BoxRec

I am tired of fat old men who complain about "prime Tyson"


Stop act like Tyson was an old fat man against Buster Douglas. Tyson was only 24 years old .

Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced .


Let's be real . FAT OLD FOREMAN went 12 rounds against prime Evander and Mike Tyson got KTFO oh my godness !


Lennox Lewis , Vitali Klitschko , Ali , Foreman and many others would beat your overrated hero "prime" Tyson.

Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

Mike Tyson beat many decent fighters. There are too many to mention, but you can see them on his resume.

True, Tyson had a very short prime, much due to alcohol and drug abuse. Yes, I know if my aunt had......

He is overrated by anyone who sees him top 5 or even top 10 on all time HW charts. I agree with all of your sentences though except: "Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced."

Depends how high people have him on their heavyweight list.
For me he's between 10-20. Beat some good fighters explosively (Spinks my personal highlight).

Douglas beat a close to prime Tyson. For me he'd of struggled against anyone with a good jab but he'd always have a chance first 3 rounds.

It's true that Tyson nearly always came up short when faced with adversity; the only exception was the Ruddock fights when he prevailed in tough battles, but it's wrong to say he never beat any decent fighters.

Tyson decimated a fair few decent fighters in his time.

The worst is "[Unproven Prospect] is the next Mike Tyson!" especially since they often don't even have a similar fighting style.

A young boxing fan who's just entering his "Tyson was overrated!" phase. What else is new. Soon you'll move on to Marciano, then Ali, etc.

OP is so dumb.

He's top 10 easily name a 20yr old seasoned champion today that blowing out the competition and the #1 draw in the sport! Tyson top 5 easily

no question about it he was the money fight at only age 20. Overrated my ass He was the money fight at the tender age of 20 like an Ali

Oscar or Mayweather. If you wanted a great payday then fight Tyson!

bnovelist wrote:He's top 10 easily name a 20yr old seasoned champion today that blowing out the competition and the #1 draw in the sport! Tyson top 5 easily

no question about it he was the money fight at only age 20. Overrated my ass He was the money fight at the tender age of 20 like an Ali

Oscar or Mayweather. If you wanted a great payday then fight Tyson!

Given your criteria for greatness I fear the OP has a point. Holyfield is POSSIBLY top 5 and Holyfield >>>>>> Tyson all day long.

Tony1244 wrote:Mike Tyson beat many decent fighters. There are too many to mention, but you can see them on his resume.

True, Tyson had a very short prime, much due to alcohol and drug abuse. Yes, I know if my aunt had......

He is overrated by anyone who sees him top 5 or even top 10 on all time HW charts. I agree with all of your sentences though except: "Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced."

This. Tyson steamrollered a load of good pros, blitzed them, but he lost his really huge fights.

Who knows what could have been - very much a wasted talent but never an all time top ten heavy

fizzjambo wrote:

Tony1244 wrote:Mike Tyson beat many decent fighters. There are too many to mention, but you can see them on his resume.

True, Tyson had a very short prime, much due to alcohol and drug abuse. Yes, I know if my aunt had......

He is overrated by anyone who sees him top 5 or even top 10 on all time HW charts. I agree with all of your sentences though except: "Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced."

This. Tyson steamrollered a load of good pros, blitzed them, but he lost his really huge fights.

Who knows what could have been - very much a wasted talent but never an all time top ten heavy

Agree totally with your second sentence. Not top 10 of all time but perhaps could have been. But if Jack Dempsey liked training better than 1920 actresses and scotch on the rocks perhaps he could have beaten Tunney. If if and if.

But Tyson did win some really huge fights. Tucker, Biggs, Spinks, Berbick, Thomas, Tubbs, were all huge fights back then. Some were undefeated, some only had one loss. It's easy to forget the fights he did win. It's true that a lot of good fighters are better remembered for their losses.

