Was Mike Tyson scared of fighting George foreman?

Foreman did good for himself. Better than expected. But come on, he skirted around the big guys that really mattered in the 90's. Real heavyweights. Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, Ruddock, Mercer. He did face Morrison and Moorer and came out 1-1 against them. Not bad. But what did he do after winning the title? Foreman has 1 win against an elite heayweight in Moorer.

 

Stop comparing Ruddock to Foreman. Foreman hit harder. The grandfather comments can stop as well.

 

Foreman's strength far exceeded the weight factor. Why don't we just bring up Butterbean then?

 

I honestly don't think Foreman hit harder than Ruddock. And Ruddock was the more dangerous fighter.

It would've been nice to see Foreman face Tyson, Ruddock, Bruno, and a few others to see where he stood. Not sure he stands too well against them, sans Bruno. Still, I believe Bruno was better than Stewart.

Bowe, Lewis and Tyson do some major damage to Foreman. If Holyfield had more power I'm sure Foreman goes back into retirement.

 

I find it strange and peculiar how someone might believe Tyson is afraid of:huh slow old George, but willing to get in the ring with Lennox and Holy:huh doesn't make sense.
Tommy Morrison put a whupping on George, a better question would be why didn't Mike ever fight the Duke, say back in 1995? With Morrison being the great white hope that could have been the richest fight ever, but Mike choose instead to fight a Bum in Peter McNeely, and a tomato can/creampuff Buster Mathis Jr, both guys who wouldn't even qualify to be Morrisons sparring partners..

 

The only fighters Tyson might fear were 40 and 0 Foreman, and Liston.
Let's be real though, once Mike, arrives at the staredown he's not gonna
have any fear. As long as were being real, old Foreman could have pulled
the upset, those weird hookercuts and the pushing tactics etc.
I believe Tyson was one of the hungriest fighters ever no fear and a never
say die attitude.

 

Morrison? He just scathed by Ruddock and lost to Lewis in 1995. A match between Tyson and Morrison was in the works for 1997 if Tyson were to get by Holyfield and take Moorer's IBF belt. King knew Tyson-Morrison would be huge but wanted Tyson to get the belts back first. McNeeley and Mathis were tune ups for his return to the championship throne that King had so easily lined up for Tyson. Then Morrison contracted HIV and that was that.

What people need to understand is the politics behind boxing, especially in the 90's with King, Arum and Main Events in the mix, along with HBO and Showtime. You can't just make a fight between so and so out of thin air. It doesn't work that way.

 

It's a myth, even in the unlikely event of it being true, it's naturally human to be scared of another boxer even if you can dominate them. Fear is part of the sport and Calzaghe for instance was scared of Jeff Lacey as crazy as it sounds retrospectively.

It seems Foreman turned down the fight and was hoping to make more money for the fight in what sounds like a cash out strategy. Foreman was fighting at a much lower level throughout his comeback and performing far far worse. It seems unlikely he'd stand any chance against a much more skilled fitter younger man.

 

Foreman was smart and incredibly lucky he never ended up fighting Tyson … he would have gotten flattened and his legacy with it … no one wants to see a fat old man on the deck ...

 

Its not just Foremans weight and in relation to Foremans time he was the strongest fighter around in the 90's not so much. It was the fact that Foremans size and strength was not unusual and Tyson had fought bigger maybe stronger fighters. Foreman at 237 which I believe was his lightest could not push the bigger heavyweights around and given he was not a fast fighter upon his return he put the weight back on so he could match up with the behemoths. BTW notice how many large quality fighters Foreman avoided he like all world class fighters avoided fighters he may not be able to beat and Super George was no different. I wonder why George never jumped at fighting Larry Holmes given that Tyson had knocked him out in 4 back in the 80's while Larry was younger and closer to his active fighting days. The only thing George wanted from Tyson was the money and that was it.

 

They all want money. Who wouldn't? ....Tyson fought no one as strong as George.

 

Some whupping. Looked like Morrison did what he had to and stayed away from George.

 

Flattened? No.

 

Anyone who knew anything about boxing circa 1990 knew Mike Tyson would get spanked like an ugly baby by Foreman. After Foreman deposited Adilson Rodriquez on King's lap just as he promised, King smartly steered his cash cow away from Big George.

Much of what occurs between the ropes is determined by what occurs outside the ropes. Foreman was utterly confident about the Tyson fight, let Tyson know he wasn't the least bit afraid and asked repeatedly for the fight when everyone else was still shaking in their boots. Foreman would've approached this like he was Tyson's daddy and would've had him sucking on a pacifier and clutching a woovie by the weigh in. Tyson's whole gig by 1990 was intimidation and he would be on the wrong side of that equation.

One guy was asking for the fight and the other fought lesser opponents for MUCH less money. The Foreman fight was a big potential cashola for Iron Mike and he chose to fight Buster Douglas instead? Use some common sense here guys.

 

By the time George came back he wasn't the strongest fighter around the perception is marketing. There were fighters with his one punch power, strength and were larger men. Foreman pushed fighters and carefully selected weaker opposition to market himself. Like many a manager stated about George he was a con man but a genious at marketing.