Was Mike Tyson scared of fighting George foreman?

What the **** are you talking about? Holyfield knocked Rodrigues unconscious. He got ****in stiffened in the 2nd round. Worse than what Foreman was able to do to him.

 

More experienced posters than you.

King set up Foreman-Rodreiquez and Tyson-Stewart on the same card to promote a future clash between the 2. If King wanted Tyson to avoid Foreman, he wouldnt have put them on the same card would he?

Its been explained ot you a number of times already, but your so ignorant and your obvious blind hatred of Tyson wont let you see anything else otherwise.

Less lucrative options? like the $100m superfight with Evander Holyfield?

Foreman ONLY became relevant to the heavyweight divison AFTER he lost to Holyfield, this was in 1991 and it was AFTER Tyson ahd already lost to Douglas.

 

Dude you are talking nonsense … Foreman fought the most handpicked selection of fighters imaginable on his way to the Holyfield bout, fighters Tyson would have been laughed at if he even considered fighting .. he then put up a brave but clearly losing effort against Holyfield, maybe winning a round or two … his legend was based on the fact that he went the distance and did not go down although he absorbed bad punishment along the way .. after that he again fought handpicked guys like the weak chinned Steward who busted him up pretty good … then he fought Morrison, another weak cinned fighter who out pointed him .. Foreman was brave and fought incredibly well for his age but he NEVER, EVER considered fighting the big guys that would have flattened him by his own admittance like a Bowe or a Lewis … the legend of his comeback and the fortune he made is hinged more than anything on two things : the first he regained the title against a weak chinned Michael Moorer with a pretty lucky shot after losing every minute of the previous ten rounds and taking a pasting along the way and the second was the Tyson fight never materialized; first because no one took Foreman seriously against Mike and second because Mike was in jail. If Foreman fought any version of the pre-prison Tyson he would have been destroyed early … it would have shattered his legend as well ..

 

Im not a big Tyson fan though I do appreciate him more looking at the way the division is now.

I don`t believe Mike Tyson was "afraid" of anyone. He got punched in the face for a living and was boxing since he was a young kid. With that said his life was going off the rails.

IMV Tyson didn`t really want to fight anymore after all the turmoil in his life. I feel he just went on because he was a follower and it was expected of him. He knew he could make a busload of $. His heart wasn`t into boxing in the same way.

He could still beat guys like Ruddock on natural talent but he was sliding a bit. He may have not taken Big George serious at first then probably looked at it as a lose lose proposition. If Foreman even hurt him once {probable} or gave him a good fight Mike would look like an *******.

Where was the motivation for him to face Foreman? Tyson already knew he could make $ with his name alone. King was stealing half of it anyway.

 

Gonna drop this here then scamper:

Both Al Bernstein and Gil Clancy thought old Foreman would have beaten Tyson. Don't shoot the messenger.

 

Eddie Futch And Ali both picked Spinks to beat Tyson

 

I disagree that Foreman was ever a logical defense for anyone. Foreman had huge popularity and appeal, so he brought in the fans, and that translated into big money, both for the champion and for Foreman. But looking at things from a die-hard boxing fan perspective, did Foreman really earn a his shot at Evander Holyfield? I don't think he did. He knocked over the corpse of Cooney and then he splattered Rodrigues, a guy who had already been exposed by Holyfield; and Rodrigues was not ranked when Foreman fought him. So, as much as I was a fan of George Foreman and his comeback (I was 17 when he fought Holyfield; and I was rooting for him), looking at things through my older, more critical eyes, I believe Foreman received two undeserved title shots, one against Holyfield, the other against Moorer.
But of course, money talks in boxing, so there you go.

 

I could not disagree more with most of this. For one before he fought Holyfield he had demolished Gerry Cooney who by isn't a great fighter but certainly is a good opponent and a devastating puncher. He also destroyed Bert Cooper and Adilson Rodrigruez who by no means were top notch fighters but were considered to be worthy and good opponents at the time. Not to mention he easily toyed with many fighters who weren't top notch but were legit pros I think he did enough to warrant his shot at the crown. Also I think there were many top notch heavyweights who didn't want to fight Foreman at the time because it was to risky a loss to the old man could really derail their careers and I believe that Foreman would've been able to beat most of them and certainly give any of them one hell of a fight.

I think you're really discounting Foreman's performance in the Holyfield fight. For one he didn't just win 1 or 2 rounds like you said infact there were a number of rounds that could've been argued in his favor and though Holyfield did win some rounds big and ultimately clearly win the fight Foreman was there from the opening round to the finish going blow for blow with Holyfield who is one of the better heavyweights of all time and was in his prime when he fought Big George. Yes Foreman did absorb bad punishment throughout the fight but there wasn't a single round where he didn't dish out his share of punishment as well.


