Mike Tyson's Prime

I'm a Tyson fan which always is unpopular on boxing websites. I'll say this: He's the best athlete I've ever seen at Heavyweight. I don't think anyone's ever had a better combination of speed, quickness, strength and power in the division. He also knew how to box, had great instincts, trained hard, and had a solid chin. He was by no means unstoppable, but his biggest weakness was always mental instability.

My question is simple: when was Tyson's prime?

My take is that he never had one. There was never one fight or stretch where he put everything together and showed everything he had. By the time he got to Douglass he had lost his hunger and got beat. When he came back from jail he was a different fighter. However, during his reign he had flashes of brilliance. In one fight he might show solid defense and movement, in another hand speed and combinations, in another endurance, in another toughness and a chin, etc. But all his skill and other athletic abilities got overshadowed by the KOs. And if he didn't get the KO, it was seen as a failure. The story becomes Mike has trouble with this type of fighter, and not Tyson wins by a wide UD or late TKO. So Tyson's prime becomes this hypothetical patchwork of things he could do based off of different pieces he showed.

It started with beating bums and cab drivers and going 10 rounds with Mitch Greens and ended with a KO of a Light Heavyweight Champion

Thats not a bad point about Gumby! Mike really never had a prime! I guess Bird is right it was closest probably when he KOed Mike Spinks but he never really had time to really enjoy his prime. Like him or not the guy had the tools to be 1 of the best of all time the problem is he could never put it all together!

timthebim wrote:

Thats not a bad point about Gumby! Mike really never had a prime! I guess Bird is right it was closest probably when he KOed Mike Spinks but he never really had time to really enjoy his prime. Like him or not the guy had the tools to be 1 of the best of all time the problem is he could never put it all together!

There are about 1,000 other guys we could say the same thing about. Tyson IMO was in his so called prime like you guys said when he beat Spinks. But really Tyson is not even one of the top guys of his era but a lot of people think he was one of the top 10 ever.

Tyson bridged the gap between Holmes and the 1990s filled with alot of top fighters (Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis).

captainanddew wrote:

Tyson bridged the gap between Holmes and the 1990s filled with alot of top fighters (Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis).

I agree with this, however I think "Gumby" deserves some points for being brave enough to come out for his fighter. In the end, all we have are opinions. Our love of the "Sweet Science" is why we meet here. My father was a devoted Tyson fan and although I never understood how somebody could like Mike Tyson, I respected his opinion. To be honest Gumby (and please know that this is my opinion. As I always say, alot of folks can disagree with me and they could be right.), I think Mike changed according to who he fought. Mike's statement, "Everyone has a plan until they get hit" was somewhat biographical. Early in his career, Kevin Rooney gave him a whole bunch of numbers that represented combos. He looked like something out of the mind of an evil scientist. Then he got hit. I don't think it mattered who it was. Whether it was Douglass, Holyfield or who ever, Tyson stopped fighting and became a punching bag. I think this was the same fighter who fought a terrified Michael Spinks, but he reacted differently to various opponents. Why is this hard to accept? Mike might be the best "Highlight film" in the history of the heavyweight division.