Lewis was only clinching and leaning against Tyson

Tyson was shitter

 

Sometimes. He could certainly thumb when he wanted to, though it was rare.

 

Yes Lewis held like an octopus. But the truth is that Tyson had no remedy against it.

Tyson had no clue how to handle it and that's why I think the fight would have gone no different in the early 90s with a 'better' Mike. Lewis would have held and leaned on him and a 1996 Tyson wouldn't know what to do just like a 2002 Tyson didn't. Lack of ring IQ was always Tyson's problem.

 

So a pretty clean fighter then overall?

Almost any top heavy i can think of from Ali, Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis and now Wlad fought dirty in some way.
Vitali seems pretty clean, and as i said Holmes im not sure on.... occasional thumb can happen but he did not have a reputation to do anything else?

 

:deal

 

Funny that Wlad gets so much grief for "jab-jab-clinchx1000" but when Lewis does it against a shot fighter with NOTHING left, it's called "tactics".

Hypocrites.

 

Yes but Lewis has a history of going out and blowing guys away in the first half of the fight.

When a guy does that, he can afford a couple of fights that werent so great. Especially at the end of his career. He was older than Tyson,remember.

 

Lewis was one of the worst cherry pickers of all time.Unless you were shot and over the hill,Lewis wasn't interested in fighting you.He's as exciting as paint drying with a personality to match.:tired

 

This is a joke right?. Sarcasm on the internet is hard to pick up

 

Tyson could still hit if anything which was bad for a glass chin like Lennox. Also,Tyson being shot was his own decision because he showed flashes of his former self in a few fights after Lennox. He used his head movement when he felt like it and he attacked when he wanted to.Mike decided that he wouldn't have a chance against Lennox and Mike decided when his career was over. As he said "I just don't have the fighting guts no more."

 

Tyson hadnt actually looked that bad in the lead up to the Lewis fight.

At the time people werent saying that it would be the walk that it was for Lewis.

 

Well, Lewis did pursue a rematch with Tyson despite the result. So much that he wanted to go court to exercise the rematch clause.

Conveniently however he refused to give Vitali Klitschko a rematch after their controversial first fight. He didn't even flat out refuse the rematch (claimed he was mulling it over) until after Vitali smashed Kirk Johnson in 2 rounds.

So he wants to pick on an old, shot Tyson, yet he would also "retire" with the tail between his legs rather than rematch the man that literally had him beat the first time up until the cuts stoppage. Hypocrisy?

 

Are you blind? Did you see how terrible he looked against Frans Botha (crowd laughing how Botha was outboxing him), Brian Nielsen, and even against all the tomato cans prior? Tyson's last "good" fight where showed a good amount of his former skills was against Frank Bruno 2.

And the reason many Pundits still gave Tyson a chance against Lewis was because of Lewis' shaky chin. Even in the first round he was shook by a Tyson jab, too bad Tyson was just too slow and gassed to quick to land flush anything else meaningful.

 

Yup - and more importantly, the weight gain after the Golota fight was unprecedented. I mean Tyson weighed 222 Vs Berbick in 86 and his max weight up to the Brian Neilson fight was only a pound or so more more - 223. He then balloons to 239 for the Nielson fight and 234 against Lewis. I mean he was at one of his heaviest ever and a good 12 pounds over his optimum fighting weight.

I think up to the Tyson-Golota fight, Tyson had a realistic puncher's chance of KOing Lewis inside 4 rounds because the ferocity was still there and he could keep up the pressure at full pace for 3 rounds. But after the years layoff from the golota fight, the increased weight etc etc - unless he KO'd him in the 1st, he didn't stand much of a chance.

86-88 Tyson - KO inside 2 rounds.

 

Frans Botha at the time was a top ranked contender and Tyson still KO's him in the 5th.

Also he looked fine in the Holyfield fights, he just got whooped by a good fighter.

He "stopped" Golota in 3. Golota was a head case who ran out of the ring but Tyson was beating him convincingly.

I wouldnt consider Tyson completely shot. Definitely not in his prime and obviously on the slide, but a lot of that was his own doing as opposed to actually being physically shot.

Maybe he wasnt as committed as he should have been. He weighed in 234 against Lewis, only time in his career he was heavier was in the fight before against Nielsen at 239.