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Tyson Chandler.

Fury would single slap Lebron to oblivion

Bo Jackson

gizardoe wrote:Bo Jackson

Probably the right answer tbh.

J___Av wrote:

Coco Costanza wrote:

J___Av wrote:

If you ask NBA fans who is the greatest physical athlete ever, Lebron will be a lot of peoples picks if not most peoples. If you ask boxing fans (although casuals will all pick Tyson or Ali) pretty much everyone will pick RJJ and almost no one will pick Tyson. Tyson was a freak, but Lebron is definitely more athletic

Cool. That wasn't the question though, it was who is the bigger "freak athlete", not greatest physical athlete.

What the **** is the difference between a freak athlete and a great physical athlete? Either way its clearly Lebron. RJJ or Ali fits your definition better than Tyson.

The difference is someone who is unusually, naturally different. LeBron is no doubt in incredible shape, but he puts the work into it. Mike Tyson was just naturally big even before he started training. Guys like Zion, or Bo Jackson also come to mind.

rapsdontlie wrote:

J___Av wrote:

rapsdontlie wrote:Gotta go with Iron Mike.

LeBron is a freak athlete, no doubt. But although it's still rare, the league has seen freakish athletes like him. Charles Barkley before. And now we have Zion.... It's LeBron's BBIQ and innate feel for the game, on top of his athleticism, that makes him one of the all-time greats.

Iron Mike, on the other hand, I've never seen a physical specimen like him in boxing before, or since. Granted, I don't watch that much boxing... But have we ever seen another boxer with the sheer strength and punching speed that Mike had in his prime?

The "Wtf was that!?! I'm f*cked!" look on opponents when he suprises them with a clean power punch.... I've only seen Mike do something like that.

The other old man Tyson is Boxing (RJJ) was by far the physically most gifted fighter ever. Ask on a Boxing form the best athlete ever and most will say Roy Jones Jr

I've watched a lot of RJJ; he's a freak athlete too... But IMO, the sheer power and speed of Tyson's punches were something else.

BTW I'm not saying that, in their primes, Tyson would beat RJJ. Just saying that if we're judging on just punching power and speed, I gotta give it to Iron Mike.

Peak Jones is light years ahead of Tyson when it comes to hand speed.

INB4 "who would win a fight Tyson or Zion"?

Coxy wrote:

Wallace_Wallace wrote:Tyson Gay could replace Fury in this poll

But give me LeBron James.

If you're going for a runner, then Bolt's your man for the poll.

Because Tyson Gay has the name "Tyson" on it, I'm trying to stay theme

But yeah, Bolt is the man

RalphWiggum wrote:

rapsdontlie wrote:

J___Av wrote:

The other old man Tyson is Boxing (RJJ) was by far the physically most gifted fighter ever. Ask on a Boxing form the best athlete ever and most will say Roy Jones Jr

I've watched a lot of RJJ; he's a freak athlete too... But IMO, the sheer power and speed of Tyson's punches were something else.

BTW I'm not saying that, in their primes, Tyson would beat RJJ. Just saying that if we're judging on just punching power and speed, I gotta give it to Iron Mike.

Peak Jones is light years ahead of Tyson when it comes to hand speed.

Really?... I admit I'm just a casual boxing fan, but I've watched a lot of Tyson and RJJ's fights.

To me, prime Tyson's punches look faster and stronger. Maybe it's because he has a shorter reach? I don't know...

BarbaGrizz wrote:INB4 "who would win a fight Tyson or Zion"?

Tyson would kill mcgreggor

triple_threat wrote:

BarbaGrizz wrote:INB4 "who would win a fight Tyson or Zion"?

Tyson would kill mcgreggor

If they are fighting MMA than I would take Mcgregor. If it's boxe than RIP McGregor

BarbaGrizz wrote:

triple_threat wrote:

BarbaGrizz wrote:INB4 "who would win a fight Tyson or Zion"?

Tyson would kill mcgreggor

If they are fighting MMA than I would take Mcgregor. If it's boxe than RIP McGregor

Umm no, if you want to say Mayweather, a guy more around McGregors size and strength then OK you can argue that Mayweather isn't going to be able to defend himself against the kicks.

