Where does Mike Tyson rank among histories great heavyweights?

Question

If you don't rank him number one,what heavyweights would you rank above him and list them in order please. Looking foward to your answers.

Answer 1

I would agree with most peoples answers as i probably wouldnt put him in my top ten, but i do think we bag on Tyson a bit, everyone has a pop about the standard of fighter he fought in those early days but to be fair he beat allcomers, he beat every Heavyweight out there and he in my opinion would of been capable of beating quite a few on some of the lists above in those days, he unified the titles and became the undisputed and undefeated Heavyweight champion of the world which as i remember is the last time this has happened and may well be the last time it happens.
I remember when i was younger watching Tyson blowing away Berbick, Holmes and Spinks and many others and he was the most frightening boxer i had ever seen step in the ring, he really did strike fear into every opponent he faced (remember Spinks looking like a lost sheep) and you could say that like the Great Ali he had won most of his fights even before the 1st bell sounded. I think we should give him a little more credit than we have been.
In my list i would have him about 11th or 12th which in my eyes would still class him as a great considering the fighters above him which would be:

1, Muhammed Ali
2, George Foreman
3, Joe Frazier
4, Joe Louis
5, Jack Johnson
6, Rocky Marciano
7, Jack Dempsey
8, Larry Holmes
9, Sonny Liston
10, Floyd Patterson
11, Mike Tyson

I do also believe that if he hadnt bumped into that Givens women he would of gone on to break into the top 5 of my list, he is without doubt the biggest waste of talent ever in boxing.

Answer 2

He's definitely in the top 10 heavyweights. Nobody in heavyweight history was as feared or as dominant as he was during his best 6-7 years. Also, he deserves a lot of credit for regaining TWO (2) titles after being in jail for 3 years. He had 11 title defenses in under 6 years, which is extremely impressive.

And to add to that, Tyson was 37-0 with 43 knockout, 19 in the first round, before losing his first fight to Bust Douglas. That is untouchable.

Answer 3

Ali
Jack Johnson
Joe Louis
George Foreman
Sonny Liston
Joe Frazier
Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsy
Evander Holyfield
Lennox Lewis
Buster Douglas

And about thirty or forty other heavyweights who didn't have the Juice Cus and Jacobs did to get 35 or 40 guys to tank the early part of Tyson's career. (watch the tape of Bruce Seldon getting ko'ed by a punch that misses by at least a foot). Mike Tyson quit on his stool to end his career, heart like that dishoners the likes of the boxing greats. Guys like Ernie Shavers and Kenny Norton would have beat Mike down. The blogbaba never bought the hype, Iron Mike rusted when Pinklin Thomas sold out and took all those punches just to double his purse.

Sorry to shatter your illusions, but Tyson was never one of the Greats.

Answer 4

In his prime, which ended shortly after he acquired the WBC belt, he was nearly invincible. He began spiraling downward after beginning to work with King. His life, and more importantly his entire boxing style changed, or more appropriately diminished, his head movement, ring movement, everything. He just wanted to walk through people, and if he couldn't, then you stood a good chance of upsetting him. To make a sad thing worse, a lot of people seem to have forgotten the talented Tyson that was, and focus on the mess of a man he is now.

To be fair, you cannot ignore the upsets, losses, and transgressions of Tyson in the process of ranking his overall career, especially against the careers of others. Tyson is one of a kind. His career played out like a drama of a man rising to be an invincible warrior, to king, then falling. He then spent the rest of his career trying to achieve what he did so easily all those years before. It's an action/drama full of ups and downs, it's actually sad, and undeniably unique.

It will most likely be a very very long time, if ever, that a man becomes heavyweight champ younger than Tyson, or has even close to much of an impact on it. Heavyweight boxing today is in need of another "Tyson," but will probably not receive it. Tyson is respected by any sensible analyst, fighter, or trainer in boxing, and even beyond.

He revived and unified a dying and shattered division. In his prime, there are few fighters that could have ever hung with him. No heavyweight ever possessed the package that Tyson did, with his combination of speed, power, and honest to God sound technical style. All-Time, Tyson has to be in the top ten, and I would say should reasonably be in the top five, even three. He was that good when he was good. It wasn't that he beat a bunch of nobodies, but that he made even the good fighters look like nothing. It unfortunate that the Tyson that was never fought Holyfield, Lewis, or Douglas, let alone the other men that beat him.

