My goal is to 1 round everyone, then start full game runs. In this past 6 months I've finally 1 rounded sandman with a 2:39, and Don 2 with a 1:50. The last step is Tyson...

I am really good at the "phase 3" 1 frame hits (although he usually starts throwing hooks a quarter of the way through my phase 2 lol)

i know those are considered the harder frame perfect punches but they have always felt easy for me, to the point where if the fight goes to the second round ill do them casually to grab stars lol. is there some sort of delay or cue that is used for his uppercuts in p1 and p2? i can only get them sometimes but it feels random. sometimes he will even punch me again before i can throw the second punch? is my delay too long? My best ever first knockdown is a horrible 1:14...

If you're getting punched before you do your second punch, you are definitely waiting way too long. If you are unsure of the rhythm, just check out a video of someone hitting them and you will see they also arent random (it's exactly an 8 frame delay)

Also I guess its worth mentioning, just in case you are wasting a lot of damage, is to punch Tyson on the same side of the screen he throws his uppercut. This makes the first punch deal 5 damage instead of 1 (this is called a "Proper Punch"), but that is only a very minor thing that new people sometimes forget about. Proper Punching only applies to the first counter hit on Tysons uppercut and no where else in the game.