Why did Lennox take step-aside money to avoid Tyson?

Not true.


http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-09-07/sports/1996251060_1_tyson-hbo-lewis

Basically, it comes down to a showdown between the two warring cable-television powers -- Showtime, which supports Tyson and promoter Don King, and HBO, which backs Lewis and Main Events Inc.

"HBO has stopped every deal that could have been made," said Showtime executive Jay Larkin. "But what HBO won't admit is that it is protecting its exclusive contract with Lewis, just like we are with Tyson. We have an awful lot of money invested . . . and we're not about to give it away."

 

As we saw when they fought... if both fighters want the fight to happen... it will happen... simple as that. Networks can't and won't stop that from happening. I'm not saying that the Networks weren't involved... I'm saying that the fight definitely could have happened, and the Network issues were NOT the reason why Lewis turned down a guaranteed 13.5 mil contract, and the networks were NOT the reason that Lewis accepted the step aside money. What you posted was nothing more than posturing between Showtime and HBO... nothing surprising or out of the ordinary.

 

And you'd be wrong in saying that.

The people in charge of the network say that's the reason the fight didn't happen in 1996.

Lewis had a deal with HBO. Tyson had a deal with Showtime. The networks wouldn't let either guy fight on the other channel.

That's what happened. You can say whatever like, but the REAL reason is the networks wouldn't agree.

When did Lewis fight on Showtime? NEVER.

When did Tyson, after his prison stint, fight on HBO? During the replay of the Tyson-Lewis fight, because Tyson lost. And the network whose fighter won got to air the bout.

They were under exclusive deals. That's what an exclusive deal means.

The networks had to give permission or work out a deal, and they wouldn't. So it didn't happen.

 

Can you type OK with all this Tyson dieck in your mouth, dubble ?

Tyson was a scared, protected junkie, who dumped his trustworthy managerial team and instead chose to associate himself with criminals in order to earn the most $$$ for the least possible risk.

He was scared of Foreman even before going to prison (http://coxscorner.tripod.com/foreman_tyson_fl.html), and there's scores of witnesses to that.

He was scared of Lewis, and Holyfield is on record for that (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=164&v=yH8E2pmHrbQ)

He was scared of prime Holyfield and invented a rib injury to get out of the fight. Only when Holyfield was widely seen as shot did he agree to face him ( the odds were 25 to 1 against Holy).

You such an *¨¨*.

Why not state the true facts ?

After the WBC absurdly robbed him of the no 1 WBC contender spot in favor of just out of prison Tyson, Lewis attacked the WBC in court to force new champion Tyson to fight him instead of Seldon.

The court gave Lewis reason, but nonetheless Tyson refused to fight him, and instead agreed to pay 4 millions AND relinquish his newly won WBC title; Lewis subsequently rewon the title vs Mc Call.
It was the COURT'S DECISION (not WBC's: their hand was forced)
http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/wbc10-7.htm

Needless to say, the court's decision didn't please Tyson and King, and they tried in vain to overturn it.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185121&page=2

Another internet legend.

This rumor was started by Jay Larkin, Showtime's vice-president. Toegether with King and the alphabet-soup organisations, they were standing to win fortunes from Tyson's PPV sales, and would do nothing to rock that boat by making Tyson appear fearful of Lewis.

Larkin failed to disclose Lewis' contract allowed him to fight once on a rival channel, as revealed by the SUNDAY MIRROR.
(http://www.***********.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-458243.html).

This is why the WASHINGTON POST published in june 1996 that Frank Maloney had faxed an offer of 45 Millions for Tyson to face Lewis in England.(https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-799970.html)

Larkin also lied about Lewis being offered the biggest purse of his life by King ( 10 millions). Lewis had won that much in his very first title effort vs Tucker, back in 1993 !
(http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/wbc10-7.htm)

It was actually a fee designed to allow Tyson to duck Lewis a SECOND time in favor of Holyfield's remains (or so they thought)
From the horse's mouth:

htt
p://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/wbc10-7.htm


These old Tyson threads resurface every 6 months and invariably spew the same bull****.

Why don't you people try next time "Michael Jackson was so in love with Lisa Presley" ?


That's a proposition for you.

:-(

 

That's so untrue.

BTW, Lewis fought on Showtime the same time that Tyson fought on HBO. When they fought against each other. Clearly proving that it obviously could, would, and DID happen.

 

It was a business decision.

Fight Lewis, potentially lose and then throw away further mega pay days.

Or....

