Who would win if 1987 Mike Tyson could fight 1967 Muhammad Ali?

Who would win if 1987 Mike Tyson could fight 1967 Muhammad Ali?

  • Tyson in early round KO

    Votes: 3 25.0%

  • Tyson in late round KO

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Tyson by unanimous decision

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Tyson by split decision

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ali in early round KO

    Votes: 1 8.3%

  • Ali in late round KO

    Votes: 4 33.3%

  • Ali by unanimous decision

    Votes: 3 25.0%

  • Ali by split decision

    Votes: 1 8.3%

  • thomas144 wouldn't let them use his time machine

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Zombies

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    12

Share this page

Mark_Henderson

Mark_Henderson

very stable genius
Joined
Feb 7, 2004
Messages
9,216
Reaction score
1,165
Points
113
Age
59
Location
Titletown
I've watched lots of Mike Tyson knockouts on Youtube over the years, so that it's always recommending more clips to me. When I strayed down into the comments section recently, nearly everyone was posting how he's unquestionably the GOAT. I don't agree with that, although I love watching his fights, but it got me thinking about this topic.

To me, Tyson is one of the big "what ifs" in sports. What if Cus D'Amato had been 15 years younger and Tyson had stayed disciplined and focused like he was in the beginning? Could he have just held the title for 15 years? People seem to assume that now, though of all of his spectacular 1st round knockouts, they weren't against elite opponents. Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis were the best boxers he ever fought, though Tyson was a shadow of his former self then.

My top contender for GOAT heavyweight would be the guy who said it every time he got the chance, Muhammad Ali. If someone else was better, Ali would still be the best contrast of style for Tyson. If the time machine from my 1980s Celtics thread can be reused and prime Mike Tyson could square off against prime Muhammad Ali, what do you think the result would be?
 
Last edited:
Ali too smart and quick, he'd stay away from Tyson early. It would go the distance..points to Ali. Just from my recollections, not a connoisseur of boxing styles, though, But there definitely is a mind game to it.
 
Darth Despot said:
At that point in his career I am not sure Tyson could lay a glove on Ali. If it was "rope a dope" Ali Tyson might kill him.
Click to expand...

Tyson KO early. Ali might have been too quick for Frazer or others of his time, but Tyson is another story. Ali would not have been able to slip and play the games he did against the fighters of his time.

I am an older guy (54) and I tend to favor the older athletes (Cousey, Bird, Orr, Rice, Morgan), but not in this case. Tyson was just too much. One missed slip or missed dodge and DOWN GOES ALI!
 
Last edited:
Ali could take a punch for sure. I think at that point (87 Tyson), Ali could weather the early storm and just outpoint him in the later rounds. Remember a later version of Ali got the crap beat out of him by George Foreman (who I'd say hit just as hard as Ali did, if you don't believe me, look it up), and let the big man punch himself out. Tyson always had faster hands than Foreman, but at that point, I don't know what Tyson would look like after the 6th round.

Another comp would be Holyfield, who Ali was faster than, and had heavier punches than, was the type that gave Tyson trouble. (And you could comp Riddick Bowe and Foreman too in their relative primes)

The years, to me, make the question pretty easy to answer. 67 Ali was a lot different than 75 Ali, and 87 Tyson was a lot different from say 96 Tyson, when he was used to going longer in matches.
 
Ali in his Prime was unbeatable.
Tyson in his prime was unbeatable.
Ali would have been too fast for Tyson. Tyson was a brawler in the ring with incredible punching power. Ali had speed finesse and he had a underrated power. Ali beats Tyson in the 5th round by knock out.

Now 1972-1977 Ali would have gotten killed by Tyson.
 
I haven't fully decided on this yet, but I think some people focus so much on how strong of a puncher Tyson was, that they lose sight of how fast those punches could come as well. He wasn't just a street fighter and had the deadliest combo.
 
Great thread idea! Tyson had more skills than he is sometimes credited with. He also had incredible power. I have watched both and I'll go with Ali. He had an astonishing ability to absorb punches and there were some pretty good power guys back then, Frazier, Liston and Foreman. I see this fight as Ali recognizing Tysons power but also his impatience. Ali's speed was breathtaking and this along with his ring skills dooms Tyson, KO in 6 EDIT: I forgot Ali's height and reach advantage too!
 
