Is Mike Tyson A ATG?

[Sweet Jesus]

bunch of idiots are posting in the history section of late...

to claim Mike Tyson is not an ATG is laughable and shows just how much these morons know about the sport of boxing... Tyson was the youngest heavyweight champion in history he cleaned the division and unified the title beating every fighter in the division who was thought of as being a threat to him or who was at the top of their game.. Tysons PPV numbers are the greatest ever for a heavyweight, Mike made more money than any fighter in boxing history and is a 2x champion.... the clowns on here who claim he is not an ATG are the same ones who claim Marco Antonio Barrera is an ATG

Yeah those posters are brain dead. Mike was the youngest heavy champ ever and unified the division twice. He was one of the most talented and exciting heavyweights of all time. He was one of the most feared men in the world during his prime.

Tyson IMO is top 50 all time.

[Sweet Jesus]

I accidentally voted no,he is an ATG

Only because of how he beat people,not who he beat

Mike had 44 KO's. 22 came in the first round. 7 more in the 2nd. Top 3 all-time puncher.

[DR.ORGYY]

Yes.............

[Toney616]

Yeah those posters are brain dead. Mike was the youngest heavy champ ever

Tyson had no business being a champ at such an early age he was basically pushed into it because Cus wanted him to be a champion before he died. Look what happened to him soon afterwards.

and unified the division twice.

Once, before prison, after prison he beat Bruno to claim the WBC belt and then beat Sheldon to get the WBA belt. He was stripped of the WBC belt for not fighting his mandatory who was Lewis.

He was one of the most talented and exciting heavyweights of all time. He was one of the most feared men in the world during his prime.

Tyson IMO is top 50 all time.

This has nothing to do with him qualifying as a ATG

[Toney616]

He seemed pretty damn consistent from 1985 until 1990 (37-0-0).

His career started in 85, but he wouldnt start building on his legacy until fighting Berbick at the end of 86.So you have from end of 86-91 : roughly 4 years
post prison his career started from mid 95-mid 2005: roughly 10 years.
So he basically had 4 good years and 10 bad years

As for adversity, i think going to prison for 3 years and then winning the WBC and WBA belts within 4 fights while not being your best is pretty good. Not to mention everything he faced before destroying Spinks.

When I talk about adversity Im talking about how he acted in his toughest fights.
Holyfield I: You could see his workrate and confidence dropping from around round 3 onwards.
Holyfield II: He bit Holyfields ear off
Lewis: He basically gave up after round 1
Botha: He tried to break his arm
Ruddock I: low blows, headbutts, hitting on the break
Douglas: he seemed to be mentally out of it from round 1

[T.Horton]

He cleaned the division of tomato cans; there were no great heavyweights in that era. And how much money a fighter generates does not make one an ATG. He was a good fighter, but does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Ali, Louis, Dempsey, etc. People like you who claim Tyson was an ATG strike me as people who have never seen the real ATGs fight.

then how can you possibly class Dempsey as an all-time great?

[Toney616]

to claim Mike Tyson is not an ATG is laughable and shows just how much these morons know about the sport of boxing... Tyson was the youngest heavyweight champion in history he cleaned the division and unified the title beating every fighter in the division who was thought of as being a threat to him or who was at the top of their game..

That was from around late 86-91, approx 4 years. The divison wasnt very good, so to qualify as a ATG you then have to be consistent i.e be a top ranked fighter for a long period of time. He had only 4 years. What about the other 10 years of his career?

Tysons PPV numbers are the greatest ever for a heavyweight, Mike made more money than any fighter in boxing history and is a 2x champion.

This has nothing to do with being ranked a ATG

[Toney616]

While we were eating, Benton said, "Bobby, what's up with Foreman and Tyson, how come they're not fighting each other on the 16th? Isn't that the fight that King was trying to make?" He said, " Georgie,You'll never believe this but, ****in' Tyson is scared ****less of Foreman and wants no part of him. I was there when Don was trying to make the fight. He was telling Tyson that Foreman represented huge money, plus he was old and slow and would be no problem. Tyson got up and screamed at King saying, 'I'm not fightin' that ****in' animal, if you love the mother****er so much, you fight him!'"

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change $ to s
What kind of ATG ducks a 40 year old fighter?

[DeepSleep]

He's a top 10 Heavyweight of all time so he's most certainly an ATG.

[Sweet Jesus]

Tyson had no business being a champ at such an early age he was basically pushed into it because Cus wanted him to be a champion before he died. Look what happened to him soon afterwards.

Once, before prison, after prison he beat Bruno to claim the WBC belt and then beat Sheldon to get the WBA belt. He was stripped of the WBC belt for not fighting his mandatory who was Lewis.

This has nothing to do with him qualifying as a ATG

How can you say Mike was in no position to be heavy champ so young? He unified all 3 titles vs. 3 champions in less than a year. He also ran through Spinks for the lineal title. He ran through his first 10 title fights.

I think anybody with any sanity realizes Mike's prime ended when he was inactive for 4 years serving his prison sentence. He was still able to unify the WBA & WBC, however briefly, after he came out of prison. That's pretty damn impressive. Mike fought everyone in front of him, and before jail, was lighting in a bottle.