BoxRec

Mike Tyson burst onto the World Boxing Scene in explosive manner.

And confirmed his brutal potential when he became WBC Heavyweight Champion at just 20 years old.

He then went on to win the other 2 belts - WBA and IBF and become the World Undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

Here is a glimpse of what it took to mould him into one of the greatest heavyweight talents the World has ever seen..............

BIGMARK wrote:one of the most overated fighters of all time who cleaned up a division that makes todays heavies seem good.

We could sure do with someone of his ilk now though

BIGMARK wrote:one of the most overated fighters of all time who cleaned up a division that makes todays heavies seem good.

I think that Tyson was over-rated as a fighter per se, but the qualities he had in his early career, would have given trouble to any heavyweight of any era and he would have beaten most aswell. Tyson's style relied on youth. At the start if his career, he was very fast with his hands, had good head movement and could make five or six punch combinations with supreme accuracy, which, with his punching power, was a very strong set of attributes to posess. Tyson was an aggressive fighter, who used his attacking instincts as a form of defence and his ring craft was greater than people gave him credit for, in particular, his ability to cut the ring down and narrow his opponent's escape routes. To add to this, he was motivated, trained well, lived a disciplined lifestyle and was over-seen by a trusted vanguard of experienced people.

That Mike Tyson lasted a short time, perhaps from the ages of 19 to 23 years of age. By the time he fought Michael Spinks, he was already on the way to oblivion. By the time he had suffered his first defeat at the hands of Buster Douglas, the old vanguard that had kept him on the straight and narrow and looked after his interests, had dissapeared all-together and was replaced by a group of people who had dollar signs rather than Tyson's best interests at heart. Tyson was never the same after his defeat to douglas and when he returned after his brief incarcaration, he looked a different fighter. Tyson was older and less motivated, living the wild life and comforting himself with alchohol, drugs and the latest passing fad. In terms of his fighting style, all he had left was his punching power. His speed had diminished, along with his stamina and the old quick fire ccombinations had been replaced by single shots, often delivered, with bad timing and half-heartedness.

Tyson's style revolved around the speed of his movement and the speed of his hands, not to mention speed of thought and for that Tyson needed things that he had lost some time back, ie, his youth, clean living, high class training and sparing, aswell as a team of trusted and experienced associates to guide his career properly. By the time Tyson was fighting Botha or Ruddock, those themes mentioned above had gone completely and he carried on for another ten years, half the fighter he had been, because he still had the name and persona to fill stadiums, make money, live the life and pay off his mounting debts. By the time he fought and lost to Lewis, the game was up.

BIGMARK wrote:one of the most overated fighters of all time who cleaned up a division that makes todays heavies seem good.

No way.

A bully yes.

But he was a World Heavyweight Champion at just 20 years old - thats quite exceptional - the youngest ever.

And regardless of how good or bad you rate the heavyweight division at that time - the manner of his victories suggested this was a very explosive and exciting fighter.

Overrated fighters are people like Audely Harrison talking themselves up as World Heavyweight Champions.

Tyson is one of the greatest heavyweight forces of nature ever.

the tyson era was very special

he was young and exciting

teared up the rankings as a teenager

annihilated poor Marvis

unified the title

would have been a shoddy division without him

the holyfield saga was thrilling ..we had ear biting pankratia-style free for alls.... .the first bruno fight and Harry carpenter screaming 'get in there frank'....

buster douglas etc

an exciting era...the one thing we miss now with the ultra cautious chess champions atm is anything could happen with Tyson fights....blink and you miss it.

with the klitchkos you can literally go to sleep between rounds 2 and 8 and not miss anything.

as for his all time ranking

top 20

longevity is one of the biggest factors...and ability to come back

BIGMARK wrote:

the patriot wrote:

BIGMARK wrote:one of the most overated fighters of all time who cleaned up a division that makes todays heavies seem good.

We could sure do with someone of his ilk now though

I agree we need a superstar in the Heavyweight division now but the main difference between now and then is the top boxers are far better prepared. In the Tyson era 90% of the heavies were king controlled and drug adicts who were were far from in great condition.

Food is today's crack cocaine so far as the heavyweights are concerned.

