Lennox and the Step-a-side money!

What part of Holyfield had the same as Lewis in 96 ( fvck all ) are you having trouble understanding. Holyfield lost his belts to Moorer in 94. He ( Tyson ) could have fought Lewis if he had wanted to. In 96 Tyson was still the biggest name in Heavyweight boxing.

 

^^^This on all points! No way Lewis won 8-2. I had it 6-4 for Lewis. There was no re-match!

 

No Tyson got $30 million for the first Holyfield fight. It was Holyfield who got $35 million in the rematch which even to this day is the highest ever purse at heavyweight I believe.

Tyson probably would have been paid a similar amount to the $30 million he was paid against Evander. He may have gotten more as Lewis then was a bigger threat and Holyfield was seen as shot or close to it after his poor performance against Czyz and being stopped by Bowe.

 

I think it is agreed that Mercer lost the last 2 rounds, so it should also be safe to assume if it had been a 12 round fight Lewis would have won those as well. No need for a rematch.

 

These are all pretty valid points. I think both Mercer and Lewis showed up to fight. I think it was a hard fought fight, and I think Lewis expected to knock Mercer out, and to be perfectly honest, he hit him with shots that would have KO'd most fighters, but rather than go down, Mercer stuck around, used his jab well and almost won the fight. But why people want to criticise Lewis for that performance is a complete mystery to me. Both these guys deserve props not criticism.

 

6-4 sounds about right, but why do you think all close bouts automatically deserve rematches??

 

I think Mercer under performed in terms of what he could have done with his career and what he did do. He had the skills to go father than he did. He just didn't seem to have the training habits necessary to fully utilize those skills.