How great...

[butterfly1964]

would muhammad ali have been had he not been layed off from 1967-1970? Also how great would mike tyson be if he listened to rooney and stayed with him?






















































































i believe then without a doubt the two best hw's ever by far would be ali and tyson, in no particular order.

[supaduck]

I agree with most of it, but I don't think Tyson would have been as good as Joe Louis or on par with Ali even had he stayed with Rooney (but he would have won those fights he lost and lasted longer).

[the traveler]

You know, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if Mike would have been that much better. Mike's problem was never really the knowledge of tecnique it was the discipline to stick to the technique and the patience to stick to his training. Sure, Rooney would have been there to be in his ear when he was punching wildly, but it's only so much that a guy can say to someone that doesn't have the heart to put in 100 percent a 100 percent of the time.

[supaduck]

Yeah. A better question would be a motivated Tyson, how well would he do?

[Kid Achilles]

How great would Dempsey have been if he didn't forsake training for girls and booze once he won the title? How great would Louis be if America never entered WW2 and he wasn't force to stop fighting professionally for a few years? How great would Max Baer be if he actually tried in most of his fights? How great would Rocky Marciano be if he learned how to box sooner than when he was 22 years old?

This is one of the oldest questions in boxing. Ali was not a special case by any means. Many of the great champions had their own "Vietnam War" that prevented them from reaching their full potential.

[butterfly1964]

How great would Dempsey have been if he didn't forsake training for girls and booze once he won the title? How great would Louis be if America never entered WW2 and he wasn't force to stop fighting professionally for a few years? How great would Max Baer be if he actually tried in most of his fights? How great would Rocky Marciano be if he learned how to box sooner than when he was 22 years old?

This is one of the oldest questions in boxing. Ali was not a special case by any means. Many of the great champions had their own "Vietnam War" that prevented them from reaching their full potential.

ok, now dempsey when he fought gibbons was 28, louis was 28 when he went to war, baer not trying is his fault, and marciano was unskilled period. my point is that those guys actually reached their peak, and ali and tyson never did. ali was 25 when he was stripped, and tyson was 24 or something when he went to jail and all that. i'm saying what if they reached their peak, how great they would have been.

[Southpaw Stinger]

Tyson had his peak and broke down mentally before he went to prison. He couldn't handle any loss or people who refused to be intimidated by him. He couldn't adapt so I don't think there was anything more for Tyson. But at his short lived peak he was very impressive.

[RockyMarcianofan00]

ok, now dempsey when he fought gibbons was 28, louis was 28 when he went to war, baer not trying is his fault, and marciano was unskilled period. my point is that those guys actually reached their peak, and ali and tyson never did. ali was 25 when he was stripped, and tyson was 24 or something when he went to jail and all that. i'm saying what if they reached their peak, how great they would have been.

well as long as what if

what if Marciano's manager wasn't deciving taking all his money and had actually gotten him a trainer that would have taught him to box. His trainer was good but what he did is take what you knew and mold it to what he thought was good instead of teaching Marciano to be a better boxer, he just taught Marciano how to take a punch, which is good but had he knew how to box he could have been as good as foreman.

if cus stayed alive or he kept with rooney there's little doubht in my mind Tyson would have been undefeated because no boxer he ever faced could have stood up to prime Tyson, not Holyfeild,not Lewis,not douglas,not williams, and especially not mcbride and thats all the people he lost too so, i think prime tyson may have even Ko'd old foreman (though he wouldn't have tried)

[Southpaw Stinger]

if cus stayed alive

Very selfish of cus to die like that! lol

[RockyMarcianofan00]

Very selfish of cus to die like that! lol

lol no i was just saying

he was what helped Tyson stay on the right track