WHO did Tyson beat ? an old Holmes? Razor Ruddock? Spinks?
Tyson was exposed as being a GOOD fighter no doubt - but the GOAT in his prime? You must be joking friend. Yeah Marciano had a weak era also, but if you put Mike in the ring with real "killers"-Dempsey. Marciano, Frazier- he can be beaten . Heck, James Toney would have given Mike headaches all night too.
You better bone up on your boxing knowledge friend and be objective in your analysis of fighters. Tyson NEVER WRECKED A GOOD FIGHTER or showed he had heart, that is where he falls short. COULD he have been the GOAT if Cus hadn't died and he had proper handling- maybe
We will never know because as someone else said we can't find a time machine and use it
Just my opinion
OK, I am not a Tyson nut hugger mostly for the same reasons you mentioned: He never showed the ability to come back from adversity; he was a bully. He peaked early in his career. His skill set deteriorated significantly and many of his fights were won before he even stepped into the ring because of the intimidation factor. However he had alot of strong points and when he was still hungry he was impressive as hell. My opinion is objective and my boxing knowledge is a sharp as they come.
So here it goes- Marciano and Dempsey both wieghed 180's 190's their opponents were in the 180's and 190's too. Neither on ewas ever in with a guy as big, as fast and as strong as Tyson. Tyson would steamroll both of them. Dempsey benefited from old style boxing gloves, which were really nothing more than leather gloves, very little padding. Most of Dempsey's biggest opponent was Jess Willard who was a BUM and its pretty well known that he used loaded gloves for that fight. He also benefited from old style boxing rules and after he was champ he wouldn't cross the color line, So him fighting Tyson is a moot point. That aside I don't know how many fights you've watched from 1910's 1920's but the skill set was incredibly lacking compared to what we see now.
As far as comparing competition goes, Marciano benefited from beating champs who were all far past their prime. Not a single one of his best wins came against a prime opponents: Charles, Louis, Walcott. In fact Charles and Walcott both came very close to beating him. Not to mention he was Dropped by Archie Moore. Now outside of Moore, Louis, Walcott and Charles his only other big fight was Roland Lastarza. He was a slower, smaller, weaker version of Tyson and he actually faced weaker competition.
Tyson had trouble with guys bigger than him. Dempsey and Marciano don't qualify neither does smoking Joe. A Smaller, slower weaker version of Tyson. Aside from that Frazier was a one trick pony, he came forward throwing the left hook and if that didn't work he was fucked.
Those guys were all great in their own context, their own times, for their own reasons-just like Tyson
Now Foreman, Ali, Liston yes they would all give Tyson a loads of Trouble.