When you're talking about a guy like Tyson, the kind of power that he had/has in his hands especially with MMA gloves as opposed to boxing gloves...McGregor is going to the hospital on a stretcher. We're not talking about a guy that can't defend himself or has to worry about being taken down, his only concern are the kicks, if he can get within range then RIP Connor

Ben-N1ce wrote:

Read on Twitter

Sadly there are probably people out there that agree with this

Lebron in his prime condition, given 2 years of training couldn't beat current Tyson and that's not even debatable

How about Tyson Gay?

God Squad wrote:

gizardoe wrote:Bo Jackson

Probably the right answer tbh.

I mean, if we're talking about just the plain best athlete ever, my pick is either going to be Bo or Jackie Robinson.

With regard to the thread and the poll, I'd probably pick Mike Tyson of the three options. I've never seen Mike do any other sport, but on the athletic spectrum he's closer to Bo than not, so I have to think the potential to be a dominant baseball player or football player was there.

LeBron is probably being a bit undersold as an overall athlete though. Wasn't he a pretty well regarded football player in high school? And although he has no baseball experience, fangraphs did a fun article about what LeBron might look like as a baseball player:https://tht.fangraphs.com/what-if-the-king-wanted-to-be-the-kid/

My guess is LeBron probably wouldn't be a great baseball hitter, or at least I'd wager a guy with Mike's profile to be a better one, but Bron's clearly elite elite, and the interesting thing is that it seems to be despite his size.

Athleticism is talked about a lot here, and size in relation is too. Size is a purely physical trait though, and I'd argue that more often than not the bigger you are, the less likely you are to be some graceful athlete.

Maybe that makes basketball players the best athletes Or maybe it means a 6'6" guy has a more limited athletic ceiling than a 6'1" guy, despite being more optimized for pro basketball.

I'm not really sure which side I fall on that one, but the more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm considering the fact that most of the guys who are considered candidates for best American athlete of all time, guys like Jackie Robinson, Bo, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Mike Tyson, Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, and so on, all tend to be around 5'10" to 6'3", with fairly similar physical profiles. Heck, even in basketball, there's probably a good argument that the best dunkers are all around that height, too. That's the range all those YouTube pro dunkers seem to be in.

Then you have a guy like Wilt, who might as well have been from Mars.

Not sure who would actually win this poll but as someone who was alive in the 80s there was no scarier human being on the planet than 5'10 Mike Tyson.

FreeThrowLine wrote:

BarbaGrizz wrote:

triple_threat wrote:
Tyson would kill mcgreggor

If they are fighting MMA than I would take Mcgregor. If it's boxe than RIP McGregor

Umm no, if you want to say Mayweather, a guy more around McGregors size and strength then OK you can argue that Mayweather isn't going to be able to defend himself against the kicks.

When you're talking about a guy like Tyson, the kind of power that he had/has in his hands especially with MMA gloves as opposed to boxing gloves...McGregor is going to the hospital on a stretcher. We're not talking about a guy that can't defend himself or has to worry about being taken down, his only concern are the kicks, if he can get within range then RIP Connor

Tyson is 53. McGregor is in his prime. He'd survive a round in 2020 before Tyson ended him.

It's weird that people are bringing up the stamina and conditioning of boxers, when Mike gassed early in fights, and look bad whenever fights went long.

Mike Tyson would beat LeBron James in a boxing match, and a street fight, and maybe a bench press competition, and that's literally it. In the real world, I guess that's all that really matters, but In athletic competition, LeBron would probably beat him in every contact sport, and every athletic competition that was ever put into something like the olympics.

I just don't understand what people consider athleticism if Tyson wouldn't win any athletic competition aside from a fist fight.

NO-KG-AI wrote:It's weird that people are bringing up the stamina and conditioning of boxers, when Mike gassed early in fights, and look bad whenever fights went long.

What fights did Tyson, in top shape during his prime, and especially his peak years, gas early? He looked fine against Tony Tucker and Bonecrusher Smith late. He looked fine going deep against Ferguson, Tillis, and Green. Furthermore, he held his power, reflexes, and speed into the middle rounds against Tyrell Biggs and Pinklon Thomas. Won the championship rounds against Ruddock, too. This is just patently false.