Mike Tyson's Punch

[Crosscheck]

I know there are relatively few boxing fans here. But even though have always thought Ali was the Greatest. Where does Mike Tyson rank?

For one, he may have had one of the most devastating punches ever. Prior to Tyson have always felt that Earnie Shavers had the hardest punch.

As one studies the fights of Tyson his power is unbelievable. Almost everyone he fought was bigger with longer reaches. Usually the one with the long reach like a Larry Holmes could make the opponent eat leather all night.

But Tyson just walked in and using that twist of his hips would throw his whole body weight into those sledge hammers called his fists.

He faced guys who had boxed for years and in pristine shape but with one punch would sit them down.

I just wished Tyson would have been in his prime to fight Klitschko. I truly believe Tyson would have destroyed him.

 

[Spartacus FPV]

If you're interested in more, the man was on Joe Rogan's podcast for several hours last week and I learned a great deal about the man I thought I already knew. But my favorite Mike Tyson moment was on Arsenio when he met Muhammad Ali.

"I'm scared of him!"
"But you're so fast?"
"Yeah but what if you hit me?

 

[VanceMack]

If Tyson hadnt lost Cus D'amato and got hooked in with Don King and subsequently fired Kevin Rooney, Tyson may never have lost a fight.

 

[Crosscheck]

If Tyson hadnt lost Cus D'amato and got hooked in with Don King and subsequently fired Kevin Rooney, Tyson may never have lost a fight.

Have always felt that too. With the passing of D'Amato he lost his guidance from someone who truly cared about him. Then of course the inevitable gang of losers clung onto him.

 

[chuckiechan]

Tyson was incredible.

The power ran from a planted foot, up his leg, rotated off his hip up his arm to his fist. The helping them up I wonder if he whispered, "Sorry about the brain damage"...

 

[roughdraft274]

I know there are relatively few boxing fans here. But even though have always thought Ali was the Greatest. Where does Mike Tyson rank?

For one, he may have had one of the most devastating punches ever. Prior to Tyson have always felt that Earnie Shavers had the hardest punch.

As one studies the fights of Tyson his power is unbelievable. Almost everyone he fought was bigger with longer reaches. Usually the one with the long reach like a Larry Holmes could make the opponent eat leather all night.

But Tyson just walked in and using that twist of his hips would throw his whole body weight into those sledge hammers called his fists.

He faced guys who had boxed for years and in pristine shape but with one punch would sit them down.

I just wished Tyson would have been in his prime to fight Klitschko. I truly believe Tyson would have destroyed him.

His fights were insane. But the videos of him tearing into a punching back are terrifying. It's scary that any human is that good at whipping ass. Without a glove it's entirely possibly that a solid hook from Tyson in his prime would have a 50% chance of killing on impact. I damn sure wouldn't mess with him. I wouldn't box with him now even if they wrapped me in padding, lol.

 

[bubbabgone]

I used to watch boxing all the time.
It was like Tyson would throw head shots where he knew the head was going to be.
And each one of them was 100%.
Amazing fighter.

 

[Crovax]

I know there are relatively few boxing fans here. But even though have always thought Ali was the Greatest. Where does Mike Tyson rank?

For one, he may have had one of the most devastating punches ever. Prior to Tyson have always felt that Earnie Shavers had the hardest punch.

As one studies the fights of Tyson his power is unbelievable. Almost everyone he fought was bigger with longer reaches. Usually the one with the long reach like a Larry Holmes could make the opponent eat leather all night.

But Tyson just walked in and using that twist of his hips would throw his whole body weight into those sledge hammers called his fists.

He faced guys who had boxed for years and in pristine shape but with one punch would sit them down.

I just wished Tyson would have been in his prime to fight Klitschko. I truly believe Tyson would have destroyed him.

Tyson was great but his rep is inflated by the fact that he fought all his big fights after jail so there’s always an excuse.

