Mike Tyson vs George Foreman 1988

Well, I guess the timeline for Holyfield, who took a prime Lennox Lewis the distance twice, is like: Shredded in 1991 - Shopworn in 1996 - best of the best ATG level in 1999
A man who fought until 2011....

 

Oh please.

The only reason holyfield was able to stick around until 2011 was because he still had an iron chin, high ring iq, and the division was GARBAGE in that time frame. Don King pulled strings to get him non stop title shots like a guy with cheat codes.

By the time he fought Tyson he was clearly past. Note i said past his best and not "washed up". Just like Leanard was clearly past his best against hagler but was still able to regain the belt. By 1996 Holyfield had been in brutal wars with bowe (3x), Moore (2x), alex stewart (2x), bert cooper, foreman, holmes, qawi, mercer, etc. This was all BEFORE fighting Tyson but fanboys are trying to convince everyone he wasnt shopworn and past his best? He was 34 years old, had been in 35 pro fights across two weight classes in addition to a good amateur career. He was a household name and made tens of millions. Any intelligent advisor would have told him to retire at that point but again, his iron chin, good connections, and the division watering down with mediocre bums allowed him to stick around. This isnt even debatable.

A fat 10 year layoff Foreman was competitive and going to war with a fresher, meaner, faster holyfield and tyson was floored and stopped by a shopworn past it holyfield. Holyfield also emphatically stated in multiple interviews foreman was the strongest hardest hitter he faced. So please stop using holyfield as a common factor between tyson and foreman unless youre ready to address these glaring stats.

 

Sonny , you have a lot to learn, maybe type less and research more if you were absent from boxing in the early 90's....

The "shredded" Holyfield never had the division by the "balls" that is laughable, he went the distance twice with fossils Foreman and Holmes, where he got major flak for from the boxing press, got almost stopped by late sub professional crack head Cooper and was beaten from pillar to post from a green Riddick Bowe.............Holyfield's entire career is based on by casuals like yourself by his two wins over a severely diminished Bodybuilder Mike Tyson...........and them you claim a PRIME Tyson would get beaten by Grandpa "Arum fix my fights" Foreman because Tyson is no good but elevate the washed up 96 three years in the can rotten version to "Prime" to booster Holyfields legacy..............Holyfields legacy is 1-4, if you include Tyson, 3-4 , hardly the resume of one "holding the division by the balls"

 

This bibles...text for nothing. Essence of my post beeing that Holyfield hang in 24 rounds with one of the best man the heavyweight devision has ever seen, and yet not a single word about it in the bible.

Like what? 5%? What people are arguing is that trimmed 205 or 208 Holyfield was NOT better suited against Tyson or Bowe, thats why he came in at a bulky 217 pounds against Bowe and 215/218 vs Tyson.
Do you see THIS version of Holyfield dropped by Cooper, like he was actually in his "prime" in 91?
Compared to prime sharpness, is Tyson who you could call shopworn.

 

1-in hindsight its pretty stupid to criticize holyfield for not KOing foreman and holmes when the two of them were granite chinned, experienced tough veterans and had only been stopped once a piece in over 60 fights. Thats like calling Lennox Lewis feather fisted for going the distance with Tua.

2-after winning the belts from douglas holyfield was the man. The only viable threats were tyson, ruddock, mercer, bowe, foreman. Tyson beat ruddock twice then went to jail. Holyfield beat mercer and foreman. He had a thrilling trilogy with bowe and won at least once and was very competitive in the first receiving a standing ovation for his valiant effort.

And since you want to talk about "doing your research" youd know holyfield was sick with ongoing heart problems and hepatitis in the 3rd bowe fight and nobody whose fair and objective holds it against him. Even foreman was shocked at how tired he looked and said the fight should be stopped.

So out of all the top dogs of the early to mid 90's, only bowe had his number and even thats debatable because again, holyfields illness. His record is 6-2 against the pre lewis era top heavyweights. Plus bowe faded into irrelevancy due to overreating, kidnapping his kids, etc and had no significant wins after the trilogy so yes holyfield definitely was the man of that era until he ran into lewis but by then he was past his prime. Beating tysons ass definitely helped too but i guess you dont want to discuss that?

3-so arum fixed foremans knockouts? Because he was koing nearly every opponent lol. Why didnt he fix his title fight with holyfield? Why didnt arum protect george from great white hope morrison? Or how about when he got blatantly robbed against briggs and there were federal investigations going on? Seems arum sucked at his job!

 

So are you continuing your nonsense that old shopworn fighters can have better chins in their mid to late 30's than their 20's and early 30's? If thats what this is about, sayonara.

 

Why are you asking me?

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Rose colored Novice post......

 

You recognize, in hindsight of this thread, that exactly in 1988 Tyson KTFO granite chinned experienced tough veteran Larry Holmes and we are discussing a fight between Foreman and Tyson in 1988 right now?

 

This should've happened in 1990. they both fought an hbo double-header in Jun, and most thought that they'd be facing one another next. Had the fight taken place in 88 I'd have taken Mike, however, I would take Jorge in 1990, i.e., vs the Tyson who now knew what it felt like to be on the wrong side of a ko.

 

Perhaps you should re-read my post from earlier.

You're saying that Holyfield emphatically stated that Foreman was the hardest hitter he faced. I know, but that version of Holyfield had a smaller frame and IMO was less durable than the thicker framed Holyfield.

By the way, the brutal wars with Stewart (for both Foreman and Holyfield) and Holmes (Holyfield only because Foreman ducked him) were highlight reels for Mike Tyson. I'm pretty certain Alex Stewart who made mince meant out of Foreman's face and gave Evander all he could handle might have a slightly different opinion on Mike Tyson's power considering he had difficulties staying upright when he fought Mike.

 

There is no contradiction dumbass! Use critical thinking. I didnt say holyfield's chin became much worse. Nor did i say you cant have a good chin while youre old and shopworn, i said it isnt going to suddenly get better (especially in your 30's). You on the other hand have claimed this in other threads and posted huge blocks of text arguing the point.

Shane Mosley for example is clearly waaaay past his best but still has a good chin and is hard to stop.

 

Concession accepted. This isnt not a proper rebuttal.

Larry was inactive for over a year and coming off a loss. And he was always weak to big right hands.

Foreman was VERY active having won 14 fights by the end of 88.

I also believe foremans chin was better than larrys but not by a huge amount.

And styles makes fights. Mentalities change outcomes. Larry attempted to stick and move, wrestle, counter, and tire tyson out by avoiding him and was probably looking to either stop him late or win on points. Foreman would be moving forward non stop throwing power punches in an attempt to demolish tyson early.

Stewart had difficulty staying upright against foreman too. He was dropped twice early then got on his bike and didnt engage foreman until he recovered, or did you not watch the fight? Foreman was slower than tyson and much older and couldnt capitalize on the knockdowns, youre acting like foremans punches had no effect and stewart just shrugged them off.

Stewart getting stopped early by tyson means he has limited experience getting hit by him. Do the math, he went life and death with foreman going the distance which is gonna be more painful.

As for holmes, foreman agreed to fight him but the promoters couldnt come up with the money to pay him so he withdrew. Nobody fights for free and holmes is lying if he claims he would have done so. Foreman way back in the 70's reached out to larrys team but they felt larry wasnt ready and declined. Its nonsense that foreman was scared of larry.

Holmes was dropped by renaldo snipes. Do you think foreman would have no chance of dropping or stopping larry?

 

Because he was ten pounds heavier that was his real prime? Can you possibly be serious?

 

Stewart wasn't sopped early by Tyson. That was a dive.