Thought Lewis would take him out quicker or Tyson would be dq’d. It was apparent Tyson had nothing left, was only in the sport on name only. I was surprised as well that he hung in there and took what he did. Tyson had a very good chin and a warriors heart despite the meltdowns vs Holyfield and the things ppl like Atlas said. He took his whooping vs Douglas and he hung tough in tough fights with Ruddock and even Holyfield the first time. His life just was so out of whack outside the ring that his dedication wasn’t there and he also peaked young.
I thought that Lewis stops him in 3 rounds based on Tyson's poor performance vs Brian Nielsen and how easily and quickly Lennox dealt with Hasim Rahman in the rematch. I underestimated Tyson's chin, but since round 2 in was one-sided beating.
Hindsight makes this a tough one to answer objectively. The betting had Lennox as favourite but only slightly. That shows the reputation Mike still had, when all logic pointed to him being well past his sell by date. Its never a fight that I've revisited/ watched again as it proved nothing, other than Mike was done and Lennox has matured into everything he promised to be. I don't think it did anything for either of their reputations. Lennox's potentially career defining fights either happened at the wrong time / or never happened at all ( Bowe). Whereas Ali has his Liston/ Foreman , Frazier has his FOTC , Tyson has the 86-89 spell of destruction, Lennox doesn't quite have that definity in his legacy which is a shame . He fought in an era as strong as any but the main players never really met at the right times for the most part . In the Ali/ Frazier/ Foreman era they met at as good a times as was possible.
I knew Lewis was going to win first off.At that point Tyson was a shell ,a memory of the 80s fighter. But for a lot of reason s I suppose the fight had to happen. Same as Marciano v Louis and Holmes v Ali .We knew Tyson had a good ,solid Chin so I didn't expect a fast Razor Ruddock type blast out from Lennox ,I predicted a late rounds ko .But I was surprised a little at just how one sided it actually was. But Tyson was up against a great fighter in there so he'd have needed to be about 15 years younger to stand a chance.
Peak Tyson vs peak Holy. 60/40 holy. Peak Tyson peak Lewis 50/50 Peak Tyson vs peak Bowe 60/40 Tyson imo Tyson showed up 10 pounds heavier than he should have and therefore he was onlydangerous for the first 1-2 rounds instead of 3-5 like i thought. I think it was clear at that point that Lewis was the better fighter and only his very average chin and Mike's explosive power with both hands made this intriguing. However the fact that Tyson even at thatadvanced stage of decomposition still had somesuccess with his jab shows that peak for peak 87-88 Tyson has a good shot to win, even on points if hehurts or drops Lewis early and manages to make him cautious enough to start winning rounds just with jabs like vs Tucker.
