BoxRec

Tonight celebrates 35 years to the date of November 29, 1986 when a 20 year-old phenom named "Iron" Mike Tyson of Brooklyn, NY destroyed WBC World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick of Canada in only 2 rounds to become the youngest heavyweight world champion in boxing history.

One of the all-time greatest heavyweights and pound per pound all-time top 100 fighters, Tyson is still remembered as one of boxing's all-time legends.

How time flies!

Your thoughts.

Quite a devastating performance, but not unexpected. The Tyson era, if we are to be honest about it, was one of the weaker eras in heavyweight history and had it been anyone else defeating the kind of men that he did I'm not so sure anyone would have cared.

It was the way he won matches, more than who he was beating, that made him a superstar. His comeback in the '90s demonstrates that he could have fought anybody and people would have tuned in no matter how big of a mismatch it was.

Even in the early 2000s when he was well past his prime he was still the biggest attraction in the business other than Oscar De la Hoya. To say that he was one of the all-time greats I think is an exaggeration. He had the potentiality to have been one of the all-time greats but he basically threw it away.

To say that he was one of the pound for pound greatest fighters of all time is also a wild exaggeration, for that is a mythical ratings system that generally applies to everybody else but heavyweights.

Even Mike Tyson himself would point out that there are dozens and dozens of men well ahead of him in that regard, because through Cus D'Amato he learned to appreciate the past.

But to be a boxing fan in the 1980s and 1990s was quite a treat and Mike Tyson certainly was the key figure of the sport in that time, even if his abilities and wins have been ridiculously increased with the passage of time by those who love to be nostalgic.

Lastly, back to Berbick, to think a man could knock a man down basically four times from a single punch was quite the sight to see.

Beating Trevor Berbick by itself doesn't seem like that big a deal. But for a 20 year old to do it was a big deal. To score a devastating KO like that made it more of a big deal.

Tyson doesn't have a specific win is that is overwhelming. He does have many wins over good fighters; some of them in spectacular fashion and some not.

homicide said "To say that he was one of the pound for pound greatest fighters of all time is also a wild exaggeration, for that is a mythical ratings system that generally applies to everybody else but heavyweights."
Well no. Heavyweights are usually included, and they should be. elmer said he should be in the Top 100, which is certainly arguable.

One of the best heavyweights? Well it depends specifically how far down you want to go. He is probably just outside the top 10.

Some people greatly overrate Tyson. and some go the other way and underrate him.