Greatest athlete of all time Mike Tyson

#101
#101
He's definitely not the greatest athlete of all time, nor would he be the greatest boxer of all time, but he may be the best athlete among boxers. No other heavyweight can match his combination of speed and power. If he had half of Ali's mental aptitude he would've been the greatest all time.
 
#102
#102
And another point...maybe if Tyson hadn't totally dominated the weight class we would think his competition was tougher. If Ali had totally dominated his competition we would probably think his competition was weaker. Kind of hard to distinguish in individual sports. That seems to always be the knock on guys who absolutely dominate, whether it's Roy Jones Jr, Tyson, GSP, Roger Federer, or Anderson Silva I hear "the competition is weak" all the time.
 
#103
#103
Lol Tyson ducked people constantly, management fed him fighters. Name one fighter that Tyson beat that would be considered a top 50 fighter. I'd give him props if he deserved it, boxing was weak and he ducked the good hws period.
 
#104
#104
Here's the rub...Tyson's prime was short because he relied on his physical talent. A more cerebral fighter like a Holyfield or B Hopkins type can be great well into their 30s because they don't rely so much on speed. Typically physical primes start to peak around 23 and start to decline at about 28. We only saw a couple years of Tyson's prime. He didn't fight any greats before jail (by historical standards), and I'm not sure there were any available to fight.
 
#105
#105
Tyson ducked Evander for 2 years, threw his title in the trash instead of fighting Lewis, and would not fight Bowe. He lost to Buster at age 24. He only fought Lewis and Evander because being broke forced him to.

Tyson's 3 best wins? Spinx fighting out of his weight class, a 38 year old Larry Holmes on the comeback trail, and ummmm Razor Ruddock. The division was crap when he fought, and the couple guys that were good he wouldn't fight.
 
#107
#107
The 3 guys you named big wins

Silva-Horn, Newton, Franklin ×2, Hendo, Belfort, Forrest

GSP-Hughes ×2, BJ ×2, Shields, Kos, Condit, Diaz

Jones Jr (the real best athlete in boxing)- Trinidad, Tarver, Griffin, Hopkins, Toney

Much better lists than Tyson's.
 
#108
#108
n_huffhines said:
Did he duck people before jail?
Click to expand...

I doing this off the top of my head, I'd honestly have to check. Evander had just moved up in weight so it had to be fairly early in their careers. Btw Ali missed 5 prime years do to legal reasons, no jail time though, so the jail thing is a hard sell for me. Ali got reinstated and fought the 2 baddest men on the planet right off.
 
#109
#109
Obviously Ali and Tyson were polar opposites. Ali had the mental fortitude to have a long and successful career. He could take a break and step right back in and fight. Buster Douglas beat Tyson because Tyson didn't take him seriously. He didn't train and it was clear he was gassed early. Ali would've never let something like that happen.
 
#110
#110
Agreed. Still though Tyson was what 28 when he got out of prison? If he really was that talented his career wouldn't have fallen apart the way it did. And I don't blame Tyson for being an over hyped machine. I blame Don King, Tyson was Kings cash cow and King was not gonna lose that.


Do you think Tyson was a better athlete than Jones Jr? Jones was stupid fast with good power, so fluid in the ring too and he was a pretty good basketball player.
 
#111
#111
I don't know, but they do have similarities in that they dominated and then fell off quick. That's another sign that most of their success was due to physical ability.
 
#112
#112
RJJ is my favorite fighter ever, but when he finally got around to fighting Tarver I felt like he should've lost the decision, and then I think he got worked twice by Tarver.
 
#113
#113
I always wonder how much of Jones problem was making the weight jump, then cutting back down. He never seemed to regain his quickness after that. My favorite fighter too btw.
 
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