Holyfield was trying to fight Tyson for years but Tyson’s team kept ducking him because they knew he would destroy Tyson. We eventually saw it but there is always the lingering prison excuse

 

[Praxas]

I know there are relatively few boxing fans here. But even though have always thought Ali was the Greatest. Where does Mike Tyson rank?

For one, he may have had one of the most devastating punches ever. Prior to Tyson have always felt that Earnie Shavers had the hardest punch.

As one studies the fights of Tyson his power is unbelievable. Almost everyone he fought was bigger with longer reaches. Usually the one with the long reach like a Larry Holmes could make the opponent eat leather all night.

But Tyson just walked in and using that twist of his hips would throw his whole body weight into those sledge hammers called his fists.

He faced guys who had boxed for years and in pristine shape but with one punch would sit them down.

I just wished Tyson would have been in his prime to fight Klitschko. I truly believe Tyson would have destroyed him.

The problem with Tyson, IMO, is that is all he really had is the powerful punch. As soon as boxers realized the best method was not to go toe to toe with him on punches but wear him down, he didn't have anything else. Still, I would NEVER want to be on the receiving end of one of Tyson's punches.

 

[SenorXm/Sirius]

Spinks being afraid to the point that he didn't even want to leave his dressing room to get in the ring with Tyson is all we need to know about Tyson's 'punch'. I've been a sports fan all my life, I can't remember an athlete being that afraid of his opponent.

That's quite a commentary on how hard Tyson hit and how good he was at his peak. Unfortunately it all quickly feel apart and Tyson became a clown..

BTW it is to bad his life became such a mess, watching the KO's video posted above you can see when Tyson had direction and decent people around him he was a pretty good guy. After every KO he walks over to his opponent to see how they are, he even helps some of them up. But after the Kings and losers got a hold of him he changed, and for the much worse. Not that he was a nice guy when he was a teen, but boxing and D'amato seem to give his direction. Once Cus died, he went back to his old ways.

 

[Higgins86]

Tyson in his prime is the most dangerous heavyweight fighter of all time.

 

[bongsaway]

Different weight division but old hands of stone Roberto Duran had the same killer instinct that Tyson had when he hurt his opponent. Some fighters will back off a little if they thought they hurt the other guy, not Duran or Tyson, they went in for the kill.

Tyson was the most dangerous fighter I've ever seen. Boom Boom Mancini had a bit of tysone in him for his weight division.

 

[Crosscheck]

The problem with Tyson, IMO, is that is all he really had is the powerful punch. As soon as boxers realized the best method was not to go toe to toe with him on punches but wear him down, he didn't have anything else. Still, I would NEVER want to be on the receiving end of one of Tyson's punches.

His record shows something else. He had 50 wins with 44 by knockout. He lost 6.
Was the youngest heavyweight champion at age 20 years old.
He fought as a pro for 20 years.

Not only did he have a heavy punch he was also an elusive target to hit. Boxers had years to study his style but once in the ring those plans to defeat him went out the window once they received a Tyson punch.
As VanceMack said above that if Tyson hadnt lost Cus D'Amato he may have gone undefeated.
If D'Amato had lived longer I think we would have seen a different Tyson.

Even at the age of 16 in the Junior Olympic Games of 1982 he fought a kid named Kelton Brown. His power was seen then when Brown's corner threw in the towel in the first round.

Before his prison and all the other crap he got involved with it was like walking into a plane's propeller stepping into the ring with him.

 

[Skeptic Bob]

If you're interested in more, the man was on Joe Rogan's podcast for several hours last week and I learned a great deal about the man I thought I already knew. But my favorite Mike Tyson moment was on Arsenio when he met Muhammad Ali.

"I'm scared of him!"
"But you're so fast?"
"Yeah but what if you hit me?

Classic Arsenio episode.