I followed both of them in their prime and I believe Tyson would knock Ali out early.

Ali could take a punch and as good as he was at deflecting blows and staying out of range, he got hit more than people think.

Tyson's power and speed were too much for any boxer. Period. The only reason he didn't dominate even more than he did was
boredom which led to a lack of discipline. If Ali tried to rope-a-dope a motivated Tyson then he would've had his ribs bashed in.

This comes from somebody who idolized Ali.
 
Great thread! Hard to state to anyone too young to remember, but Tyson was unbelievable in his prime.

I was thinking about it a while back, in the mid-late 80s, the three biggest global stars were Eddie Murphy, Mike Tyson and Michael Jordan. Three black kids from Brooklyn! In Ireland, all three were idolised by us youngsters. Their global reach was unreal.

Never seen any boxer as savage as Tyson, he was too fast, too brutal for them all. The 80s was unreal for boxers wasn't it. Hagler, Hitman Hearns, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray and then Mike comes along.
 
Hawg73 said:
I followed both of them in their prime and I believe Tyson would knock Ali out early.

Ali could take a punch and as good as he was at deflecting blows and staying out of range, he got hit more than people think.

Tyson's power and speed were too much for any boxer. Period. The only reason he didn't dominate even more than he did was
boredom which led to a lack of discipline. If Ali tried to rope-a-dope a motivated Tyson then he would've had his ribs bashed in.

This comes from somebody who idolized Ali.
Click to expand...
Ali would have a monster reach advantage too. Not quite like Lennox Lewis, but in that neighborhood. You're right about Tyson's speed, he had fast hands, and everything had power behind it.

This is the Ali who could still run though, 67. You're right though, if Ali tried to rope-a-dope Tyson, he'd have been done in 3 or 4 rounds. It worked against Foreman, because everything Foreman threw was a haymaker. Tyson's uppercut might have been his best punch.
 
Roberto71 said:
Great thread! Hard to state to anyone too young to remember, but Tyson was unbelievable in his prime.

I was thinking about it a while back, in the mid-late 80s, the three biggest global stars were Eddie Murphy, Mike Tyson and Michael Jordan. Three black kids from Brooklyn! In Ireland, all three were idolised by us youngsters. Their global reach was unreal.

Never seen any boxer as savage as Tyson, he was too fast, too brutal for them all. The 80s was unreal for boxers wasn't it. Hagler, Hitman Hearns, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray and then Mike comes along.
Click to expand...
Hagler would have been known as the greatest pound-for-pound ever if he didn't get screwed out of the Sugar Ray Leonard decision (after Leonard ducked him for years). Hagler was so pissed off he quit and never boxed again. And yes, if you watch the fight again, it was a screwjob. A relatively close fight, but certainly one Hagler clearly won.
 
TommyD420 said:
Hagler would have been known as the greatest pound-for-pound ever if he didn't get screwed out of the Sugar Ray Leonard decision (after Leonard ducked him for years). Hagler was so pissed off he quit and never boxed again. And yes, if you watch the fight again, it was a screwjob. A relatively close fight, but certainly one Hagler clearly won.
Click to expand...

I had no use for Leonard before that decision. Sure, I liked him during the Olympics, but then he started the knob-polishing stuff with Cosell "Oh, yes, Howard.....I love my Mother so much" and his phony BS made me sick. That, in my opinion, is why they handed the decision to him. He politicked the media and did the talk-show circuits while Hagler was just a pure boxer who didn't kiss any ass. The sleezeballs who ran that sport figured their golden goose would lay plenty of golden eggs and they didn't mind fucking Marvin over in order to see that happen.

Hagler won that fight, though. It was arguably close, but the fix was in.
 
TommyD420 said:
Hagler would have been known as the greatest pound-for-pound ever if he didn't get screwed out of the Sugar Ray Leonard decision (after Leonard ducked him for years). Hagler was so pissed off he quit and never boxed again. And yes, if you watch the fight again, it was a screwjob. A relatively close fight, but certainly one Hagler clearly won.
Click to expand...
I was so pissed then and still.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top