Past a certain point his style becomes tailor made for Foreman, but in his prime he'd have a very good chance due to the difference in both hand and foot speed. Any version of 90s Tyson has a hard time with a prime Foreman though, who'd launch punishing jabs, push offs and tie ups while bludgeoning him to the body or catching him dipping down with uppercuts that'd shake him to his boots. Sooner or later Tyson would give out from the prolonged beating and lose via TKO. Prime Tyson though has the speed and savagery to catch Foreman over the gloves with a leaping left hook or counter OH right. Can see Foreman getting wobbled by that version and possibly going down for the count if Tyson can press the attack enough.
Tailor made, just as Cus himself knew and told Tyson. In fact, from memory, it wasn't just Foreman specifically that D'Amato warned of, but fighters 'like' Foreman (whoever they were to Cus' mind - interesting topic?) that Tyson needed to be wary of. This is like the Ali-Tyson thread, with trolls and morons coming out of the woodwork to cogitate in their own imagination how Ali would lose to Tyson, despite Kevin Rooney, Teddy Atlas, Floyd Patterson, Bill Cayton and Jose Torres all saying unequivocally that Ali would win in such a hypothetical. I'd bet D'Amato would have agreed as well were he asked when healthy. But the fan bois know better! These fan bois are literally out of control. Its embarrassing to think that people will come along and read this immature, ill conceived crap and think its valid content.
It's a very interesting stylistic matchup and we can't really predict what would happen as neither man fought someone similar to each other. Someone like Norton or Wlad would be considered taylor made for Foreman, not Tyson.
Hmm, depends on which Wladmir. Some versions like the younger one who fought brewster would get steam rolled, but the peak Wladmir would definitely give him problems with his heavy jab and clinching tactics. He has reach over Foreman and has respectable power himself so Foreman wouldn't be able to just charge in since he was a sucker for right hands down the middle. The problem for Wladmir was that his gas tank was never great at any point of his career. He was mainly able to go the distance by pacing himself and making the fight slow and ugly. Foreman wouldn't agree to a slow paced fight and would bring the heat. He'd also be going to the body a lot, which would make Wladmir tire rapidly if he isn't able to keep the big Texan off of him.
I am a fan of Wlad, but I don't think his chin could handle Foreman, Steward or not. He can jab and hold all he wants, Foreman is going to land flush sooner or later... Foreman in 6 at the outside.
I'm a huge fan of both men, but in all honesty if Frazier can just barely survive into the second round as he did against Foreman in 73, I see no way of him making it past three with Tyson. If he made it past say 4 rounds I'd give him a good chance but Mike's hand speed plus power and head movement are bad news for Joe.
I've never bought into the "Foreman beat Frazier therefore he beats Tyson" many thinking Tyson and Frazier were so similar. Even Frazier himself said George would destroy Mike and of course Joe stated he would have had "no problem" with Mike. Nonsense. First although close in height Tyson was naturally bigger than Joe. Second, their styles are very different Joe throwing more punches that added up while Tyson throwing fewer bot harder shots. Frazier bobbed up and down, while Tyson moved mostly side to side. Frazier depended on his left hook for the ko, Mike took people out with either hand. Frazier had average speed at best Mike had unreal hand speed rarely ever seen in a heavyweight. Frazier had better stamina overall but Tyson fought into the later rounds when he had to. Both men were susceptible to uppercuts and George had great uppercuts. Many seem to think outside of the Ali fight that George was some superhuman monster incapable of losing, but no one is. Tyson's movement would boggle Foreman as it did most in his prime. I can see George failing to see the same type of right hand that dropped Larry Holmes and started his beginning of the end in his fight with Mike. This fight IMO is 50-50 in a prime match up.
Tyson was still lightning quick until after the bite fight. Foreman in the 70s still didn’t have better stamina than post prison Tyson. Other than Tokyo, the first version of Tyson that I’d really favor Foreman to beat would probably be the guy who showed up for Botha. Basically, Foreman was open never demonstrated the kind of stamina in his prime to drag Tyson into deep water in the late rounds.
I don't agree with all this (I think prime Foreman was total kryptonite to Tyson's-never-changing-forward-moving style), but certainly the guy who beat Botha was a loooooooong way from even the Mike who beat Bruno II.
Yeah I was scratching my head when he said Foreman's stamina wasn't as good as post prison Tyson. When exactly did 90's Tyson show good stamina? What 12 round decisions did he win? : lol: