Why do people say Mike Tyson wasn't a great fighter?

Question

Most people say he is a bum and never fought anyone decent.

I think they judge him on his personal endeavors instead of his boxing. I think he was an extremely entertaining fighter to watch I loved his Peek a boo style and strength. His speed for a heavyweight was insane. It is true that he is completely out of his mind however I just look at him as a boxer. Anyone else feel this way?

Answer 1

To be completely honest i prefer to look at boxers from a stylistic point of view and in hat regard i think tyson was superb, for example muhammad ali is considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight of all time due to the high evel of competition he faced, some people who do not know about boxing say that he had one of the best defenses in boxing however anyone who actually boxes will tell you that his unorthodox defense was actually risky, he did not use his gloves to block hits he dodged and waived and relied on his reflexes (i am talking about prime ali not "rope a dope" ali) and while it worked for him it might not be the best defense for a young and upcoming boxer, Tyson on the other hand used a proven and tested defensive style,the peek a boo, and completely revolutionized it, he was extremely fast with it bobbing and weaving every time making it very hard to get him, he also knew how to set himself up to throw hard and precise punches and combinations and no other boxer of his era even came close in that aspect with the exception of perhaps holyfield. As far as skills go tyson should be rated high because d'amato really taught him well, in terms of accomplishments he was dominant for only three years but no boxer before or after him dominated in the same brutal manner and in such fearful fashion. And i get mad when see people criticize mike for not having a great level of competition and in the same breath say that dempsey was a top five boxer when he never even faced many greats (the only true great demspey faced in my opinion was gene tunney , guys like willard,carpentier and firpo would get tooled even by today's heavies).

Answer 2

tyson was a great fighter.he had a brilliant style.he is one of the only fighters that had an amazing combonation of speed and power.

BUT da matio would not have been able to control him.one of the biggest reasons why was because da matio made exceptions for him.its not that tyson was good its just that cus swept everything under the rug.when tyson was 16 cus told tyson that when he became champ that it wouldn't matter what he did.WELL HE WAS WRONG.

Answer 3

man mike tyson was the truth nuff said...c'mon how many first round k.o. he has? dude's was scared of him, not taking nothing from holyfeild, but every great fighter gets their turn. you had tyson, ali, roy jones, oscar, trinidad, and many others. but overall tyson was the sh*t man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

Well, that whole ear biting thing kinda did him in, not to mention the rape trial.

Answer 5

Im a fan of Tyson and boxing. So we no how good he was   but it was a short spell anb not as long as other but what we saw will live with us for a life time.

    

so you can say  that it  was 5 years  at the top and that was it you seen the best of him but what a great 5 years they was.



some just dislike him for what he did and there lots of bad things he did do that was wrong. like let the sport down chewing ears. you no what he has done evry one does but i dont see that i see him in the ring same as ali so i dont care what clay did or how nice or if he gave all his money to the homeless that does not make you the best boxer but tyson was not the best boxer and its not ali 2.

some love ali and thats up to them  and no matter what you say ail is there man. there is alot but  not all  a fair few  that dont like  rocky m .........they call him a bum i think hes beat than that.

what i dont understand is they never seen him fight  so how can they say that??   Ali is a graet true champion. and if you did a poll best of all time around the world Ali wins  as he is easy the most  biggest name out there  and tyson 2nd.

so the 1st name the  kids no in boxing is Ali. like football pele.

                          so alot of his fan never realy make there own mind up for them selfs   .  i think tyson would BEAT Ali when both at there best. some boxing fans think you a sicko for BEING a tyson fan  and they got class as they are Ali and say we no nothing about boxing?. not all but a few do and you no who you are............. ...........

Answer 6

because they look at the older tyson after he got out of jail he didnt have it no more in his prime he was one of the best but people dislike him because he is a convicted rapist if he had stayed on the right track who could of been top 3 but people like to keep running at the trap how holyfield and lewis beat him when he was all done and once in a while theyll mention the douglas fight a fight tyson did not show up for mentally thank don king for that in order for a fighter to stay on top you need to be in top shape and you need to have your head screwed on tyson lost his head a long time ago its a shame

Answer 7

he wasn't a great boxer. he was a great intimidator. he won most of his fights before they even started. people were terrified of his puching power. he was very entertaining to watch though. even if most of his bouts only lasted 1-2 minutes.

Answer 8

Because he was only the 4th best fighter of his era (yes, Bowe would have beaten him too!).

Answer 9

Most of the people spewing the hate have issues with themselves.  You can tell just by the remarks they make.  "So n so" would KO Tyson in 2 -3 rounds.  