Agree with most posters here. His talent was amazing and at his peak he would have beaten a lot of the greats. He was probably the most exciting prospect/first-time champion ever, and you can't take away his accomplishments of being the youngest champion and quickest to unify.

He did not have a natural rival or a fellow great operating at the time of his first reign, but that's not his fault and he did what he had to do. In that regard, you can't really ask for more than they way he dealt with the champions and challengers he did meet.

But he was very much an on-top fighter. He never avenged a defeat and he never got off the floor to win, or turned around a points deficit. That's not to say he didn't have heart; his defeats to Douglas, Holyfield 1 and Lewis showed he could take his lumps. But when assessing his place in history, that has to detract from his legacy, even if at his peak he probably was one of the best ever.

Shame Cus and Rooney didn't get him disiplined out the ring and were jsut satisfying their own selfishness to mold a champion.

Max Molyneux wrote:Shame Cus and Rooney didn't get him disiplined out the ring and were jsut satisfying their own selfishness to mold a champion.

Im sure i wont b the only one deriding that comment. Tyson has always praised Cus as a positive influence on his life. Cus died b4 Tyson had had 15 fights i believe and Mike and others, highlight that as a negative turning point in his life.

oliverfennell wrote:Agree with most posters here. His talent was amazing and at his peak he would have beaten a lot of the greats. He was probably the most exciting prospect/first-time champion ever, and you can't take away his accomplishments of being the youngest champion and quickest to unify.

He did not have a natural rival or a fellow great operating at the time of his first reign, but that's not his fault and he did what he had to do. In that regard, you can't really ask for more than they way he dealt with the champions and challengers he did meet.

But he was very much an on-top fighter. He never avenged a defeat and he never got off the floor to win, or turned around a points deficit. That's not to say he didn't have heart; his defeats to Douglas, Holyfield 1 and Lewis showed he could take his lumps. But when assessing his place in history, that has to detract from his legacy, even if at his peak he probably was one of the best ever.

he would have got off the floor to win had buster douglas not been given the long count, interestingly.

Autobarn wrote:

oliverfennell wrote:Agree with most posters here. His talent was amazing and at his peak he would have beaten a lot of the greats. He was probably the most exciting prospect/first-time champion ever, and you can't take away his accomplishments of being the youngest champion and quickest to unify.

He did not have a natural rival or a fellow great operating at the time of his first reign, but that's not his fault and he did what he had to do. In that regard, you can't really ask for more than they way he dealt with the champions and challengers he did meet.

But he was very much an on-top fighter. He never avenged a defeat and he never got off the floor to win, or turned around a points deficit. That's not to say he didn't have heart; his defeats to Douglas, Holyfield 1 and Lewis showed he could take his lumps. But when assessing his place in history, that has to detract from his legacy, even if at his peak he probably was one of the best ever.

he would have got off the floor to win had buster douglas not been given the long count, interestingly.

Correction, he would have overcome a points deficit, but he hadn't been floored at that point.

Tyson was a disciplined anf focused fighter under Cus and Jim Jacobs and Kevin Rooney and Steve Lott.

Cus was the one who uncovered the rough diamond and was the one who instilled all the self belief in him and over saw Tysons gym work and progression.

Rooney was the man appointed by Cus to be the man to put in the day to day hard graft in the gym and train Tyson the monster he became.

While Jim Jacobs and Steve Lott had his best interests at heart - and Tyson use to watch alot of Jim Jacobs vast video collection of old time fighters and learn from them and try to adopt things into his own style.

That Tyson was a focused disciplined hungry young fighter who lived for boxing and whos NO 1 focus in life was to be the best boxer and champion he culd be.

Them guys put in the hard graft throughout Tysons teenage years - they done it because they had a love for boxing and really were excited about moulding a great young champion.

But there was always flaws in Tysons character as Teddy Atlas quickly saw and disaccoisated himself from Tyson.

Tysons detoriation came when the sharks moved in- Don King - Robin Givens - Ruth Roper, etc, etc.

They were the vultures only interested in exploiting Tyson for his fame and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and glory.

