lucas_lee
Hank Scorpio
Heel turn is finished, now stripping away my personality
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Post by lucas_lee on Apr 19, 2022 7:58:26 GMT -5
Hard for me to go that far with it. Looking back, a lot of the guys he beat are never going to be in the conversation of great heavyweight fighters. That’s not his fault, it just wasn’t a strong era. Put him in with a truly great fighter who isn’t afraid of him and you’ve got a completely different scenario. Tyson himself didn’t want to fight Foreman in the ‘90s because Cus D’Amato had show him the Foreman-Frazier fight and told him that a smaller aggressive fighter would always lose like that to a guy like a Foreman. He also thought Foreman was exaggerating the “old man” routine (which he was). When Don King pushed for the fight, Tyson apparently told him, “I’m not fighting that f***ing animal! If you love the motherf***er so much, you fight him!” Funny enough, Foreman said he didn't want to fight Tyson. It would've been fun to watch two Knockout Artists go at it. To me the fight wouldve swung differently depending on the year they fought. If he fought Foreman around the time he fought Holyfield Mike would be in a lot of trouble and I think George would stop him. However around the Moorer fight I think Mike would probably beat him easily just due to age and Foreman not as active with his punches. Tyson s style does play into Older Foreman style too its just would his jab be enough to keep Mike away
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Apr 19, 2022 8:04:25 GMT -5
I’m more interested in a prime Ali/prime Holyfield hypothetical, or Ali vs. Fury. Does Fury just barrel through the guy, or can Ali keep those giant tree trunk arms away from him? Because I think it was inevitable that Fury would figure out Wilder’s game plan which was a bit more one dimensional.
Mike Tyson still deserves to be in the conversation though. He pretty much was smurfing over a weaker decade, but the guys Mike fought weren’t necessarily all bums and he fought an extremely unorthodox style influenced by lower weight classes . He had a knack for bobbing and weaving and chopping down much larger opponents. I think if you put the Kid Dynamite version of Tyson in any era, he has a chance against just about anyone because most heavyweights didn’t box like that, and they still don’t.
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Apr 19, 2022 8:52:50 GMT -5
Where does Soda Popinski rank?
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 19, 2022 9:42:51 GMT -5
In terms of showmanship it has to be Muhammad Ali. I got to visit his museum in Louisville back in 2015. They have a handprint of his you can put your hands into and I remember thinking it was cool our hands were like exactly the same size.
The only thing with Ali’s museum I wish they had some viewing rooms where you could watch some of his full fights. When I went they had screens set up throughout the museum, but just playing short clips and news footage.
Ali was such an entertaining fighter though. And he was a wrestling fan. In some fights in later rounds he would even throw worked punches to keep his opponent going and put on more of a show. That takes crazy confidence to throw worked punches in a legitimate bout especially in a sport as unpredictable as boxing.
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tafkaga
Samurai Cop
the Dogfather
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Post by tafkaga on Apr 19, 2022 11:00:06 GMT -5
You can see the palpable fear in Tyson's earlier opponents, but Douglas killed a lot of that mystique and it translated into Tyson's fights after that. Not trying to take anything away from Iron Mike, but I feel like the hype and mystique was a big part of his success. Holyfield wasn't scared of him and we saw the results of that. Tyson might have beat Foreman, but George would not have flinched at Tyson, and would have for sure given him a run for his money.
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Post by GodzillaIsMyMonster on Apr 19, 2022 14:10:18 GMT -5
Interesting point about Tyson's aura. Would Ali have been scared? Louis? Marciano?
They all faced and beat hard hitting opponents.
Ali was notorious for showing no fear and being cocky as f***. Would that rattle Tyson?
Louis was cool, calm and collected. How would Iron Mike react?
Marciano also had an aura of invincibility. One giant would have to fall... but who?
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Post by CubsFan71 on Apr 19, 2022 15:49:37 GMT -5
I’d have to go with Rocky Marciano. Although an arguement could easily be made for about four or five guys. Foreman, Louis, Tyson, Ali, and Holmes could all make a legit claim to that status.
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tafkaga
Samurai Cop
the Dogfather
Posts: 2,118
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Post by tafkaga on Apr 19, 2022 16:39:42 GMT -5
Interesting point about Tyson's aura. Would Ali have been scared? Louis? Marciano? They all faced and beat hard hitting opponents. Ali was notorious for showing no fear and being cocky as f***. Would that rattle Tyson? Louis was cool, calm and collected. How would Iron Mike react? Marciano also had an aura of invincibility. One giant would have to fall... but who? I think Ali would have been cocky af and seen Tyson's aura as a challenge. Ali vs. Louis or Ali vs. Marciano is a lot more interesting to me than any of those guys paired with Tyson. Tyson vs. Foreman, on the other hand, I would have loved to see, because those guys were closer to being on the same level imo.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 16:45:11 GMT -5
Where does Soda Popinski rank? Big old asterix next to his name due to suds abuse.
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