Set the record straight,  for better or worse,  NO ONE in the division's History would KO Mike Tyson in 2 rounds.  He would Certainly lose to some of the greats but Tyson had, perhaps the Best chin in boxing,  certainly one of them.  

There are many reasons why some hate Tyson.  I will list a few.

1. Haters usually hate because others hate.  They are rarely leaders,  usually followers.  Some of the people who hate Tyson don't really know much about him at all.  

2. Tyson WAS great but for only a short period of time.  He COULD have been better.  People are disappointed because they know he squandered much of his career.  His character is not so good.  

3. Of the Top 4 fighters, his peers,  Tyson had the most promise.  The other 3 were supposed to be Tyson ''victims'' at one time or another.   It didnt turn out that way.  The guy with the least amount of respect in the beginning, Lennox Lewis,  turns out to be number 1.  

Counting The olympics, since Bowe ran from Lennox, Lennox holds a victory over each of them and an unfair draw vs Holyfield.  3-0-1......Should be 4-0  

Bowe: 2-2,  The olympic loss to Lennox, a loss to Holyfield and 2 wins over Holyfield

Holyfield: 3-1-1,  should be 3-2

Tyson 0-3

Those are NOT good numbers for a Great fighter.  

At his best Tyson would have been a handfull for ANY fighter.

Tyson did a lot of foolish things out of the ring as well.   But for all his stupidity,  the ONE thing I DO NOT think he was totally guilty of is the rape case.   He DID have s*x with her but I lived not far from her and know many who know her.  Nearly ALL of them have said, at one time or another, that she had "Plans" for Mike.  When they didn't pan out she yelled rape.   Mike was just stupid to ever be involved with her at all.

Answer 10

I don’t think Tyson was a bum, and those who say he was are probably reacting (to some degree) to his fans’ claims that he was the greatest fighter who ever lived.  He was exciting and he had some superb skills, but he also had one serious limitation: Stamina.  Even in his prime he was pretty much a five-round fighter.  After five rounds he struggled due to a lack of stamina.  He either knocked his opponent out in the first few rounds or he was in trouble.  In his fight with Douglas and his first fight with Holyfield he exhausted himself well before he got knocked out.  He had a good chin, but a good chin won’t save an exhausted fighter.  Mike also had very good defensive skills when he was fighting offensively, but fatigue also took that away from him.  Prior to the Holyfield fight one pundit said Holyfield would win if he could make Tyson pay on the way in and then tie Tyson up, and that’s exactly what Evander did.  I remember when he got inside and got tied up.  He didn’t know how to deal with that and wasted a lot of energy trying to pull his arms free.  When he was fresh, which was only in the early going, he could get inside without getting hit too often.  As he wore down he would get hit and wasn’t able to hit back.

As others have said, Tyson was an intimidator.  When he began fighting the better opponents who weren’t intimidated, he had trouble.  Had he fought them at his peak he probably would have lost to at least some of them. They knew that if they could get him past the fifth round they could win the fight.

I think the bottom line on Tyson is that he was a five-round fighter, and he was a great five-round fighter.  But no matter how great a fighter is for five rounds he’s not a candidate for all-time greatness if he starts going down hill after those five rounds are up.  I never saw Mike “come on strong” to win late in a fight.  That’s what great fighters have to be able to do.

Answer 11

you can put questions on here about Tyson till ya go green,but the same illogical redneck mob who seem to dominate this section with drivel will go on and on and on,this is the same lot who seem to literally sit at their computers all day answering question about fighters no one has ever seen fight and calling them great!!The amount of questions and answers Ive seen removed by these trolls(they know who they are)when anyone says anything positive about Tyson is astonishing,I think these people are the reason why many are switching to Root-zoo and other sites,as I have done!

Answer 12

He was a legit great fighter from 1985 until 1989.

From 1990 and on, he was VERY over rated. It still boggles my mind to this day that people actually thought he could beat Lennox Lewis in 2002. ****, he couldn't even beat Kevin McBride.

Maybe in 1988, but not 2002.

Answer 13

They just hatin.

Answer 14

He was a good fighter until he started do those crimes and going to prison did not help him. He also bit off Two times Evander Holyfield Ear that disgraced him in the entire boxing industry because people watch them to box and to give a good show not to go biting ears half off.  Besides all of that I thought he was a great fighter and could have done better if tried harder.

Answer 15

Not a bum, but he's been knocked out by every primed, athletic and prepared (meaning unscared) fighter he went up against.  Any thoughts of his loss to Douglas as a fluke went out the door when Evander Holyfield blasted him.  Both Douglas and Evander came into the ring inshape, prepared and unafraid and poor Mikey didn't know what to do.

Answer 16

He did things wrong, rape and assault for example

Like Chris Benoit, when you do things wrong you gain hatred and no-one wants to talk good about you.