Prime Tyson vs Prime Wladimir Klitschko

[IronFrost]

Who wins? With fair referee without any ilegal wrestling crap?

[jamamb]

if you really want to get lots of responses about how wlad gets destroyed you should take this to the history section. they seem to hate the klitschkos there, even saying bryd was beating vitali before the quit

anyway tyson > wlad

[gilgamesh]

I can't see Wlad avoiding Tyson's onslaught. I figure he'd try to shut Tyson down, and get through some of the early rounds with holding, but I figure Tyson would just be too ferocious for him, and would stop him around the 5th or 6th.

It'd be interesting to see at what points Wladimir chose to exchange with Mike because he'd have to if he intended to win.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Mike by straightforward KO.

[Kalan]

Wrong style for Mike... I assume they're fighting at their peaks... Wladimir was too big, tall, strong, an fast for Tyson.... He would use the Lewis/Douglas tactic of bullying Tyson with his size and strength and beating the fukking shitt out of him.

Big, tall, fast, skilled guys DID beat Tyson... 218-pounders who stood 5'11" DIDN'T beat Wladimir.

It would be like Klitschko vs Mercer.... Mercer landed 5 power shots in the fight - less than one a round... But that wasn't a peak or a skilled Wladimir... Possibly the best Wladimir fought Pulev - and he dropped off a cliff after that fight.

Other fights that were instructive were Klitschko-Povetkin... Pov couldn't do a damned thing.... Klitschko vs the "White Tyson" Ruslan Chagaev.... which was ridiculously one sided.... Klitschko vs Ibragimov... who was very short with very quick hands, and beat Holyfield very easily - a guy who stomped the much younger Mike like he was a tyro.

[gilgamesh]

Wrong style for Mike... I assume they're fighting at their peaks... Wladimir was too big, tall, strong, an fast for Tyson.... He would use the Lewis/Douglas tactic of bullying Tyson with his size and strength and beating the fukking shitt out of him.

Big, tall, fast, skilled guys DID beat Tyson... 218-pounders who stood 5'11" DIDN'T beat Wladimir.

It would be like Klitschko vs Mercer.... Mercer landed 5 power shots in the fight - less than one a round... But that wasn't a peak or a skilled Wladimir... Possibly the best Wladimir fought Pulev - and he dropped off a cliff after that fight.

Other fights that were instructive were Klitschko-Povetkin... Pov couldn't do a damned thing.... Klitschko vs the "White Tyson" Ruslan Chagaev.... which was ridiculously one sided.... Klitschko vs Ibragimov... who was very short with very quick hands, and beat Holyfield very easily - a guy who stomped Mike like he wasn't happening.

Wladimir tried to "beat the f*cking sh*t" out of Lamon Brewster and wound up punching himself out. Tyson could always take a shot. So let's just say he managed to have his way with Mike the way you're thinking, and deliver a beating to Mike for 4 or 5 rounds. What happens when Wlad gasses? Because I guarantee you he wouldn't be able to knock out Mike inside 5 rounds.

I also doubt very much he'd attack that aggressively because he'd be a lot more tentative against Mike because...he's Mike Tyson.

Mike Tyson was an exceptional talent. Most guys with his build wouldn't be the force he was at Heavyweight.

[IronFrost]

Wrong style for Mike... I assume they're fighting at their peaks... Wladimir was too big, tall, strong, an fast for Tyson.... He would use the Lewis/Douglas tactic of bullying Tyson with his size and strength and beating the fukking shitt out of him.

Big, tall, fast, skilled guys DID beat Tyson... 218-pounders who stood 5'11" DIDN'T beat Wladimir.

It would be like Klitschko vs Mercer.... Mercer landed 5 power shots in the fight - less than one a round... But that wasn't a peak or a skilled Wladimir... Possibly the best Wladimir fought Pulev - and he dropped off a cliff after that fight.

Other fights that were instructive were Klitschko-Povetkin... Pov couldn't do a damned thing.... Klitschko vs the "White Tyson" Ruslan Chagaev.... which was ridiculously one sided.... Klitschko vs Ibragimov... who was very short with very quick hands, and beat Holyfield very easily - a guy who stomped the much younger Mike like he was a tyro.

WTF Chagaev , Povetkin are not in same class like Tyson lmao. And Pulev is a trash and always was

[Knucklez]

Wrong style for Mike... I assume they're fighting at their peaks... Wladimir was too big, tall, strong, an fast for Tyson.... He would use the Lewis/Douglas tactic of bullying Tyson with his size and strength and beating the fukking shitt out of him.

Big, tall, fast, skilled guys DID beat Tyson... 218-pounders who stood 5'11" DIDN'T beat Wladimir.

It would be like Klitschko vs Mercer.... Mercer landed 5 power shots in the fight - less than one a round... But that wasn't a peak or a skilled Wladimir... Possibly the best Wladimir fought Pulev - and he dropped off a cliff after that fight.

