Best standup fighter in the world

[Rob B]

I've only seen a few of the K1 Grand Prix and from what I remeber Hoost and Aerts were vulnerable early against guys like Lebaner and that big South African Bernardo. It seemed like in the 1st couple of rounds these guys would simply walk through the leg kicks and land some heavy punches which would send the duchmen reeling; of course they would usually weather the storm and come back later. I am wondering if they could weather the storm against a puncher like Tyson.

As far as the Igor situation goes, look at it this way; In a pure striking situation would he last longer against Hoost or Tyson? I'd think that Tyson would dispose of him alot faster than Hoost did.

[duchman]

Look at lebanner,

Trains and fight boxing.
Hoost ko'ed him with punching.

[Rock Ape]

It is hard to say......

It depends upon the type of boxer. A stand off counter attacking boxer would have problems dealing with a world class thai boxer who would have a better chance at keeping him at a distance and chopping his legs out from under him.

The level of kickboxer's boxing skills has certainly risen greatly in the last few years and especially in comparison to the early days of kickboxing. (Now those guys fighting for world titles in the US in the 80s would have been destroyed by your average national level boxing contenders.)

Nowadays, the top guys boxing skills would enable many of them to hold off top level boxers long enough to allow the legs to come into play and do some damage. Hell, well directed forward thrusting kicks do a good job as a start !

Taking Tyson out of the equation for a second, who I think could almost be unstoppable even now, and I think it would be a bit tougher than most think for a boxer to go up against a K1 specialist. I don't think it would be a walkover at all. It only takes one well directed leg kick to break bones and incapacitate an opponent. If K1 fighters themselves get bones broken by other K1 fighters and they are conditioned to the kicks, how is a boxer, who has never felt a shin hit his thigh or ribs going to take it ?

Just a few thoughts anyway.

[Zeke]

The boxers still make the big money in fighting, so most fighting talent is in boxing. Shane Mosley's fight Saturday night convinced me. I have never seen a kick boxer or NHB competitor who is that type of athlete. His quickness, reflexes, and power are incredible, same with Roy Jones, Mike Tyson, and others in boxing. I don't mean to put down other fighters, but to me it seems to be a big gap between top boxers and fighters in other fighting sports. The gap will close when purses in other sports are competitive with the purses in boxing. Some mention Igor, and compare him with Tyson and others. I may be wrong, but I believe that if Igor was a boxer, he would be no better than a club fighter. I can't see him as a top 50 heavyweight. Don't get me wrong, Igor is extremely strong, and game, but in boxing he would be an easy to hit, face first fighter.

[Bau13]

here we go...

[Ronin]

Igor woud suplex Tyson...

The little twerp would never know what hit him.

Maybe it would even cure his speech impediment.

[Ronin]

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Zeke, athleticism isn't everything, nor is the size of the fighter's pay-check. Just because the average American fight-fan could give two turds about kickboxing/MMA, doesn't mean they aren't as effective fighters.

The extra weapons give kickboxers an advantage. A boxer unfamiliar with leg-kicks would get chopped down in a hurry. A boxer who could handle the leg-kicks would do okay.

If athleticism were all that mattered, Royce Gracie wouldn't have been a champion for so long.

[TKOU]

Theory, postulations, conjecture...the debate is as old as "my dad can bet up your dad".

Specific fighters matched up narrows the debate down some i.e. Tyson v. Hoost or Ali v. Aerts but still too much gray area to really get close to reality.

Tyson is a guy that gets frustrated if he cannot bring his power punches to bear early. I see any patient fighter as Tyson's undoing. Kickboxer or boxer. I think we can all agree that Buster Douglas is not a monster in the punching department and the knock on Evander has always been that he is a blown up cruiserwieght. Both of these fighters handled Mike because they had a sound gameplan and they frustrated Mike. Could a smart fighter like Hoost put together a gameplan that would have similar effect, I believe so.

That is the process though, pick two guys and see how they would mach up. Ali v. Hoost is a different story. No two top flight fighters would have the same outcome because linear logic cannot hold up in this area. If it could heavyweight boxing in the late 60's and 70's would have gone like this: Frazier beats Ali, Frazier loses to Foreman so Ali should lose to Foreman as well. But the truth was Frazier always gave Ali trouble but was custom fit for Foreman to beat the dog snot out of. Ali struggled with Frazier but beat Big George in a walk. See no linear logic there.

Anyway, my dad is the toughest, my fav fighte will always kick your fav fighters behind and my mom is the prettiest so let the debate rage on!!!!

[al000]

i'm going with tyson. he's a world class boxer in his prime and kickboxers are good but not on the level of pro boxers. if tyson just learned to block the kicks then he'd get in and tiiiiiiimber!! knockout. aerts got knocked out twice by that bald dude( i forget his name) with punches. and i bet tyson's bombs are way heavier than his. in no way am i biased either. i love k1 fighters as much as boxers. but tyson is the man.

[Shimora]

Are we talking the best now or the best ever?

I say that Tyson is still the best stand up fighter currently fighting. He could walk into K1 and clean up without even throwing a kick.

30 years ago George Foreman was the best but Muhummed Ali was the smartest. Thats why he defeated Foreman.

There have never ever been any karate, muay thai or kickboxing fighters that could go toe to toe with with any of the above mentioned boxers.

[Ronin]

Without a decent leg-check, Tyson would be hammered into submission within a round.

They don't have to kick, but they have to block the kicks. Nobody can take more than 5-10 leg kicks from the likes of Ernesto Hoost.

Not Tyson. Not anyone. They are beyond brutal.

[Robbie]

I agree that Hoost would have a good chance at beating the likes of Tyson by keeping Mike away by slamming those thai round kicks on Tyson's legs,like said earlier Tyson gets frustrated easily,IMO Hoost would be able to take advantage of Tysons frustration and beat him by using it against him.Such as keep using the front thrust kick when Tyson gets too close and then hammer in some thigh kicks on Tyson.The only mistake Hoost could make is to try and out box Tyson.

[Rock Ape]

You're kidding..... Ernesto ?? Come on....

I know I posted the merits of the K1 guys with a potential to win against some boxers but Ernesto ??? Great K1 fighter but not not necessarily the best K1 fighter to take out a boxer like Tyson. One round ? You have to be joking. Ernesto is good against the current crop of K1 guys because of the nature of the fight but he is not strength wise the strongest or near it in my opinion. You need that to hold off a guy like Tyson to enable you to be able to chop him down with leg kicks and Ernesto is not the guy to be able to do that.

Personally, I believe Mike Tyson would kill him and the towel would be thrown in within 30 seconds. Same with Aerts.

[Bau13]

just so you know

Aerts kicks and punches harder than Hoost....

[Hawk]

Most kickboxers or FC Karate fighters that are real good AND can take a good shot will become a boxer for the shot at the big money. Troy Dorsey and Randy Cobb are
good examples. A lot depends on the rules. If the rules are you can't kick below the waist, the boxer has the best chance. Leg kicks, elbows, and knees, if allowed give a kickboxer an advantage if he's got good lateral movement.
Hawk