I'm not a fan of Tyson, mainly his disgusting character, (language, rape, ear biting, drug use, etc) but during his short prime he was one of the best, no doubt about it. His resume is more impressive than any heavyweight today, and by far imo. (mainly due to competition) He destroyed a guy that many put in top 5 or 10 all time Larry Holmes. Holmes was past it, but a year younger than Wlad, and the same age as Floyd for his last fight. It wasn't even a contest. I'm not saying an older Holmes was his best win, but there is a decent chance he would have KO'd Holmes during his prime too.

greatness requires many aspects, none more so than 'longevity' and 'the ability to come back from the brink'.

Tyson's early unification run was a fantastic achievement.

But he rates way behind the likes of Larry Holmes, Louis and Ali for the two factors mentioned above.

conty22 wrote:I am tired of fat old men who complain about "prime Tyson"


Stop act like Tyson was an old fat man against Buster Douglas. Tyson was only 24 years old .

Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced .


Let's be real . FAT OLD FOREMAN went 12 rounds against prime Evander and Mike Tyson got KTFO oh my godness !


Lennox Lewis , Vitali Klitschko , Ali , Foreman and many others would beat your overrated hero "prime" Tyson.

Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

Even though I would agree with you and say that Tyson is highly overrated I still believe he never really fought in his true prime which I believe would've been those years he spent in prison.

Yes, he was at the height of his career in terms of opposition (outside of not facing Lewis, Bowe or Foreman) at the time he faced Douglas but in reality he did KO Douglas because I actually counted 13 seconds that Douglas was on the canvas.

Go to the 33:30 mark and don't listen to the count or pay attention to the Ref (who picked up the count late) and you will count either 12 or 13 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8z0xoMze8U

Officially Douglas won by KO in a dominant fight but in reality he was KTFO in the 8th, but yes I agree that Tyson was overrated.

dont care whether he is overated or not, all i know is that he is the only boxer that ever gave me goosebumps watching him walk to the ring and for that i am eternally grateful

Undefeated49-0 wrote:

conty22 wrote:I am tired of fat old men who complain about "prime Tyson"


Stop act like Tyson was an old fat man against Buster Douglas. Tyson was only 24 years old .

Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced .


Let's be real . FAT OLD FOREMAN went 12 rounds against prime Evander and Mike Tyson got KTFO oh my godness !


Lennox Lewis , Vitali Klitschko , Ali , Foreman and many others would beat your overrated hero "prime" Tyson.

Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

Even though I would agree with you and say that Tyson is highly overrated I still believe he never really fought in his true prime which I believe would've been those years he spent in prison.

Yes, he was at the height of his career in terms of opposition (outside of not facing Lewis, Bowe or Foreman) at the time he faced Douglas but in reality he did KO Douglas because I actually counted 13 seconds that Douglas was on the canvas.

Go to the 33:30 mark and don't listen to the count or pay attention to the Ref (who picked up the count late) and you will count either 12 or 13 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8z0xoMze8U

Officially Douglas won by KO in a dominant fight but in reality he was KTFO in the 8th, but yes I agree that Tyson was overrated.

how many seconds he was down for is irrelevant, what is relevant is that douglas picked up the refs count and just beat it, and remember its a count of ten not a count of ten seconds which would be impossible to do without a clock hanging over the downed fighters head

conty22 wrote:Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

neither old, nor fat, but horribly distracted.

he was the youngest heavy weight champ
of all time and destroyed opponents. we will
never know how great he could have been if
he had known how to handle himself.

maybe he is overrated by the casual fan. but
he was HUGE in his day.

conty22 wrote: Lennox Lewis , Vitali Klitschko , Ali , Foreman and many others would beat your overrated hero "prime" Tyson.

Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

Tyson may have been in his physical prime against Douglas but that loss shows the importance of preparation & having the right dedication. Tyson wasn't doing that. The mental aspect of boxing (& most things) is HUGE and you don't seem to grasp that, Mr Conty.

