Mike Tyson appreciation thread!

A thread to honour one of the most exciting fighters in the history of the game and one of the greatest Heavyweight champions of them all.

Who can forget his meteoric rise on the lead up to the championship when just two men lasted the distance in almost 30 fights? Who can forget that KO highlight reel like no other before or since?

For those who witnessed it live, who would forget the night he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history ("Titlist"..for the hardcore historians) when he WIPED OUT Trevor Berbick in just two rounds, finishing him off by sending him to the canvas three times with just one punch.

I can still hear Barry Tomkins say: "That's all, that's it, and WE HAVE A NEW ERA IN BOXING!"

And so began a reign of terror:

With teh exception of the terrible Smith fight..we saw Tyson clean up the division, a Heavyweight division that had been in shambles really since the days of Muhammad Ali.

We saw Pinklon Thomas Fall. Tony Tucker comprehensively defeated. Biggs annihilated. Tubbs wiped out. Spinks destroyed. Bruno beaten down. Williams cold cocked!

He's unfairly underrated nowadays due to his losses to Buster Douglas (when it was obvious he was unprepared) and Holyfield (after he was back from a few years prison stint)...but at his absolute best (1986-1991) he was a top 3 all time Heavyweight talent!

Who's on the Mike Tyson bandwagon?

:shadow:

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:boring:

 

Still mad at me for doing that in your thread I see. :giggle:

Sorry dude...wont do it again.

This emoticon isn't relevant to a Tyson thread though..one thing he was not, is boring.

 

I'm on. Still remember watching his earliest fights on Satruday afternoons, before he became champion. We knew it then he'd be champ.

 

Yup...Tyson was like a movie character...surreal. Unbelievably exciting fighter.

 

Slammin Sammy Schaff???

Irish Mike Jameson???

 

Seriously speaking, I do find Tyson's fights usually boring (though it must be noted that the first one I watched live was Ruddock I). I hardly ever rewatch any Tyson bout.

 

I'd rather watch a Tyson interview than pretty much any current fighter fight. The most interesting living celebrity.

 

Tyson's fights became boring when his opponents started holding him every chance they got, which is illegal but was the only way even guys like Holyfield could possibly have a chance against him.

 

Holyfield had the ability to beat any version of Tyson whether he held or not, IMO.

Evenader Holyfield at his best was a FANTASTIC fighter.

 

Bull-shit. There's no way Holyfield wins that fight without holding. And this is especially true regarding a prime Tyson.

 

Holyfield was on gear, for fucks sake give it up. He's the most overrated HOF'r out there.

 

Agreed.

 

Tyson was one of the most talented fighters for sure. No doubting that. A guy about 5'9 to 5'10 or so taking down dudes a lot bigger than himself was very impressive.

 

I disagree.

 

Not sure if Holyfield would've won or not but I do think he'd have been one of Tyson's toughest opponents. Probably goes the distance.

 

Well, I mean "had the ability to beat" reads like kind of a bullshit way of saying I'd pick Holyfield to beat any version of Tyson, but didn't want to type that outright.

 

Holyfield always had the style, abilities and temperament to possibly beat a prime tyson...and there is no bigger Tyson fan here than me. Not saying Evander would have won...but it would have been a very competitive fight no doubt.

 

Clever.

 

that's what I meant to say originally. In other words he had the ability to do it...but not saying he would actually achieve it

 

BTW, which Holyfield are you using as the "prime" version for this discussion?

Because it can be argued that he didn't have the same temperament when he beat Tyson as he did when he first became heavyweight champion.

 

anyone who argues this is an idiot.

 

He didn't even have the same temperament in the first two Bowe fights...you can't argue he fought the same both times...but yeah, it's idioitic to suggest he made any changes after the Bowe loss, to mention he put on more weight and muscle (with what, it might be asked), and changed his style when he brought in Manny Steward.

But whatever, I'll wear your "idiot" label.

 

Not calling "you" an idiot..just whoever argues that Holyfield didn't have the same warrior temperament (assuming that's teh temperament you're talking about...because that's teh one I was talking about)

Holyfield made some adjustments for the 2nd Bowe fight...most of which was his pre-fight conditioning .....he bulked up. Secondly..he didn't allow bowe to get the last punch off at the end of rounds..as Bowe kept sucker punching him in the first fight on teh breaks and after the bell. Apart from that it was teh same Evander.

 

pinklon thomas was the first guy to show that tying up really frustrated mike. a young holyfield was too small to do anything but get KOed by tyson.

96 holyfield (out of his prime but bigger and more grapple oriented) would have a good chance against any tyson.

 

Did he beat Tyson by using his "warrior" mentality?

If you're talking about competitiveness, yeah, he always had that, but his mentality in fights with Foreman and Cooper made those fights harder than they had to be...and it wasn't enough to beat Bowe, a fight that showed he couldn't win with just that, and he did make changes, and I disagree that they were only physical...although, yes, I think he realized he came in too light against Bowe.

 

The older Holyfield was more cut out to follow that gameplan, although it'd be harder to do it and keep it up against a prime Tyson...and Holyfield had slowed down by the mid-90's with the added age and weight.

 

Holy would NOT beat the 86-88 Tyson! The 96 Tyson couldnt get off more than one punch at a time, and his reflexes were greatly diminshed. The 88 Tyson slips and counters alot of Holy's punches, and hurts him with fast combos. Holy either gets KO'd late, or losses a UD to a prime Mike.

The only heavys that beat a prime Tyson are the mid 60's Ali, and the 74 Foreman. Tyson vs a prime Holmes is a toss up IMO.

 

He also added STRENGTH in the mid 90's, which is a BIG part of how he beat Mike.

If they fought in 91 Holy woulda had a much harder time man handling Mike, and he woulda had a harder time dealing with Mike's speed.