I caught part of the Tyson episode of Joe Rogan. I used to have a very negative opinion of Tyson, in particular to the domestic violence. But Tyson has really matured and become very self aware in his "old" age. He recognizes that the old Tyson had an ego that was a danger to himself and others. Be doesn't box even recreationally anymore or do heavy lifting workouts anymore because when he does he can feel his old self waking up, and he doesn't want that to happen. Here is a clip from that short conversation. Rogan was being a little bit of a dick in it. Tyson kept saying why he tries to keep the beast at bay and Rogan keeps talking about how great the beast was.

 

[Lutherf]

I know there are relatively few boxing fans here. But even though have always thought Ali was the Greatest. Where does Mike Tyson rank?

For one, he may have had one of the most devastating punches ever. Prior to Tyson have always felt that Earnie Shavers had the hardest punch.

As one studies the fights of Tyson his power is unbelievable. Almost everyone he fought was bigger with longer reaches. Usually the one with the long reach like a Larry Holmes could make the opponent eat leather all night.

But Tyson just walked in and using that twist of his hips would throw his whole body weight into those sledge hammers called his fists.

He faced guys who had boxed for years and in pristine shape but with one punch would sit them down.

I just wished Tyson would have been in his prime to fight Klitschko. I truly believe Tyson would have destroyed him.

In his early fights you could HEAR the power of Tyson's punches. When he connected it just sounded different than when others punched. It was kind of like listening to Bo Jackson hit a baseball versus listening to George Brett hit one. Back then Tyson would pretty much punch THROUGH his opponent. However, when Cus D'Amato died Tyson seemed to have lost some of that aggression. He was still a great puncher and still had a lot of success in the ring but he wasn't as focused as he had been and he started relying on fighting out of a clinch instead of just going in for the kill.

 

[GDViking]

Foreman always wanted to fight him and even though Foreman would not have been at his peak I believe it would have been a war.

I have no doubt that Ali would have easily handled Tyson if they were both equally in shape.

That being said Tyson probably did have the strongest punch in history. I remember reading a sports illustrated article about the PSI of his Puch. I do not remember what it was, but I remember thinking that is more like getting hit by a truck than a fist...

 

[Crosscheck]

Foreman always wanted to fight him and even though Foreman would not have been at his peak I believe it would have been a war.

I have no doubt that Ali would have easily handled Tyson if they were both equally in shape.

That being said Tyson probably did have the strongest punch in history. I remember reading a sports illustrated article about the PSI of his Puch. I do not remember what it was, but I remember thinking that is more like getting hit by a truck than a fist...

It is virtually impossible to predict how a prime Ali prime Tyson fight would have gone. The closest boxer to Tyson during those days was Joe Frazier. And the Ali-Frazier fights were wars so Ali may have been able to beat Tyson but no way would it have been easy.

I think a more interesting fantasy fight would have been Frazier-Tyson. Both roughly the same size with Tyson more muscular. Both had the ability to slip and bob out of the way of punches. We will never know. I think it is safe to say that Tyson was the stronger puncher but toughness may just have to go to Frazier.

 

[Crovax]

It is virtually impossible to predict how a prime Ali prime Tyson fight would have gone. The closest boxer to Tyson during those days was Joe Frazier. And the Ali-Frazier fights were wars so Ali may have been able to beat Tyson but no way would it have been easy.

I think a more interesting fantasy fight would have been Frazier-Tyson. Both roughly the same size with Tyson more muscular. Both had the ability to slip and bob out of the way of punches. We will never know. I think it is safe to say that Tyson was the stronger puncher but toughness may just have to go to Frazier.

Its pretty obvious how a Tyson v Ali fight would have gone just like the Tyson v Holyfield fight went. (Holyfield and Ali were the same height and reach). All of Tyson's advantage is gone if the opponent isnt afraid of getting hit very hard.

 

[Crosscheck]

Its pretty obvious how a Tyson v Ali fight would have gone just like the Tyson v Holyfield fight went. (Holyfield and Ali were the same height and reach). All of Tyson's advantage is gone if the opponent isnt afraid of getting hit very hard.

