Oh, I don't come on here that often and I don't go on all the threads. It just looked quite innocent to me. Anyway......
Interesting side note about Ali - when he was fighting Inoki in the shambles that was the wrestler vs boxer fight, two of my all time idols were in the ring. Gene Lebell was the ref and in Inoki's corner was the very scary Karl Istaz...aka Karl Gotch When Ali said to Gotch "Hey I've seen your fake fights" Gotch looked ta him, pulled his track pants to one side and showed his trunks were on and said "I'm ready to show you fake right now". Ali apparently would not carry on until Gotch left Ali was a legend...Gotch was a God!
Sorry, but I don't agree. I think Tyson was a very good heavyweight but he was fighting at a time when a very good heavyweight would look like a great heavyweight. Come on, Michael Spinks was the heavyweight champ. He wouldn't have gotten a title fight in the late 60's and early 70's. George Foreman would have done to him what he did to Frazier and Frazier had a better chin and more heart than Tyson. A large amount of Tyson's record is wins over tomato cans. I am a Tyson fan, I think he was an awesome heavyweight for his time but his time was not a time of a strong heavyweight division. Ali would have had some problems with him because Ali always had a problem with left hooks, but Ali would have taken his best punch and worn him down. Irish Mike Quarry would have gone toe to toe with him with a good chance of winning. The Irish Mike - Smoken Joe fight was fight of the year in 1969. Ron Lyle and Ernie Shavers both had the punching power to back Tyson up and even put him down. So Tyson would have been a good heavyweight in a division full of good heavyweights and a couple of great heavyweights.
While I accept your point, I don't agree. I Ali, Frazier, etc, was such a great era because they had each other to fight. I think if you threw Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Vitali Klitschko, any of them in to the so called "golden era", then they would all hold their own. I don't think Frazier would ever be champion with that lot. I personally think Tyson would have beaten Frazier quite easy and probably Foreman too. Neither were indestructable. And neither were anywhere near as quick or technically gifted.
Smoking Joe is a really underrated fighter. He was tough, aggressive, and powerful. I think he'd give anyone a run for his money. And with a KO percentage of over 80%, he definitely wasn't a fighter to take lightly.
Oh, absolutely not. But he wouldn't fight Shavers would he? I think I'm right in saying he only had 30-something fights as well. That isn't that many, especially when 5 were against Foreman and Ali. I'm not knocking him, he was a great fighter no doubt, but I believe it was said earlier that Tyson fought tomato cans. Well not everyone Ali and Frazier, etc, fought were great fighters either. And I believe there have been fighters since them who could at least compete with them, maybe beat them, but for some reason don't get the recognition. It was never as good as the good old days seems to be the way for some people regardless of the facts. Just trying to point that out. Going back to Naz, people forget how popular he made the featherweight division. He had a big impact on British boxing. A great showman.
