upper cut. I saw Foreman and his son in the Bush Airport once and they were huge. I followed Foreman but Tyson turned me off - a nasty person on so many levels.

He wasn’t a great boxer as such but he was a hell of a fighter. He scared the shit out of people.

Like, it didn't seem like he could really be hurt, but he could hurt you ... bad. He was like a robot.

I will also say, the first Tyson/Holyfield fight was pretty friggin awesome.

And I don't think Tyson was re-thinking his career until after he lost the decision (if he ever did so). Holyfield didn't whup his ass or anything, it went the distance and he barely won. It was exciting as hell at the time.

The rematch, obviously ... not so much.

You're right about most of your arguments. Tyson had a great punch but as you say, he was on the small side for heavyweights in height and reach. He wouldn't have made it in the 60s-70s, the golden age of the heavyweights. What with Ali, Liston, Frazier, Lyle, Shavers, Foreman, Holmes, Norton, Young, even Quarrie... all of them would done well against Tyson. And some like Shavers, Lyle, Liston and Foreman had punches to match or best Tyson's. And Holmes, Liston and Ali had the best jabs ever seen. Holmes and Liston had the great, straight power jabs while Ali had the fastest, flicking and repeating jab ever.

IMO Tyson would've fell to them as he did with Douglas and Holyfield as none of them would been afraid of him as they all fought each other without dodging fights.

And he fought a great fight in Tokyo giving Tyson his first loss by a KO. tyson the bully got bullied himself. It didn't help Tyson any that he had fired his longtime trainer Kevin Rooney before the fight. Hooking up with Don King was the big mistake Tyson made.

Evander Holyfield and then Lennox Lewis did well against him. Lewis in particular gave him a good boxing lesson and punished him in the process, resulting in an 8th round KO.. Tyson in the 1980s was absolutely fearsome, knocking the vast majority of his opponents out in the first 3 or 4 rounds. If a fighter could weather the storm and had the reach advantage and superior boxing skills, Tyson would be in trouble as the article talked about his lack of reach. Joe Frazier had the same problem in his time; while he could brutalize an opponent with body shots and that lethal left hook, he had to get close in to connect and that made him vulnerable to a lot of punishment from taller opponents.

I wonder how Tyson would have fared against Earnie Shavers in his prime- no way that fight would result in a decision between those two sluggers.

about Ron Lyle's power too. And of course Liston's. Which is why I say Tyson would've been an also ran during the 60s and 70s, the golden age of heavyweights.

And then the 1980s was a great decade for the welterweights and middleweights.

I had forgotten about Ron Lyle; he was serving a prison sentence and almost died after being stabbed by an inmate. Also, I read he beat some impressive opponents like Shavers.

and all those great welters and middleweights.

I’ve seen these fighters and some of these fights (TV of course) but not a real follower of boxing. Gracias!

He was a monster before that. Truly Iron Mike

As some posters above touched on, Tyson wilted when he faced opponents who were known for their mettle.

I'm not really qualified to say whether or not he's a good boxer. I've barely seen him fight. Forty seconds here. A minute and a half there. Hard to get a feel...lol.

And it wasn't just Ali and Foreman. See Post number 6. You're probably too young to know that was the golden era of great heavyweights.

I think Don King was the reason that I quit watching boxings.