Well, we will never know how that fight would have turned out. Just as I can't imagine how a Frazier-Tyson fight would have been.

The 70's were the golden years of heavyweights. There were just so many good ones such as Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, and one guy who hardly gets mentioned Jimmy Young. I believe Jimmy Young beat Ali but they gave the decision to Ali because he was Ali. Young had also beaten Foreman too but just never got the credit for his skills.

 

[slick]

Different weight division but old hands of stone Roberto Duran had the same killer instinct that Tyson had when he hurt his opponent. Some fighters will back off a little if they thought they hurt the other guy, not Duran or Tyson, they went in for the kill.

Tyson was the most dangerous fighter I've ever seen. Boom Boom Mancini had a bit of tysone in him for his weight division.

Ken Buchanan was a really good fighter & because he was from Scotland he was a favorite of mine. I never saw Duran fight before
he challenged Buchanan for the title. Duran in that fight was the most savage fighting machine I ever saw.
Of all the fighters of all weight classes I'd rate:
1) Ray Robinson
2) Roberto Duran
3) Salvatore Sanchez

 

[bongsaway]

Ken Buchanan was a really good fighter & because he was from Scotland he was a favorite of mine. I never saw Duran fight before
he challenged Buchanan for the title. Duran in that fight was the most savage fighting machine I ever saw.
Of all the fighters of all weight classes I'd rate:
1) Ray Robinson
2) Roberto Duran
3) Salvatore Sanchez

I forgot about sanchez. Watched him kick boom boom mancini's but a couple of times. Terrific fighter.

 

[GDViking]

Ken Buchanan was a really good fighter & because he was from Scotland he was a favorite of mine. I never saw Duran fight before
he challenged Buchanan for the title. Duran in that fight was the most savage fighting machine I ever saw.
Of all the fighters of all weight classes I'd rate:
1) Ray Robinson
2) Roberto Duran
3) Salvatore Sanchez

Oh man you must of had a brain fart, you left sugar Ray Lenard off your list.

He was so fast he would hit someone three times in the time I took most boxers to hit someone once...

Does the term "NO MAS" mean anything???

 

[slick]

Oh man you must of had a brain fart, you left sugar Ray Lenard off your list.

He was so fast he would hit someone three times in the time I took most boxers to hit someone once...

Does the term "NO MAS" mean anything???

I'm surprised Leonard made the top 15 many had faster hands than Leonard
few if any were a savage a fighting machine as was Duran in his prime as a lightweight.
Duran was 73 wins 1 loss when he moved up in weight to Welterweight from lightweight champion
to defeat leonard for the Welterweight title

Pound for Pound Greatest fighters according to BoxRec

name points w-l-d last 6 division career stance residence
1 Floyd Mayweather Jr 2,443 50 0 0
welterweight 1996-2017 orthodox Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
2 Manny Pacquiao 2,059 61 7 2
welterweight 1995-2019 southpaw General Santos City, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
3 Sugar Ray Robinson 1,701 174 19 6
middleweight 1940-1965 orthodox Harlem, New York, USA
4 Bernard Hopkins 1,626 55 8 2
middleweight 1988-2016 orthodox Hockessin, Delaware, USA
5 Carlos Monzon 1,619 87 3 9
middleweight 1963-1977 orthodox Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Argentina
6 Muhammad Ali 1,469 56 5 0
heavyweight 1960-1981 orthodox Louisville, Kentucky, USA
7 Archie Moore 1,376 186 23 10
light heavyweight 1935-1963 orthodox San Diego, California, USA
8 Oscar De La Hoya 1,376 39 6 0
welterweight 1992-2008 orthodox Los Angeles, California, USA
9 Joe Louis 1,278 66 3 0
heavyweight 1934-1951 orthodox Detroit, Michigan, USA
10 Marvin Hagler 1,251 62 3 2
middleweight 1973-1987 southpaw Brockton, Massachusetts, USA
11 Evander Holyfield 1,246 44 10 2
heavyweight 1984-2011 orthodox Atlanta, Georgia, USA
12 Julio Cesar Chavez 1,246 107 6 2
super lightweight 1980-2005 orthodox Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico
13 Roberto Duran 1,228 103 16 0
lightweight 1968-2001 orthodox Panama City, Panama
14 Ray Leonard 1,166 36 3 1
welterweight 1977-1997 orthodox Palmer Park, Maryland, USA
15 Jose Napoles 1,142 81 7 0
welterweight 1958-1975 orthodox Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico

