If Muhammad Ali never existed Liston would have been champ for a long long time. The only heavyweights that could have beat him and that is not for another 5 or 6 years would have been either Joe Frazier or George Foreman. Then Liston would have been well past his prime.

Answer 3

I believe Mike Tyson to be both underrated and overrated, people who say he is the greatest heavyweight champion of all time are overrating him and people who say he was no good compared to other heavyweight greats are underrating him.



I personally think that Tyson is deserving of a top ten spot but not top five.



His bad points are: Had a bully mentality and lost heart if an opponent stood up to him for more than five rounds.

Didn't have great stamina.

Didn't fight a great heavyweight prime against prime. At his best his greatest opponent was Larry Holmes, who at the time was 38 years old and had come out of a two year retirement straight into the fight, which Holmes took primarily for money.



Good points:

He was fast, ferocious and had the ability to blast his opponents out in very quick time.

He had an underrated chin.

He also unified the heavyweight titles, if I am not mistaken he was the first undisputed heavyweight champion in a decade.

He also regained two titles after coming out of jail.



His in ring accomplishments are good enough for him to squeeze into the top ten and head to head I think he matches up very well against other heavyweight greats.

For example I would rank Joe Louis far higher because of his accomplishments as I think would many others, however in a boxing match I would give Tyson a very good chance of blasting Louis out early as Louis was floored by lesser men.

I don't think he would beat Liston but of the top ten great I think he could beat Marciano, Dempsey, Frazier is 50/50, so is Louis.



I would rank him somewhere between 8-10.

Answer 4

I think he is a top ten heavyweight based on his accomplishments.



This was a man who became the youngest heavyweight champion of all-time, aged 20. He made a combined 11 successful defenses of the belt across two reigns. He had freakish power and blazing speed (watch some of his training videos to get a great example of this) and was labeled by his trainer, the great Cus D'Amato, as " a heavyweight Henry Armstrong " , and had the fighting style of Hammerin; Hank but with much better defense (his head movement). If he had no been KO'd by Buster Douglas and actually beaten Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, he would be much much higher on the atg list than he is.

Answer 5

You could make a strong argument for Tyson at Top 10. I have him barely making my list of Top 12, coming in around number 8. However, it really depends on how you view greatness.



If you're assessing Tyson's greatness on Accomplishment while champion or in general, or if you look at the "Historical Impact", he doesn't make the Top 10. So many other champions have accomplished more, gotten more out of what they brought to the table or simply made fewer mistakes in their respective careers.



I tend to favor the "In The Ring" aspect. If you look at it that way, Maybe Tyson doesn't beat Liston. However, you would be hard pressed to find 10 champions who would beat Tyson In The Ring.



I rank ALI, Louis, Holmes, Lewis, Foreman and Holyfield ahead of Tyson and I believe all of them would beat Prime Tyson In The Ring. This leaves him at about #6, so far. You could make a strong argument for both Klitschko brothers, which leaves Tyson at #8.



I could see other champions ranked above Tyson. In terms of Historical Impact, you could easily see the following champions ranked above Tyson.



Marciano

Dempsey

Tunney

Charles

Patterson

Johnson

Jeffries



Each of these champions could, arguably, be ranked above Tyson. However, None of them would beat him In The Ring. Besides Jeffries, and possibly Johnson, all of them are simply too small to survive Tyson's early rush. It's common knowledge that Tyson can be beaten if taken into the middle rounds. Look at the record. He has TWO KOs after round 6. He's NOT a late rounds fighter.



These fighters would not make it past round 4 with Tyson.



If you look at it that way, he does make the top 10.



more later

Answer 6

Ok.... It's good to see an independent thinker, and not somebody that goes with the flow...



Im my opinion, Mike Tyson deserves a top five spot just for bring excitement and charisma back to a fading heavyweight era.



Any boxing fan that was around for the ride, will have to admit that it was one hell of a roller-coaster of a journey...right up to the last proper fight with Lennox Lewis, when the great ''Iron Mike Tyson'' ended the fight led on his back, cut above both eyes... dejected, forlorn, and a shadow of his former self.



I wouldn't have missed the Tyson era for the world....

Answer 7

I believe Tyson is an all time great.



Most younger people only seen Tyson when he lost to Kevin McBride and Danny Williams ,but a post prison Mike Tyson is a prime Mike Tyson ,and further proof of what damage he could do.

Answer 8

Not even 25 of all time HWs. He was too inconsistent. I would think Louis, Marciano, Dempsey, and Foreman would KO Mike in a couple of short rounds. Liston would probably pick Mike apart.

Answer 9

He should be...Youngest heavyweight champion in the world...When ali retires, there are a lot of star and wants to be the next superstar...But all of them they are not even close to mike...

Answer 10

He's top 5. He was once the most feared man on this planet, now he's a joke. Sad, real sad.