I don't know what makes you think he would've been flattened by the "big guys" like Bowe and Lewis. In his comeback Foreman took the sunday punch of Gerry Cooney and Tommy Morrison who both could be argued as the hardest punchers in the division at the time. He also took barrages from Michael Moorer, Alex Stewart, Lou Savarese and Evander Holyfield who were all good punchers as well and Foreman never went down. Foreman had a very good chin to begin with and his great conditioning and calmness in the ring during his comeback allowed him to take an incredible punch. I would be surprise to see him get knocked out by either Bowe or Lewis and if either of them managed to knock out Big George it would be incredibly impressive and their part. As a matter fact I think those two were guys who Foreman did avoid because they were both great fighters and would be very challenging for Foreman to beat. Any losses at this stage in Foreman's career could potentially really set him back thats a lot of the reason he didn't want to take any risks and fight certain guys who may have given him trouble. but I do believe if it came down too it and Foreman was challenging for the title he would've been willing to fight either one of them and probably would've made a good account of himself.

Luck didn't play any role in the Michael Moorer knockout. People exaggerate how one sided the fight really was Foreman was losing almost every round but in every round he was dishing out his share of punishment something like what Chavez did in the Meldrick Taylor fight. In the round where Foreman knocked out Moorer he seemed to be beginning too find his range better early on in the round and landed a number of good shots, he then stunned Moorer with an excellent one two after that he followed up knocking Moorer out with another beautiful one two combo to the chin. No luck in that, luck would be if Foreman hadn't been landing **** the entire fight and out of no where with his head down came up with a wild left hook out of his ass and caught Moorer on the button and knocked him cold which is not at all what happened. Michael Moorer was a very good fighter, he had extremely technically sound boxing ability and I believe could've been competitive with any heavyweight in his era or any other era and the fact that Foreman fought such a good fight against him and ultimately won by knocking him out at the age of 46 I believe is one of the better accomplishments ever in boxing.

Finally I don't care what version of Tyson were talking there is no proof and very little if anything to suggest that he would've destroyed old Foreman. For one every single fighter who fought Foreman coming forward which is certainly how Tyson would fight him got whooped. Secondly no one ever destroyed old or young Foreman all his fights in his career he was competitive in even against guys who he didn't match up well against stylistically and that is not the case with Tyson. 3rd Foreman wasn't a good stylistic match up for Tyson I would be very surprised to see Tyson be able to take Foreman out early and Tyson didn't fight well as fights got into the middle to late rounds also at times big men gave Tyson difficulty. Another factor is that Tyson even in his prime I don't believe was ever the strongest fighter mentally how would he react when he isn't able to destroy the old man like many people think he should and in fact the old man is landing some hard punches on him would Tyson be able to deal with this adversity?, would he begin to have doubts in his mind and lose composure?.

I could honestly speculate about this match up all day so I'll cut off at that thought. Truly Mike Tyson vs George Foreman at almost any stage in their careers is a fasinating match up. I don't know who would win but I have little doubts that for as long as the fight would go it would be very competitive by no means do I think the old man would be over matched. :deal

 

Perfect summation. I agree with you 100 percent. I was a teenager through most of Foreman's comeback, and I was mesmerized by his whole story: surly, brutal former heavyweight champion who found God, redeemed himself, and then returned to the ring as a bald, fat, jolly ex-heavyweight champion on a quest to regain the heavyweight championship.
It was a great story -- but it a lot of it was, I think, smoke and mirrors. Foreman, whether you believe he is really a nice guy or simply a good actor, was a true businessman, so he wanted those big-time paydays without exposing himself to much risk along the way.
All the people who say Foreman proved himself against Holyfield; that seems backwards to me. The idea is to prove yourself before fighting for the title; you establish your fighting credentials prior to challenging for a championship. But Foreman, because of his salesmanship and persona, got special treatment.

And I've always felt that the 1970s George Foreman, that meaner, surlier guy, was always right underneath old George's nice-guy, aww shucks persona.

 

He demolished Gerry Cooney ? Who was the last contender Gerry Cooney defeated before he fought George ? When did Cooney last win a fight ? When did Cooney last fight ?

116-111 | 117-110 | 115-112 .. those were the scores of the Holyfield fight … how many thought George won ? George was brave. George was tough. George was soundly defeated.

Foreman himself said many times, many times, while acting as an announcer for HBO while fighting he had no interest ever in fighting Bowe to Lewis.

Luck did not play a role in the Moorer fight ? How many rounds did you give George going into the 10th ? Zero. Moorer was a big light heavy with a light heavyweight's chin … to George's credit he knew all he needed to do was land one against the fragile chinned Moorer and he had a shot which is why he begged Arum for the fight.

