Quote Originally Posted by TheXFactor View Post
It was an exhibition fight.

Tyson could have knocked Jones out if he wanted to.

Mike Tyson trained really hard for this fight.
As hard as a 54 year old can do.
Tyson was very aggressive the entire fight.
Jones was playing defense the entire fight.

Roy Jones Jr. was using the Evander Holyfield strategy of grabbing Tyson and holding him.

Look they are both over the hill.

Tyson is 54 years old.
Jones is 51 years old.

30 years ago, Mike Tyson would have easily knocked out Roy Jones Jr in the first round.


Well 30 years ago he was getting ready to start a 3 year prison stretch but I get your point.

Tyson for a couple years was a great Champion, but his legacy is really questionable. He beat a lot of decent to below average fighters, but seriously struggled against skilled boxers who were in their prime and much taller. He got crushed by Buster Douglas in 1991, worn out by Evander in 1996 and blown away by Lennox in 2002 although Tyson was by his own admission completely done by then.

Would a Tyson in his prime beaten a Larry Holmes in his prime? Probably not. There is enough evidence to suggest Tyson could simply not stand up to skilled taller and larger fighters. He beat the bums for sure, and he is an all time great because he is a lot like a pro wrestler like Ric Flair, he simply gave great interviews and sold millions of pay-per-views which is the name of the game. Holmes was a great boxer but never drew flies.