Other fights that were instructive were Klitschko-Povetkin... Pov couldn't do a damned thing.... Klitschko vs the "White Tyson" Ruslan Chagaev.... which was ridiculously one sided.... Klitschko vs Ibragimov... who was very short with very quick hands, and beat Holyfield very easily - a guy who stomped the much younger Mike like he was a tyro.

WTF Chagaev , Povetkin are not in same class like Tyson lmao. And Pulev is a trash and always was

Kalan doesn't recognise facts when they don't suit his argument. He also routinely picks his preferred fighter in his prime against an opponent nowhere near his prime, as he did above.

[IronFrost]

Wrong style for Mike... I assume they're fighting at their peaks... Wladimir was too big, tall, strong, an fast for Tyson.... He would use the Lewis/Douglas tactic of bullying Tyson with his size and strength and beating the fukking shitt out of him.

Big, tall, fast, skilled guys DID beat Tyson... 218-pounders who stood 5'11" DIDN'T beat Wladimir.

It would be like Klitschko vs Mercer.... Mercer landed 5 power shots in the fight - less than one a round... But that wasn't a peak or a skilled Wladimir... Possibly the best Wladimir fought Pulev - and he dropped off a cliff after that fight.

Other fights that were instructive were Klitschko-Povetkin... Pov couldn't do a damned thing.... Klitschko vs the "White Tyson" Ruslan Chagaev.... which was ridiculously one sided.... Klitschko vs Ibragimov... who was very short with very quick hands, and beat Holyfield very easily - a guy who stomped the much younger Mike like he was a tyro.

WTF Chagaev , Povetkin are not in same class like Tyson lmao. And Pulev is a trash and always was

Kalan doesn't recognise facts when they don't suit his argument. He also routinely picks his preferred fighter in his prime against an opponent nowhere near his prime, as he did above.

LOL Yeah I've noticed Like Mercer was in his prime against Wladimir And like Tyson was in his prime against Lewis lol

[DrDuke]

Klitschko at least would have been a pretty tough call for Tyson. Mike had some difficulties with Tucker and Smith and Wlad was obviously more dangerous, than those two, he was bigger, more skilled, smarter with his methodical approach and also he was a bigger puncher.

[Thomastearns]

A fair referee? Peak Tyson? Peak Klitschko?
We must be talking Rooney vs Steward.

Tyson's fall from from grace was one of the greatest in all of sport, but before that he was one of the top 2 heavyweights in boxing history.

I don't see the great Wladimir Klitschko lasting long unless he is allowed to do a Douglas and hang on for dear life. Too fast, too strong.

[Kalan]

LOL Yeah I've noticed Like Mercer was in his prime against Wladimir And like Tyson was in his prime against Lewis

Tyson was 23 when Buster Douglas (Who had been knocked out 3 X) beat the fukking shitt out of him.

Buster was 6'4" X 232.... A physical mismatch don't you think??? .... Plus Buster was fast and had skills... Wasn't any Bruno.

[Cutman Scabbers]

Tyson wins!!

[Romashkin]

If this battle took place in Germany, Wladimir would have used wrestling instead of boxing in the ring, as in the fight with Povetkin. Wladimir would have literally tortured Tyson in an endless clinch, and in the end Tyson would have freaked out and he would have bitten off something from Klitschko

[Enlightened-One]

This thread should be moved to the history forum section since it has zero relevance to boxing’s “current scene”, but I’ll submit my thoughts anyway…

It seems as though people are supremely confident that a prime version of Mike Tyson would defeat a Wladimir Klitschko at his best, but there are several questions worth considering, namely:

• Has Mike Tyson ever demonstrated an ability to overcome adversity inside the ring?

• How many times has Wladimir Klitschko impressed us with his determination to recover from being hurt and become competitive again during bouts… and in some cases, even snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat?

• Assuming Mike Tyson was at his prime for the first 37 bouts of his career (before he was defeated by ‘Buster’ Douglas), would the 6’ 6” 245lb Klitschko struggled to defeat any of those opponents, whose average weight was 212lbs (i.e. the physical equivalent of rehydrated modern-day cruiserweights)?

• Is it fair to compare Wladimir’s performance levels against Tyson’s, considering ‘Dr Steelhammer’ had to face men whose average weight was 247lbs, 35lbs heavier and taller than the type of men ‘Iron’ Mike shared the ring with during his fighting prime?

• It seems that the majority of the people that frequent this forum prefer to believe that Tyson knocks-out a “prime” version of the allegedly “chinny” Klitschko, whilst refusing to recognise any of the Ukraine’s stylistic improvements he implemented during the final decade of his title reign. Therefore, how many times did Wladimir Klitschko fall apart and get stopped from the second bout onwards that Emanuel Steward & his understudy started training him (since October 2004)?