The pre-**** conviction Tyson with his speed and power would have flattened this courageous, extremely cagey, well promoted and matched but painfully slow Foreman … it's time to stop day dreaming , seriously ...

 

Excellent well framed response

 

I do give Foreman props for being extremely tough and determined through his comeback. And I don't necessarily think that the so-called "big guys" in the division at the time -- Bowe, Lewis, Bruno, Ruddock -- would have overpowered Foreman. Those guys probably would have beaten him (maybe not Bruno), but I think Foreman was probably physically stronger than those guys. Foreman was massively strong physically; he was able to push and maul guys around effectively; and while a lot of guys could hit as hard or harder than Foreman, not a lot of guys were as physically strong as he was. And I doubt Lennox Lewis or Riddick Bowe had Foreman's physical strength.
Look at how Shannon Briggs was able to move Lennox Lewis around; then look at how Briggs was unable to move Foreman an inch during their fight; and that was a 48-year-old Foreman!!
I bash Foreman's comeback and his hand-picking of opposition, but I do give Foreman props for a lot of things!

 

Cooney hadn't beat any contenders in years nor did I state this but he was a good opponent and a good win, Cooney no matter what anyone says about his abilities, no one can doubt the fact that he is one damn good puncher and should be a very dangerous opponent for a guy like Foreman who'd be there in front of him exchanging.

Ok don't go and turn around the things I said I never said Foreman beat Holyfield I just stated the fact that it was a very tough test for Holyfield unlike you seemed to think.

As I said if you read my post Foreman did lose pretty well every round against Moorer but he was competitive in each one of the rounds though being out landed he was landing good shots of his own and finding his range. There is NOTHING lucky about knocking somebody out by landing a perfect one two to the chin which was set up by a previous perfect one, two to the chin.

Again if you read what I actually said I do think Foreman did avoid Bowe and Lewis because they were very tough stylistic match ups for him and he didn't want to risk losing but as I said I do think if it would've been one of them in Michael Moorer or Holyfield's spot he would've accepted the fight.

Tyson certainly did always have speed and power not only that he threw great combinations, had excellent footwork, his defense was great, his chin was solid. He had almost everything but the only area he may have lacked in at times was his mental game in the ring which is as important as anything in boxing, Old Foreman was a master in this area. Old Foreman may not have been fast at all but his timing was great and he used his jab very well to set up his big punches, he was also very crafty and still possessed extreme power he'd have little trouble landing on Tyson who'd be coming forward to him.

Really I am a huge fan of both fighters so I have no bias, I would love to have seen a young Tyson blow away old George Foreman and prove he was as great as I think he may have been in his prime at the same time it would be something to see Old Foreman take out Tyson. But really there is nothing that I see in a young Tyson to think he'd be the one who'd be able to blow away Old Foreman, I think maybe he'd beat him but it wouldn't be easy and he'd have to bring his A game both physically and mentally.

 

Foreman cherry-picked his opponents & while it would have been hard for anyone to floor him, yes, Tyson, Bowe & Lewis would be favored against Old Foreman. The statement that many hit as hard or harder? Nah, not even in his comeback. He also set up the Moorer KO by hooking him into the right. Moorer angrily denied it was more than luck, which is insane denial. Teddy Atlas-/a jerk to Foreman during the press conference-//was yelling to his charge not 10 seconds before the KO "dont stand in front of him"!

I see no evidence that Foreman's decency was faked or fragile after his religious experience (& i am an atheist). He seemed sincerely transformed. The mind grasps onto tools for healing itself through remarkable subconscious processes./

 

But George wasn't always a mean and surly guy even in the 70's. In most interviews he came across as quite a decent guy really. He did not have the menace of a Liston or Tyson outside the ring.

I guess time just mellowed him out. How much was a genuine transformation of character of just a matter of growing older, wiser and more chilled is hard to say.
I do tend to agree to a point that his nice guy image at times seemed to be just that - an image. But this is a hard sport and nice guys get chewed up and spit out quickly, and I guess George also needed to be tough and look after himself sometimes.
Personally, while I do accept a lot of the criticism leveled at George, what he did and ultimately achieved was nothing short of amazing.

It wasn't just a comeback, but an entire second career. So much had changed while he had been away; it was an entire new era altogether.
George never had one foot in the ring like a Holmes or a Leonard...he was completely away from the game for 10 years.

To come back when everyone is laughing at him, to come back as a fat, bald old man and have people treat you like a joke must have been pretty humiliating, and it must have taken a huge amount of humility and character to accept all that yet keep to his guns and keep plodding on.
NO ONE took George seriously for a long, long time. They laughed at him and even he had to laugh at himself.
But little by little he stopped people laughing at him, until in the end no one was laughing anymore.

Personally I've got nothing but admiration for him. He did it his way and made believers out of many, if not most.