Is Mike Tyson one of the most overrated fighters ever?

[g27region]

I think so, what is the best W on his resume?

Razor Ruddock? lol

Old "flabby and sick" Larry Holmes and light heavyweight Spinks

[taste]

Not during 1985 to 1989 I'd say he beats any heavyweight in History . Tyson had a weak mind once Cus died and Rooney out as trainer he was never the same no discipline

^ This right here. They were the glue that kept Mike together..

[Poppo168]

From what I've read he waited to turn pro while Tyson was in his prime. They sparred as amateurs and Tyson got the better of him, so Lewis' people had him wait it out. Not sure if that's the whole story, maybe there is more to it.

Hmm not sure that makes much sense to me as Lewis' team surely couldn't have known Tyson's prime would be short, so they could have been waiting for 10 years or so. I heard the sparring was competitive, Tyson won a round Lewis would come back stronger and win the next and vice versa, that's boxing though, everything is speculative.

[DinoCop]

Tyson was great but hard to rank him on p4ps.

[Double]

Old "flabby and sick" Larry Holmes and light heavyweight Spinks

Forgot about them, lol

[sugar ray lenrd]

Why people gets all emotional when they hear Golovkin's name? I don't even want to mention his name on this forum because his fans and his haters are equally ******ed

I've said you can make an argument for Golovkin's resume being better based on the fact that he has champion status for much longer period of time, not that his resume is better - that's debatable, at least you can try to understand that opinion.

They have almost the same level of defeated opposition (if you don't count old past prime Larry Holmes and small Michael Spinks, only two decent scalps in Tyson's resume) and no career defining win in their careers.

The difference is that there's way more obession with Tyson among casuals, they get angry when you tell them Tyson is far from being the most accomplished boxer of all time in terms of resume. They say he has THE BEST resume since Ali

It's way more annoying than stuff some Golovkin fans say

Matter of fact, Tyson doesn't have scalps of Tua, Holyfield, Klitschko level like Lewis. It's light heavyweight Spinks, old Holmes....and that's it

And I have more respect for Tyson than I have for 95% of boxers out here including Golovkin, but I have to be real

First of all I am not a GGG hater. I like GGG. He will beat Canelo. As far as P4P top 5 here is how i have it;
1-Ward
2-GGG
3-Thurman
4-Crawford
5- Kovalev

Tyson wiped out his division beat:
Pinklon Thomas (World Champion with 1 loss)
Razor Rud**** 2x (tuff son of a ***** ,with 1 loss)
Tony Tucker (undefeated world Champion)
Bruno 2x (tuff challenger with 2 loss) (world Champion)
Bonecrusher Smith (world champion)
Tyrell Biggs (undeated challenger)
Tony Tubbs (world champion 1 loss)
Carl Williams (went 15 rds with Larry Holmes only 2 loss)
Larry Holmes (Former Champion, went the distance against Holyfield)

He was the youngest champion in the history of boxing. Give the man his props!

[Mitchell Kane]

I imagine he's becoming under-rated at this point.

[sugar ray lenrd]

Old "flabby and sick" Larry Holmes and light heavyweight Spinks

here is a reality...Lennox win over Tyson was when he was washed up already. Fact, This was not the same Tyson everyone feared. FACT.

[Redd Foxx]

"Overrated", yes. No one could ever live up to that kind of legend so he's overrated in a literal sense. But, that doesn't mean he wasn't a damn good fighter and, I think his pre-prison fights are some of the most viscerally exciting I've ever watched. He didn't get to be an icon by accident.

[Mr Objecitivity]

You don't get the point. Nobody is saying that Tyson is a bad fighter or that he never had the potential. I'm saying that obsession with Tyson from casuals is getting on nerves sometimes. They say he's the BEST fighter EVER after Ali.

Some casual fan got emotional when I've told him Tyson's resume isn't all that. I've told him Lennox Lewis, Holyfield has better resumes, and there's a lot of other fighters from other divisions with a far superior resumes....and he was like What you've been smoking, with the expression like I've said some dumbest **** he ever heard

1) Define 'overrated'!

2) Find one other boxer, who's accomplishment at the very least equals that of Mike Tyson in the modern heavyweight era against modern heavyweight boxers that was roughly the same size as Mike Tyson (in height, weight and reach) overall.

Mike Tyson was shorter than GGG and fought at heavyweight, beat more bigger than self opponents in size than practically any other heavyweight boxer in history. His KO percentage, relative to his own size in both weight and height is better than any other boxer's KO percentage relative to their own size at modern heavyweight boxing. Mike Tyson really didn't have to compete at heavyweight due to his absolutely RIDICULOUS small sized body compared to majority of his opponents. However, it was his courage, guts and bravery that prompted him to build the extra muscles required to compete at heavyweight. I don't at all believe that Mike Tyson was naturally as big as he was during his fights. It's more plausible he worked out and exercised to build the extra muscles required to become a heavyweight.

Maybe if Mike Tyson didn't compete at heavyweight and instead fought at light heavyweight or cruiserweight, people would probably appreciate him a little bit more. P4P and inch for inch, Mike Tyson is evidently the greatest modern heavyweight there ever was. However, in an absolute sense, there's no possible way for him to surpass the giant super sized skillful heavyweights like the Klitschkos and Lennox Lewis and there's no shame in that. The fact that Mike Tyson was the greatest heavyweight for someone his own size his enough of an accomplishment to tell me that he wasn't 'overrated'. Otherwise, why aren't there any other boxers that have the same height and reach of Mike Tyson just going to the heavyweight division and easily surpassing Mike Tyson's heavyweight accomplishments? I'd let you think about that for awhile.