I do agree with you that the aforementioned fighters would beat Tyson. He doesn't make my own top ten list but, on the other hand, a prime Tyson (86-89) would have been a handful for anyone.

But he stopped boxing after the Spinks fight & just started swinging. similar to Naseem Hamed who also stopped using his excellent boxing skills & just went looking for the big punch.

So I agree with you that some overrate Tyson, but the Douglas example is not a good one. He had a brief, but brilliant, spell as a 'great' fighter. After that he was just a tough, short, guy with a decent punch.

Taansend wrote:

conty22 wrote: Lennox Lewis , Vitali Klitschko , Ali , Foreman and many others would beat your overrated hero "prime" Tyson.

Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

Tyson may have been in his physical prime against Douglas but that loss shows the importance of preparation & having the right dedication. Tyson wasn't doing that. The mental aspect of boxing (& most things) is HUGE and you don't seem to grasp that, Mr Conty.

I do agree with you that the aforementioned fighters would beat Tyson. He doesn't make my own top ten list but, on the other hand, a prime Tyson (86-89) would have been a handful for anyone.

But he stopped boxing after the Spinks fight & just started swinging. similar to Naseem Hamed who also stopped using his excellent boxing skills & just went looking for the big punch.

So I agree with you that some overrate Tyson, but the Douglas example is not a good one. He had a brief, but brilliant, spell as a 'great' fighter. After that he was just a tough, short, guy with a decent punch.

well said

Oiky wrote:

If you have no interest in a debate over Mike Tyson, there are plenty of non boxing websites.

Tony1244 wrote:

Oiky wrote:

If you have no interest in a debate over Mike Tyson, there are plenty of non boxing websites.

ok lad, cheers for that advice i'll bear that in mind

the 's were directed to the OPs opinion of mike tyson, and the fact that this backwards debate has appeared god knows how many times over the years

Undefeated49-0 wrote:

conty22 wrote:I am tired of fat old men who complain about "prime Tyson"


Stop act like Tyson was an old fat man against Buster Douglas. Tyson was only 24 years old .

Mike Tyson actualy lost against any decent fighter he ever faced .


Let's be real . FAT OLD FOREMAN went 12 rounds against prime Evander and Mike Tyson got KTFO oh my godness !


Lennox Lewis , Vitali Klitschko , Ali , Foreman and many others would beat your overrated hero "prime" Tyson.

Tyson was in his prime against Douglas , stop act like he was old or fat or morons !

Even though I would agree with you and say that Tyson is highly overrated I still believe he never really fought in his true prime which I believe would've been those years he spent in prison.

Yes, he was at the height of his career in terms of opposition (outside of not facing Lewis, Bowe or Foreman) at the time he faced Douglas but in reality he did KO Douglas because I actually counted 13 seconds that Douglas was on the canvas.

Go to the 33:30 mark and don't listen to the count or pay attention to the Ref (who picked up the count late) and you will count either 12 or 13 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8z0xoMze8U

Officially Douglas won by KO in a dominant fight but in reality he was KTFO in the 8th, but yes I agree that Tyson was overrated.

No, the reality is that Douglas waited for the ref to reach 8 and got up. There is no evidence he couldn't have done that earlier if the count was timed properly.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:No, the reality is that Douglas waited for the ref to reach 8 and got up. There is no evidence he couldn't have done that earlier if the count was timed properly.

No it isn't the reality, the reality is that the count started the moment he hit the deck and you can clearly see that the Ref only picks up the count 2 seconds later as indicated by his fingers, stop looking at Douglas and listening to the Ref and you can count this for yourself but I know that now you've stuck your foot in it that your pride won't allow you to admit that you're wrong.

Look at the clock on YT (counter bottom left) and take notice when Douglas hits the canvas and you'll be able to clearly tell he was down for at least 12 seconds.

He hits the deck at 3:31 according to the YT clock on the seconds for the time track on this video and is actually standing by 3: 45, in reality it is 14 seconds but he was getting up by 13 seconds, go count it for yourself.