In place of Douglas in 1990,, which former 80 s champion iyo defeat s Tyson? Witherspoon of the Greg page ft? Greg page of the coetzee ft? Mike dokes of the weaver ft? John Tate of the coetzee ft? So do any of the mentioned have the ability to replicate buster in Tokyo?
Possible. Best bet is Page. I think Tate wins rounds but ultimately gets clipped somewhere along the lines and goes. I don't think he gets off the canvas like Buster. Dokes of the Weaver fights had long since stopped using his legs and was a plodder by the time of the Weaver fight. He needs that early footwork when he actually used to glide around the ring and was the only guy comparable to Larry Holmes. W/O mobility though, Dokes goes. He held that chin straight up in the air and dropped those hands, besides keeping them low in the first place. But these guys are not the ideal Carl Williams/Mike Spinks/Marvis Frazier type opponents that Mike Tyson is destroyer of the year against. These guys will win some rounds and Mike would get sloppy and miss a fair amount of punches against these guys. And the mobility of Page and Tate is a problem. So even if he goes 3-0, it 'd be a Bonecrusher Smith/Ribalta/Tucker type results thing as opposed to the ko1 stuff.
I actually picked page. He gets a bit of negative press at times, but in his short lived prime a very good fighter. I see him in with a very realistic chance of beating Tyson in 90. He could jab like Douglas and move, giving Tyson all sorts of problems . he could definitely do it.
Even the faded page of '90 knocked Tyson down in sparring before the Douglas fight. It was a red flag that something was not right. Tyson on that night looked about 50 percent of the 1986-88 version so I think all those guys would have been competitive with him. If I have to pick one to beat him, I'll say Witherspoon. He had the best defense of the bunch and would defintately take Tyson in to the late rounds where his lack of conditioning and training would tell the most. Witherspoon by 11th round tko.
Even though I am a Page guy, and think he could beat Tyson more ways than one, I think Witherspoon is a better bet. His shape is going to be better, and I think he would be more motivated. That right of his would make Tyson respect him immediately.
I'd forgotten about page knocking Tyson down in sparring. Don't really read to much into sparring kds but it definitely showed a flash of page at his old best perhaps. I believe Ali proclaimed him as the next best thing. Shows how things can go wrong in boxing so easily. But he definitely had skills if not the dedication or luck you need in this sport.
Buster Douglas beat Greg Page pretty handily in 1986, about a year and a half after the Coetzee fight. Page didn't jab or do much of anything else like Buster, really. And one of the great things about the Douglas win was Tyson had Buster out in that fight, and Buster got up to win. I don't see any of those guys getting up from a crushing knockdown to win. If you hurt Spoon or Page or Dokes or expecially Tate, it was over for the most part.
They wouldn't necessarily have to get up off the canvas to win. It may just be a case of one of them beating him and not getting caught.
I was never too impressed with Page despite his natural talent especially sfter seeing him get bullied by Berbick and out hustled by Tubbs
Quick tillis in his prime or with the hunger he had against carl williams might just replicate douglas v tokyo tyson....tillis back than could move, had a chin and very underrated power
I Berbick-caught page at right time, when his tools weren't polished, and he lost weight to quickly, and was going through the whole King vs Lewis promotional dispute. Until Trevor hit that body in the second round, Page was more than holding his own. Tubbs-by then, Greg was having his issues with King, plus was victim of hotel robbery. And Tony would give Greg a hard time at any point in his career.
