[Syd Thrift]

I think that Tyson up to the Buster Douglas match really was that good. Overall I don't think he was a great boxer - the great ones can perform as they age - but aside from Holyfield he was beating anyone and everyone he fought. The Douglas fight looked like it started to be fought by a different Tyson.

As far as overrated... it's so hard to say because so many fight fans say that the modern game is garbage compared to yesteryear and to be honest I'm not that much in tune with what boxing fans think about guys from the past.

Would Chuck Wepner count? The man had a movie more or less based on him ('Rocky', of course) but that title fight he had against Ali was an absolute farce. The only reason he didn't get KO'd early is that he fought very, very dirty. Mike Tyson dirty. Ali seemed to get really angry at him late and appeared to start punching him to within an inch of being knocked out, then let up long enough for him to recover so he could dish out some more punishment (didn't he also do that with...argh, Ernie Shavers?). And then we're supposed to accept that Wepner knocked Ali down because he stepped on his foot. Come on.

The later model George Foreman was also a pretty horrible boxer who landed one good punch. I get the feeling most fight fans are pretty aware of this, though.