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Top 10 Greatest Heavyweight Boxers

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EdHochuli'sTriceps

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2004
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tyson was ruthless against fighters who were beaten before the opening bell

whatever else was going on in his life, the other great heavyweight of his era punked & humiliated him twice

douglas hit him back, and he fell victim to the greatest upset in heavyweight history

he never won a tough fight

if you don't see how that diminishes him in comparison to fighters like ali, you might not get sports/competition

and d'amato enabled tyson. the notion of him as some kind of tough love father figure is horseshit. he was just another opportunist

agree with whoever says tunney is overlooked. won all of his fights except for a loss and a draw against arguable top 10 p4poat harry greb, who he beat 3 times
 
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wildcat1973_rivals160373

Heisman
Dec 18, 2004
64,461
16,913
0
Tyson in his prime wouldn't have stood a chance against Ali. Ali was bigger, faster, stronger, and quicker. He would've toyed with Tyson. No offense to young Tyson, who was great...but Ali before the draft suspension was undefeated...and for good reason.
 
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EdHochuli'sTriceps

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2004
368
142
0
liston was tyson before tyson, and foreman was like tyson on steroids

pre-suspension ali moved like mayweather. post-suspension ali had a chin like gatti

tyson melted down in big spots. that's not what ali did
 
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Mojocat_rivals48469

Heisman
Jan 29, 2003
18,120
12,185
0
wildcat1973 said:
Tyson in his prime wouldn't have stood a chance against Ali. Ali was bigger, faster, stronger, and quicker. He would've toyed with Tyson. No offense to young Tyson, who was great...but Ali before the draft suspension was undefeated...and for good reason.
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EdHochuli'sTriceps said:
liston was tyson before tyson, and foreman was like tyson on steroids.
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wadr, that's not my recollection. For all of Ali's physical greatness, his mind may have been his greatest asset. Can't say the same about Tyson, obviously. So if Ali were to beat Tyson, and he may have, it would have been the mental over the physical. But I think you guys are selling Tyson's skills short.
 
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EdHochuli'sTriceps

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2004
368
142
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ali had quick hands, quick feet and a 7 inch reach advantage on tyson, who made his name springing across the ring and overwhelming petrified opponents

at no point in his career did he ever outbox an opponent even remotely similar to ali

ali was 2-1 against a similar fighter in frazier, 2-0 against a similar bully in liston, and on top of that beat a young foreman as a huge underdog

tyson could not have gotten to the young ali. and the old ali would have mindf--ked him so bad he'd have bitten his own ear off
 
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Nubb16

Heisman
Jun 30, 2005
128,715
10,042
67
Holyfield really kicked Tyson's *** twice. Beat him good. I think Ali in his prime beats anybody. Ski kept his damn hands down because he was so fast he could get by with it and therefore didn't get punch fatigue like other boxers. He was always moving very hard to hit. He had reach speed and Ali had power too. Not to mention he was a great strategic boxer. Had a great chin. Ali is the greatest heavy weight to me and Joe Louis is up there too.
 
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krazykats

Heisman
Nov 6, 2006
23,768
14,723
0
All you really need to analyze is Ali's length and do you think Ali would fold?

Can you imagine how loose Tyson would get with a young Ali(Cassius Clay) just running his mouth while kicking Tyson's ***?

He would come unglued and Ali would open up. Tyson was legit as anyone could be in his time but Ali was on the next level in his prime.

Had Ali not missed 3 years his skills wouldn't have diminished.
 
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Perrin75

Senior
Aug 9, 2001
3,810
753
0
Tyson was outclassed by most of his contemporaries. He lost to Holyfield and Lewis. They didn't fight, but I wouldn't have liked his chances against Bowe either. Even in his Prime, a Boxer like Lewis would have destroyed him. Tyson's struggled putting away Larry Holmes who was 38, and had been away from boxing for awhile before that fight. He was using his jab very effectively, but just ran out of gas. And the sad thing is that Holmes was probably the second best win of his career. The fact Tyson knocked out a couple of stiffs quickly doesn't make him one of the greatest.
 
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EdHochuli'sTriceps

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2004
368
142
0
Chuckinden said:
It was great until Don King came along.
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yeah because the organized crime elements that controlled boxing in the preceding decades were so different

dearth of quality heavyweights is what damaged boxing's popularity in america more than anything. and that would seem to be because of big, athletic kids choosing basketball and football
 
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rabidcatfan

Senior
Jan 25, 2003
9,198
512
0
Mojocat said:
wadr, that's not my recollection. For all of Ali's physical greatness, his mind may have been his greatest asset. Can't say the same about Tyson, obviously. So if Ali were to beat Tyson, and he may have, it would have been the mental over the physical. But I think you guys are selling Tyson's skills short.
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For Ali to beat Tyson prime vs. prime, Ali would have to use his expert foot-work to beat him. Cus developed Tysons style to negate his height differential as at 5-10 (generous) he was several inches shorter than his average competition. Heavyweight boxers of the 80's and 90's were generally in the 6'2 to 6'4 height range. Tyson was undersized and so Cus developed his style to keep him protected while he decreased the distance between himself and his opponent to negate reach advantage.

Ali would have had to dance around Tyson and let him punch himself out while he worked in his jab to tire Tyson out and frustrate him and then when Ali finds his opening hit him with several quick combinations to secure the win. Much the same way he beat Liston. That being said, Tyson was a better "boxer" than Liston was because Tyson (at least early on) was a fundamentally sound fighter who had great timing and was probably the best snug fighter in the history of the sport.

My serious prediction for that fight is if it were 1964-70 Ali vs. 1985-89 Tyson, then Tyson with the KO by round 5 unless Ali can effectively stay away from Tyson for the first 5 rounds while simultaneously landing the jab and forcing Tyson to punch himself out and take advantage of his 13" reach advantage on Tyson. Otherwise it's night-night, because no amount of "chin" would keep Ali standing after a few vicious head shots from Tyson and Ali wouldn't want to stand there bobbing and weaving trying to avoid shots from such a dangerous puncher.

That being said, I still rank Ali much higher than Tyson because of his longevity as a formidable contender in the heavyweight ranks and the fact that Ali was able to beat several of the greatest boxers of all time in Liston, Frazier, Foreman, Patterson, Norton, etc.

For the record, not that it means anything, but I simulated the fight on Fight Night Round 4 on XBox 360 10 times and Tyson won the fight 7 out of 10 times - each time by KO. Just saying...:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
 
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