BoxRec

 

[GDViking]

I'm surprised Leonard made the top 15 many had faster hands than Leonard
few if any were a savage a fighting machine as was Duran in his prime as a lightweight.
Duran was 73 wins 1 loss when he moved up in weight to Welterweight from lightweight champion
to defeat leonard for the Welterweight title

Pound for Pound Greatest fighters according to BoxRec

name points w-l-d last 6 division career stance residence
1 Floyd Mayweather Jr 2,443 50 0 0
welterweight 1996-2017 orthodox Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
2 Manny Pacquiao 2,059 61 7 2
welterweight 1995-2019 southpaw General Santos City, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
3 Sugar Ray Robinson 1,701 174 19 6
middleweight 1940-1965 orthodox Harlem, New York, USA
4 Bernard Hopkins 1,626 55 8 2
middleweight 1988-2016 orthodox Hockessin, Delaware, USA
5 Carlos Monzon 1,619 87 3 9
middleweight 1963-1977 orthodox Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Argentina
6 Muhammad Ali 1,469 56 5 0
heavyweight 1960-1981 orthodox Louisville, Kentucky, USA
7 Archie Moore 1,376 186 23 10
light heavyweight 1935-1963 orthodox San Diego, California, USA
8 Oscar De La Hoya 1,376 39 6 0
welterweight 1992-2008 orthodox Los Angeles, California, USA
9 Joe Louis 1,278 66 3 0
heavyweight 1934-1951 orthodox Detroit, Michigan, USA
10 Marvin Hagler 1,251 62 3 2
middleweight 1973-1987 southpaw Brockton, Massachusetts, USA
11 Evander Holyfield 1,246 44 10 2
heavyweight 1984-2011 orthodox Atlanta, Georgia, USA
12 Julio Cesar Chavez 1,246 107 6 2
super lightweight 1980-2005 orthodox Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico
13 Roberto Duran 1,228 103 16 0
lightweight 1968-2001 orthodox Panama City, Panama
14 Ray Leonard 1,166 36 3 1
welterweight 1977-1997 orthodox Palmer Park, Maryland, USA
15 Jose Napoles 1,142 81 7 0
welterweight 1958-1975 orthodox Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico

BoxRec

Oh I don't know about anyone being faster particularly when he was young, his hands in the Olympics were unreal.

And the only reason sugar Ray lost the first Duran fight was that duran flipped off his wife and kids before the fight, sugar Ray got pissed and went toe to toe with Duran rather than fighting his fight.

We saw just what he was capable of in the no mas right...

 

[slick]

I forgot about sanchez. Watched him kick boom boom mancini's but a couple of times. Terrific fighter.

I saw him fight twice against Little Red Lopez, once against the great Azumah Nelson & his greatest victory a KO beating
of Wilfredo Gomez. Going into the Gomez fight Gomez Sanchez was the underdog. Gomez a great fighter himself was 30 wins
0 losses with 30 KO's when he challenged Sanchez for the featherweight title.

Sanchez is not given the credit he deserved perhaps because he was killed driving his Porsche 928 a little too fast.
An article about Sanchez crash & his great career is worthwhile reading:
SANCHEZ KILLED IN AUTO ACCIDENT - The New York Times