Tyson was not washed when he fought Buster Douglas.
Tyson was not knocking out George Foreman. The only reason that Ali knocked out Foreman was because of the heat in Congo and Ali was able to get the fight into middle rounds.
Tyson's best attribute was getting early knockouts. His only chance against Foreman would be to take him into later rounds, but Tyson himself struggled the longer a fight went on. Take a look at the round that Buster Douglas knocked Tyson out in. Then realize that Buster Douglas is not even in the same area code of fighter as Ali and Foreman. Those jabs that Ali and Foreman threw would have been terrible for Tyson.
I'm aware of Tyson's attributes, but just don't see him taking Ali, based on the evidence. Yes, Tyson looked like a good against tomato cans, and great fighters past their prime, but their resumes don't look remotely equal.
It doesn't help that when evaluating Tyson, so have to use so many qualifiers. The so-called Prime years with Cus D'Amato and Kevin Rooney had Tyson steamrolling fighters who weren't worth much more, and after D'Amato dying and firing Rooney, every high-level fighter he went against beat him.
I'ma go with Ali .
Mike is the flashy/style pick but I feel Ali would overcome all of that.
Ali obviously dude had a far superior boxing IQ.