Tyson vs/lewis fight question

If Lewis had declined the step aside money and got the fight in 96 instead of Tyson fighting Holyfield, his detractors, and Tyson fanboys would have made the same claims, because he would have destroyed him at that time also.

This why Lennox has no interest what his critics have to say.

 

While he was still firing on more cylinders than Mike, Lennox wasn't exactly a spring chicken himself and some physical degradation had set in and begun affecting his style. (fortunately for him he had the inimitable Steward there to manage & mitigate the aging process on his body by adapting his style accordingly and playing to his remaining strengths - which was Steward's specialty, after teaching tall boxer-punchers how to get the most out of their build...)

I doubt very much that Lewis considers his triumph over Tyson as being comparable with Douglas' or Holyfield's, and he probably realizes they met too late for it to have the meaning it could have - but he probably looks at it (not completely unjustifiably, IMO) as "Hey, we met a little past our best and I dominated him...so if you give him back his reflexes and ferocity, then give me back my physical prime agility and speed to if not cancel out that replenishment for Tyson at least counterbalance it enough that you can say the result remains the same if a bit less one-sided..."

 

Yes of course, fight Lennox in '96 for peanuts instead of facing Holyfield for $30m+ atsch

 

This Foxy01 guy is a trip, he has a bad habit of speaking for Lennox Lewis like he knows him on a personal level or knows what he is thinking. He's doing that alot in the Lewis, Greatest thread.

This why Lennox has no interest what his critics have to say.

 

the difference is that Tyson was gone, there was nothing left. Lewis was the dominant champ. The deck was stacked considerably in Lennox's favour, to the point that the above point doesn't balance anything. Mike didnt just need back his reflexes and ferocity, he needed EVERYTHING as nothing was left at all, apart from his chin. you just cant take any measurement from that fight in my opinion, in a similar way to Homes v Ali, the fight said nothing. Yet Lennox does try and get all the credit he can from it.

 

I'm just playing devil's advocate for the way he probably looks at it, not saying I agree.

Lewis had loads more left, that's obvious.

...but, the fact that he was nearing his end, getting on in years, and hovering around career-high weights since Holyfield II, probably gives him all the opening he needs to squeeze through into the comfortable bubble of convincing himself (if not others) that it was "two guys at the end of the road" enough to extrapolate that it would have gone down the same way if both were younger and fresher.

 

Back then this fight was not seen as a mismatch. I remember a lot of the people thought Tyson would beat him. Reason is that Tyson fought guys like Julius Francis, Savarese and Nielsen before that. So he got those guys out of there quick so nothing was really revealing that Tyson was not himself anymore.

 

:blood

He was pretty obviously not himself anymore. He didn't get rid of Nielsen that quickly... it took a lot of effort. In his prime, he wouldn't let Nielsen get past the 1st.

I think what contributed to some not quite seeing it as being a total mismatch was that a) those fights even against outmatched and carefully selected types like Francis, Savarese and Nielsen did show that Tyson did still pack some thunder and some flickering but still burning embers of desire...and b) Lewis vs. Rahman I was still very, very fresh in everybody's minds even with having been avenged. Lewis was fat, old and looking vulnerable...even though he was the less badly deteriorated of them by far.

 

Basically I agree with everything you said. I watched the Nielsen fight only once and I remember it pretty one sided. Nielsen was almost undefeated at that time so even though he didn't have the Frank Bruno physique, he had a respectable record, I remember Tyson get him out of there without too many problems. 2 of those pre-Lewis fights ended with opponents "quitting". I remember both Golota and Nielsen did not want to continue and Tyson was shouting at both of them to go on. So that can look very ferocious and might have added to the idea that Tyson is still there before the Lewis fight.

 

I see what you are saying but it irritates the hell out of me when he does it, I guess all fighters do that to an extent in order to elevate themselves. But the delusion in this case is stretching it, Mike was a lump this fight

 

I saw Mike shouting after those fights as bravado, I reckon he was relieved they quit in truth. He played the bad ass image to a tee, eg the Saverese rant, but it was all hot air. I just though it was a circus act personally. The Lewis leg bite was the final proof that Tyson was in no way going to win this fight. I guess the average fan was fooled by that stuff, so Mike's plan worked and generated massive hype for the fight. As he said himself, he was a great con man.

 

Tyson getting paid peanuts for fighting Lewis.... erm how does that work like?

Tyson had guarantees every time he stepped in the ring, and a Lewis-Tyson fight would have made just as much as the Holyfield fight would have for Tyson.

Not like either Lewis or Holyfield could demand **** in a fight against Tyson, there would be enough money to go round to make sure every fooker involved got paid.

Tyson those days was getting paid 20 million for fighting Pete McKneeley. So why would he make peanuts against Lewis?

Put your answers on a postcard.

 

You do realize Lewis was trying to get Tyson in the ring as early as 95 once he come out of prison?

Tyson paid Lewis 4 million not to fight him, and then every time the fight came up Tyson would say 'one or two more fights and then I'll be ready', Tyson was not stupid and knew all along that Lewis would do him. Even admitted to being intimidated by Lewis.

Now whilst that was going on for years, could you imagine every time Lewis stepped outside and someone would shout Tyson would beat him or KO him? Lewis said it happened frequently, and let's face it Tyson was the last one for Lewis to beat out of his own era, he'd beat everyone that was willing to face him in his own era, there was just the biggest name left.

It was a huge meaningful fight whether Tyson was shot to death or not. Hence why there was so much media attention and let's not pretend here, the fooking world was watching that night. That fight was PPV all over the world not just in the states.

So yeah, Tyson was done... Lewis was telling you that before the fight, it was goons who didn't know **** that was billing Tyson up to be something he wasn't anymore.

 

Tyson would always make more fighting Holyfield because at that time, that as the fight everyone wanted. That's why it was called Finally.

nobody cared about Tyson Lewis.