Pay him money to step aside and continue fighting the Seldons, Brunos and Mathis Jrs of this world for the same money but a whole lot easier.

 

Someone gonna hand you $4m to do nothing? **** I'd not fight Tyson for a tenner!

 

What it came down to was VERY simple.

From Tyson's perspective... give Lewis step aside money... He moves on to fight Seldon, and everyone with a brain knew that he was going to go after a Holyfield fight next, which was a much bigger fight than Lewis at the time.

From Lewis' perspective... he took the step aside money, and took the risk that Tyson wouldn't fight him afterward as promised. IMO, Lewis should have taken that fight, so that he didn't end up being left out in the cold.

 

Good point.:good

 

King offered Lewis 13$ million and a fight with Tyson. Lewis took the step-aside money and walked away.

 

Internet legend?

Who had internet in 1995/96? You mean an America Online legend?

Nothing you posted contradicted anything I said.

Mike Tyson had an exclusive deal with Showtime. Lewis had an exclusive deal with HBO. They had to get the network's approval to fight elsewhere. And the network wouldn't allow Lewis to fight on Showtime or Tyson to fight on HBO.

I can't open many of your links because they're scrambled. But I know Lewis fought on CBS. I watched him fight Justin Fortune live. HBO gave him permission. I watched Tyson fight on Fox live. Showtime gave him permission.

We could also post endless links over the years of King offering this and Maloney offering that, and the bottom line is the fight couldn't get made until the networks allowed it. Because the networks had exclusive contracts.

Showtime and HBO were chief rivals, and they didn't want to give Tyson and Lewis permission to fight on the other channel. So they didn't.

And, I don't know why you think I'm pro-Tyson. I was a Lewis fan. I even bought tickets and attended his fight with Tua.

I doubt you paid for any tickets to his fights. So f*ck off.

And quit fantasizing about people on here sucking ****s. F*ggot.

 

No they didn't. They fought on PPV. And HBO won the replay rights, because LEWIS WON. If Tyson won, Showtime would've aired it. But he didn't win, so they didn't air it.

And, again, the networks had to approve the fight. They couldn't fight on the rival network without their own network (that they had an exclusive deal with)'s approval.

That's what happened!!!!!

Were any of you guys even alive then or am I just talking to people who are trying to do searches so they sound like they know what happened?
:hi:

 

Why do you have this "childlike" idea that it was up to Lewis or Tyson whether they fought each other?

They were inked to major networks. Tyson had signed deals with a major casino. They were locked in. They were both advanced millions. They needed approval to do anything that wasn't in their deals.

Tyson could say ... "I want Lewis next." And, unless HBO let Lewis out of his contract to fight on HBO, it wasn't going to happen.

Also, since I watched boxing then, Evander Holyfield wasn't on "anyone's" radar before the Tyson-Seldon fight. Michael Moorer was.

Michael Moorer was the IBF champion. Tyson had faced Bruno for the WBC belt. He faced Seldon for the WBA belt. And THE WORLD thought he was going to fight Michael Moorer next for the IBF belt.

The Holyfield-Tyson announcement was unexpected. They trotted out Holyfield the night of the Seldon fight and said, "Hey, we hear you might be next?" And it was a shock.

And, after Seldon basically fainted, they wouldn't even allow him to attend the post-fight press conference. Instead, King rushed out Evander Holyfield at the press conference and said Tyson would be fighting Evander next. They wouldn't even talk about what had just happened with Seldon.

Since Evander had just been knocked out by Rid**** Bowe and he didn't look good stopping Czyz, the announcement was met with a collective groan.

That's why Holyfield opened at a 26-1 underdog or whatever it was. Because, when it was announced, no one thought he had a prayer.

People thought Tyson-Moorer was next.

And Lewis took the step-aside money because HBO wouldn't let him fight on Showtime and Showtime wasn't letting Tyson fight on HBO. So he wasn't going to get to fight Tyson, regardless.

HBO was terrified of losing out to Showtime at that moment. They'd had all the big PPVs and dominated boxing. They had Rid**** Bowe. They had Lewis.

But, when Tyson got out of jail, Showtime started breaking HBO's PPV records. And Showtime wasn't letting Tyson go to HBO to break PPV records and HBO wasn't letting Lewis or Bowe fight Tyson on Showtime PPV.

 

Of course i did.

But you would rather ignore it.

When a money machine like Tyson surfaces, it tends to bend some rules, notably journalistic ones.

By all means, don't let the facts spoil a nice theory.

:fire

 

What theory? It happened. If it happened, it's a fact. Not a theory.