[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:
It bothers me when people talk about Tyson as if he was only a puncher. That’s true of his post prison career sure, and its probably the part that people remember the most sadly.
In his youth the dude was a nearly PERFECT fighter. I do not think I am exaggerating. Deep seated issues aside, he is technically perfect in his youth. He had a ramrod, accurate jab, excellent technique and leverage, his footwork is vastly underrated (show me how many fighters can go from standing in front of you to being right at your fucking side, in position to take your head off before you can even blink), he had phenomenal speed, I would go as far as saying he was faster than Ali, and he always threw punches in bunches.
He had great defense, maybe some of the best ever exhibited in the heavyweight division. It is completely demoralizing to be in there with someone who can not only hit you like a truck, but you can’t hit him back. Everytime you throw, you miss and he makes you pay.
As to talk of tyson being only a frontrunner, honestly what examples are there of this. The bonecrusher smith fight showed tyson was more than willing to adapt to an opponent who was going to try to survive to the late rounds, and he thoroughly outboxed smith with simple combinations for the rest of the night when he saw what kind of fight it was going to be. Mitch green held up for 10 rounds too, Tyson showed no signs of fatigue, and adjusted his pace accordingly. IT’s not like he was a dumb fighter. To the contrary, a true student of the game.
I wouldn’t give much credence to examples from tyson’s post prison career since it was widely known he was well on his way to becoming a full blown alcoholic, had a cocaine habit and was reportedly seen partying just mere days before some fights. Its no more use using these fights as examples if we’re talking about “primes” than it using examples of Ali’s late career of how he would be a punching bag, you follow?
As to Ali vs Tyson, I don’t know. Some people say foreman was a bigger puncher than tyson, but thats just the thing, young tyson never threw just one punch. It was furious and most importantly, accurate combinations.
I dont want to say decisively who takes it, because i believe it could go either way. But people act like it’s impossible Ali could get knocked out or even down. He was downed multiple times by frazier, and frazier is not as big, not as fast and not as accurate as Tyson was. Late rounds, decision Ali. Troubled waters early, KO tyson.
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Agree with this. I watched a couple of Tyson’s last amateur fights and then all his professional fights up until he became champion. The guy had amazing head movement. He also went to the body a lot. But he got quite a few knockouts, and around the time he became champion he got lazy. He started head hunting, not going to the body as much. He also stopped moving his head as much to slip his opponents punches. I wonder if Cus would have kept him in line, or whether he was destined to get lazy because he was the champion. Would have been interesting if Cus lived a few years longer.
