Pretty self explanatory. The mainstream opinion is that the Spinks fight was his peak performance, but I've always disagreed. To me, Mike's best performance is either the Thomas fight, the Biggs fight, or the Holmes fight. Thoughts?
Although it was just seconds and it was against 3rd tier opponent I always loved the Marvis Frazier fight. To me that was peak Tyson.
The Holmes fight. The entire fourth round showed Tyson's incredible finishing abilities. And Holmes was 36 and not far removed from his prime.
I think Holmes was way removed from his prime but I agree that was his best performance. On another day I might say Biggs though
That was more about Spinks being scared than anything. I liked the Berbick and Holmes fight. The Thomas fight was good as Thomas could take some and give a few back but there was a lot of holding and Tyson always sucked balls at fighting out of a clinch. That's why Tyson would get f*cked up in the UFC pretty easily once he's grabbed.
Taking ALL Things Into Consideration (Level of Competition, the Opponent's PRIME, IMPORTANCE of the Fight, etc.), REED's Leaning Towards the 1st Bout vs. Razor Ruddock... The FEAR FACTOR of Mike was GONE...Ruddock was DEMOLISHING Guys, was HIGHLY Ranked & was Looking to Make Example of Mike, on his Way to a World Title Shot...Ruddock Wasn't the Least Bit Afraid of Tyson AND he Came to Win... Granted, Tyson has COUNTLESS More Impressive/Definitive KO's, but the Ruddock Win Stands Out to REED...Tyson HATERS like to Say Mike FOLDED Whenver an Opponent Stood Up to Him...Well, Ruddock Stood Up to Mike & STILL Got Stopped... REED:hammert:
You think Ruddock got stopped, REED? The referee Richard Steele stopped it without even looking at Ruddock because it was a fix. Ruddock was screwed! :: ::
The Holmes KO was VERY Brutal...It was SHOCKING to See Larry Holmes Done Like THAT...Before or Since, NOBODY Else Ever Did Holmes the Way Tyson Did... Having Said That, Holmes a Good Bit PAST his Prime by then...He'd ALREADY Lost Twice to Spinks & had Close, Controversial Wins Over Witherspoon & Williams... Arguably Tyson's BEST KO, but Let's Keep PERSPECTIVE on the Version of Holmes he Fought, Folks... REED:hammert:
Yet Holmes would go on to beat Ray Mercer far more clearly than Tommy Morrison or Lennox Lewis did. :: Larry cannot have been that far gone. That said, Larry did say he walked to the ring thinking of leaving. He was wondering what the TV people would look like if he just turned around and left. ::
Combined, they convinced me that Ruddock was the 2nd best heavy behind Tyson at that time. Apparently, they convinced Riddick and Evander that Ruddock was the goods, too, because once Lennox starched the piss out of Ruddock, Bowe and Holy went bitch on each other and couldn't even spell Lewis.
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# There should be a rule that when former HW champs are chatting, other people in the room have to shut the fuck up. Especially when both of the HW champs are a bit crunchy.
Of all the Tyson fights I have seen it would the Holmes fight or the first Bruno fight. Bruno was well up for it in the first fight and Tyson simply beat the fight out of him, he landed some wonderful combinations on his way to taking him apart.
I was thinking the same thing. Tyson was expected to win, but not in that fashion. I watched that fight when it happened and it really was a "holy shit" moment. I've never been all that impressed with the Holmes win. Holmes had been sliding since 1983 and was out of retirement without even a tune up. There is little resemblance between Holmes from the Norton/Cooney fights and Holmes from the Tyson fight.