Very long story made short, is I think a lot of people sleep of Tyson people of the very low lows he hit. Maybe I dwell to much on the high highs he had. But I think it's undeniable that he is amongst the greatest ever. I'm sorry but I had to say all that. It bothers me that we blindly judge him and hate on him. No man ever fought as fast and ferociously as Tyson did.

Answer 5

when it comes to all time greats you can argue til you're blue in the face. so therefore you have to go with accomplishments, mike was the yongest to win the title which is impressive and he came in at a time when everyone was so equal as far as talent was concerned where you would have a champ and then he'd lose but once mike entered the division he stabilized it and we all knew he was something special true he couldv'e used a little more boxing skills but he disposed of these guys in quick easy fashion, he fought everyone they put in his way and if he hadn't went to prison and got involved with Don King and Robin Givens i really think he'd be in the top 3 as best of all time. looking through history not many fighters had really tough opponents besides ali and he only really had frazier and foreman, and foreman was just a tall guy who threw wild punches that any good boxer with decent size would have beat him. but all the others champs and there were some great one really never had a true counterpart to make them great, holmes, lewis, spinks,patterson really didn't be anyone we didn't expect them to beat. don't forget Cooney was considered a tough opponent for holmes and spinks and he aint even in the top 200 heavyweights of all time. so love him or hate him tyson imposed his will on the best the division had at the time and we would just wait to see who could survive the first round. i rank him in at least the top 5.

Answer 6

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Jack Johnson
4. Marciano
5. Tunney
6. Dempsey
7. Foreman
8. Harry Wills
9. Langford
10. Smokin Joe Frazier
11. Charles
12. Holyfield
13. Holmes
14. John L. Sullivan
15. Fitzsimmons
16. Corbett
17. Liston
18. Joe Jeannette
19. Walcott
20. Peter Jackson
21. Jeffries
22. Lennox Lewis
23. Tyson

Answer 7

These are the fighters I would rank above Tyson (in no real order)

Muhammad Ali
Joe Louis
Lennox Louis
Larry Holmes
Sam Longford
Sonny Liston
George Foreman
Jack Johnson
Jack Dempsey (Possibly)

Answer 8

1) Muhammed Ali
2) Rocky Marciano
3) John L Sullivan
4) Jack Dempsey
5) George Foreman
6) Teofilo Stevenson (and he might need to go higher)
7) Larry Holmes
8) Joe Frazier
9) Vitaly Klitschko
10) Evander Holyfield
I would place several journeymen above Tyson... Buster Douglas, Tony Chiaverini, Jerry Quarry, Ken Norton (who would probably #11 on my list), Ingemar Johanssen, Floyd Patterson, and Sonny Liston among others. Tyson was not really that good of a boxer...he could brawl when he felt the need, but was a poor technical boxer with little skill.

Answer 9

Brent I agree with Santana as he doesn't rank in my top 10 either. He never beat anyone except a frightened Michael Spinks losing badly to Holyfield, Douglas, and Lewis not to mention a few no name fighters. I have the following fighters ranked ahead of him:

1. Rocky Marciano
2. Joe Louis
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Jack Johnson
5. George Foreman
6. Gene Tunney
7. Joe Frazier
8. Larry Holmes
9. Evander Holyfield
10. Sonny Liston
11. Ezzard Charles
12. Lennox Lewis
13. Jersey Joe Walcott
14. Floyd Patterson
15. Max Schemeling

Answer 10

1. Ali (just simply the greatest)
2. Frazier (he beat the greatest and lost to him to)
3. Lewis (he beat everybody he has ever faced and he beat the best of his era)
4. Marciano (40-0)
5. Patterson (two time champ and he was the true champion)
6. Tyson (brought boxing back to life)
7. Louis (talented boxer)
8. Foreman (big puncher, can knock anyone out)
9. Johnson (big powerful heavyweight, fought anybody who was willing)
10. Michael Spinx (unbeaten until Tyson)