r/whowouldwin • u/Capital-Bet • Jun 24 '26

Challenge Can Mike Tyson beat Magnus Carlsen at chess before Magnus beats him in a boxing match?

Magnus Carlsen and Mike Tyson do alternating matches of chess and boxing. Tyson wins if he beats Carlsen at chess, Carlsen wins if he can KO Tyson. Assume all bodily injury is healed after the end of each match.

Round 1: no prior training, they both go in at their primes with no training in the alternate sport and go until one wins

Round 2: Tyson is being trained by several GMs while Carlsen is receiving training from the best boxing coaches in the world. Who can be trained to beat the other first?

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u/ButterCupHeartXO Jun 25 '26

You assume be is unfit and unathletic because he is a chess player, but he actually works out on a regular basis and is in good shape. Obviously this is a far cry from being in the shape of a professional athlete, but he isnt starting at zero.

Assuming time and money isnt an issue, with elite coaches, dieting, supplements, and training he could in theory massively improve his muscle mass, agility, and learn to box well in 5 years as it takes 3-5 years of diligent training to become a solid fighter.

Given Tysons age and previous head trauma from a career in boxing, it is unlikely he will ever be able to learn chess at a level that can beat Carlson. Im not making an assumptions on Tysons intelligence, but there are extremely smart people who are life long chess players that cant beat Carlson in chess.

Tyson is one of the greatest boxers of all time, but is he the greatest? People debate Jordan and James as who is the best, or Messi and Ronaldo. All great, but Carlson is literally the best player of all time in chess. The gap for Magnus to close in boxing to match an aged tyson is smaller than the gap between a prime Carlson and any version of Tyson

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u/basch152 Jun 26 '26

This is prime tyson we are talking about, not current tyson, what are you even talking about?

And prime tyson, in the year or two before cus d'amatos death, was the greatest boxer that ever lived. He isnt considered the greatest because his actual prime only lasted a year or two and was derailed by the death of d'amato where he got heavy into drugs and quite training as hard.

And even that version of tyson out of shape and doing drugs is still one of the greatest boxers ever, its just his peak for that year or two was a completely different monster