They young Tyson was one of the greatest ever - but maybe the likes of Holyfield would have still beaten him then as he has always had a bully boy mind and heart - and I think a prime Holyfield even beats a young prime Mike Tyson who destroyed the likes of Michael Spinks.

mike in his prime (20-30) was quite simply the reason most of us got interested in boxing.to say he's not top 20 is ludicrous.we could all point out ali's losse's,louis getting banged out by schmeling if we wanted to,but ,to concentrate on the positives,the mike who went in with berbick is a top 5 heavy

BIGMARK wrote:TYSON was having problems under cus outside the ring just ask Teddy Atlas (you can take the kid out of the bad neighbourhood but you cant take the bad neighbourhood out of the kid). The hype around Tyson was built on his early KO record which was hand picked fighters to make him look good and create some noise. The first time Tyson came up against a tall heavy with decent skills (Mitch Green) he struggled and after was matched once again the type of fighter he would always beat.

- WHOA----LOOKOUT------The Yeller ShortBus done dropped off some Tyson critics on this forum for a day camp.

Here's a clip of the 1st three rounds of the Green fight with 19 yr old teenaged Mike rag-dolling a giant of a fully formed 29 yr old man. 1st 3rds like the middle 3 and last 3 with Mike having knocking out Green's mouthpiece twice by the start of the 3rd and busting up his mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyVjSJTRsiQ

Young Tyson threw a virtual shutout on the cards and in the announcer's booth, winning 26 of 30 scored rounds on the cards and the fans got a bonus with umpteen Mitch Green mouthpieces landing in distant rows as souvenirs. Blasted Green into 7 yrs retirement after this fight. Green so pulverized and softened up by this fight that in his comeback fight 7 yrs later he was TKOed because he still couldn't even throw any punches.

Lordy, Lordy, I hope this shortbus has the diaper trained Tyson critics this time or it's gonna be a long smelly day.

BIGMARK wrote:Then i'm getting mixed up then because i cant remember who it was that was giving him problems and caused the team had a re-think about their match making after it.

i was going off memory saying it was Green please forgive me

You're probably thinking of Tillis, who was a MUCH better fighter than Green and fought a very good fight against Tyson. I’ve seen some posts where people actually think it was a controversial decision, but I didn’t see it that way and thought it was close and competitive, but a clear Tyson win.

And yes, I could see the management team of any young top HW adjusting their plan after a close fight against a guy like Tillis, but I don’t think it means anything. Tyson was a great fighter for a short period of time, and brought clarity to a confused HW scene.

Tysons toughest fight was Tony TNT Tucker in the unfication battle

Some feel Tucker had won - including Tucker

He came up to Tyson after the fight and said he would grant Tyson a rematch..............thinking he had won

Robin Givens was leaving with the champ that night - wether it be Tyson or Tucker - she didnt care - she was just leaving with the Champ !!!

FLINT ISLAND wrote:Tysons toughest fight was Tony TNT Tucker in the unfication battle

Some feel Tucker had won - including Tucker

He came up to Tyson after the fight and said he would grant Tyson a rematch..............thinking he had won

Robin Givens was leaving with the champ that night - wether it be Tyson or Tucker - she didnt care - she was just leaving with the Champ !!!

Somebody thought that Tucker deserved the nod!? I remember the fight quite well, and Tucker did very well for the first half of the fight, but I don't recall him doing much of anything in the second half enroute to a justified UD loss.

Does anyone remember anything differently?

John L... I watched it again somewhat recently, I saw it as going the same way that you did.

this topic is daft . how anyone can say tyson was overated is beyond me . ok he wont be considered in the same bracket as ali etc due to lack of longevity but is still a great . i persoannly believe that if he hadnt have got himself sent down he would have gone on to further streangthen his rep and the argument would then have been was the likes of ali , dempsey and marciano as good as iron mike . we will never know but to say he was overated is nonsense .

The debate if Tyson's overrated or underrated will go on forever. However, H2H, he would have beaten most other great HW's. Very few HW's were more talented than a peak Tyson. hardly any in fact!

IMO, he was great fighter. He burst upon the scene, gave the sprot what it needed at the time, cleaned out the division. Hell, if only he was around today. The current heavies haven't got shit on him!

Tyson brought a aura and buzz to a boxing fight that was unique.