• Do you think that the Emanuel Steward strategy that Klitschko started using from 2004 would be successful against Mike Tyson? If I recall correctly, Wladimir liked to throw a punch or two, grab his foe, lean all his weight on his shorter opponent during the clinch to wear them down and then push his challenger away to create distance. Didn’t Lennox Lewis use precisely the same tactic against Tyson, with the Brit also being trained by the legendary Emanuel Steward?

• Is it wrong to say that ‘Iron’ Mike’s was already past-his-prime when he reached his 22nd birthday, he only managed to score two decision victories during the course of his world title reign and could only manage to stop one opponent from the eighth round onwards throughout the entire course of his career?

• Should we not take into consideration ‘Iron’ Mike’s very own thoughts in regards to this subject matter?

Mike Tyson articulated the following when asked if he was capable at his prime of defeating the Klitschkos.

“I don’t know [if I could beat them]. You know, if I’m in the ring with someone, my intentions is to beat them, to hurt them…

“In reality, even though we don’t want to believe it, athletes get better as time goes on. They don’t get worse.”

“They may not look better, they get better, they’re bigger, they do better vitamins… It’s just a whole different game compared to when I was fighting.”

“We didn’t have the vitamins, we didn’t have the muscle juice that everyone has now… none of that stuff!”

[candyslim]

Really tough one to answer especially for me because I'm very conscious that I have a romanticized view of Mike Tyson.

Several Heavyweights through boxing history have superior records taken as a comparison of their whole careers, but if you were to take the very best night of those fighters' careers and compare them on those best nights, I think Mike is much closer to the top of the pile.

So for me Wlad would have been too big and too smart (mind you the OP did say no holding didn't he ... yeah good luck with that) for Tyson during the majority of their careers, but if they fought each other on their best ever night I'd go with Mike.

[SenorPipino]

Your first thought is that Tyson would catch the somewhat chinny Klitschko and level him.

Lesser fighters than Tyson were able to do that.

But then I think that Tyson hated dealing with tall guys with good jabs, and Klitschko fits the bill.

It probably wouldn't look much different than Lewis' methodical beat down of Tyson, except that Tyson would last more rounds. He might even hear the final bell.

Klitschko could be extremely cautious once under Steward's tutelage and might not take many chances with the dangerous Tyson.

But it's hard to see Tyson getting away from the Wlad jab and doing much damage. Klitschko wouldn't be shy about tying Tyson up if Tyson found his range. And Mike never made much effort to avoid being tied up.

Klitschko by late KO or a unanimous decision.

[Boxing Writer]

Who wins? With fair referee without any ilegal wrestling crap?

But Smith, Tucker (against prime Mike) and Lewis (against washed up Mike) were allowed to hold Tyson as much as they wanted to. Only Jesse Ferguson was disqualified for holding and later result was changed to TKO. So I think Wlad would most likely be allowed to hold Tyson and Mike was extremely ineffective in clinches. OK, you'll say he was shot when he fought Lewis, and I'll agree. But Smith and Tucker were holding a prime version of Mike very effectively. And they weren't as good in clinches as Wlad. Lewis was, but Tucker and Smith weren't. Of course Tyson could still probably catch Wlad with something big, but if Wlad was allowed to hold, it wouldn't be easy.

[Boxing Writer]

It probably wouldn't look much different than Lewis' methodical beat down of Tyson, except that Tyson would last more rounds. He might even hear the final bell.

Wlad would beat 2002 version of Tyson easily and knock him out,. No way that version of Tyson goes full distance against Wlad. But it was badly faded Tyson. Prime for prime he would have had pretty good chances to beat Klitschko (or Lewis for that matter). But their size, jab and ability to hold would always pose a lot of problems for Mike.

[Exoddus]

Tyson beats Wlad but not Vitali IMO.

[Thomastearns]

Tyson beats Wlad but not Vitali IMO.

That one would be a fantastic battle.
The best two heavyweights since Ali.
I still favour Tyson by a whisker because of the speed/movement advantage but no one in boxing history could take Vitali for granted.

[hoagylt]

Wlad by fairly easy KO/

[Kalan]

Right.... Wladimir would beat the little kid a lot easier than Buster Douglas did.

In the Douglas fight - at times Tyson looked like a little tyke trying to swipe a cigar away from his daddy.

[gilgamesh]

Right.... Wladimir would beat the little kid a lot easier than Buster Douglas did.

In the Douglas fight - at times Tyson looked like a little tyke trying to swipe a cigar away from his daddy.

If Wladimir tried to match the pace Douglas fought at in that fight he'd better be able to finish Mike before the 6th round or he might run into trouble.

And if he didn't (and he wouldn't) then it wouldn't be the same fight (and it wouldn't be)

[dWd]

A 20yr old Tyson hungry for success who does nothing but eat sleep train and study boxing beats everyone. Ali once turned up at floyd pattersons gym with lettuce and carrots saying that from now on floyd would be known as the rabbit, imagine what would have happened if he tried that with Tyson!!!