Did Mike Tyson duck Lennox Lewis and George Foreman 1989-1992 ?

Neither Lewis nor Foreman had the ratings to challenge Tyson during his title reign. After Mike lost the title the whole division got turned upside down. Foreman shifted his attention toward Evander because he had the title. Lewis was still a prospect working his way up and didn’t hit the ratings until maybe 1991 or 92 at which point Tyson was in jail. I know foreman said from day one in his comeback that he wanted to fight Tyson but again it wasn’t warranted at the time. Did Mike want anything to do with either of those men? I guess that’s subject to opinion. He had other fights on his plate

 

Nah probably not. There wasn't any point pre-prison when a fight with Lewis would have made sense except maybe in 91 if they had fought instead of Lewis and Ruddock.

I have heard claims over the years that Tyson was scared to fight foreman. Esp early on people compared Tyson to Frazier (a pretty dubious comparison imo) and so of course a matchup with Foreman seemed like a possible way to stop the Tyson freight train. Foreman claims it was he who was scared, but I think if it were for a title and a big payday he would have fought Tyson. But for that to have happened I think Tyson needs to beat Douglas and Holyfield, which I doubt happens what with how he was imploding in the 90s.

 

I seriously doubt Lewis was much of a factor until he beat Ruddock (which came after Mike beat RR twice).

As far as George goes, there are stories that Mike wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of fighting George in the early 90s, but it's second hand.

Strictly in my opinion (and I could certainly be wrong), Mike didn't want to fight George in the early to mid 90s. Though I know this is far from a verified account, I personally believe Cus really did tell him George was murder for swarmers, and though I am positive Mike would have beaten the George of his late 30s from the beginning of the latter's comeback until 1990...I'm not sure at all the Mike who lost to Buster Douglas (and after) could have beaten the post-Cooney Foreman.

Yeah, I know, I'll get hate for this. To me the post-Bruno I Mike was not the same as the guy before. I think George would have survived early fire to knock the crap out of 1990-1994 Mike in 5. I also think both Bowe and Holyfield (especially the former) would have pretty much done the same in roughly the same era. Yes, I know Bowe came up a bit later, just sayin'.

 

Between 1989 and 1992 Tyson and Lewis weren’t at the same stage in their careers. I remember watching Lennox fighting the late Gary Mason for the British title around the time Tyson was fighting Razor Ruddock in his last fight before being incarcerated. Lewis was winning a national title while Tyson was gearing up for another go at the world title. No ducking going on there.

There’s always been rumours about Tyson ducking Foreman…personally I doubt it. The man ducked George to get into the ring with Ruddock, a man who…at that time…was considered an extremely dangerous fighter. Very doubtful.

 

All respect, but Ruddock was never the fighter Foreman was. Ever.

 

With respect, nobody is saying Ruddock was in the same lesgue as George in terms of their career. This is about the perception of the Heavyweight scene AT THAT TIME. At the time of Tyson/ Foreman and the “did he duck or didn’t he” Ruddock was seen as a new (relatively) young gun, a dangerous guy with KO punch. George was an ATG, yes, but over 40 and not the guy from 197Os Murderers Row he used to be.

My point was that during that period, Ruddock was seen as a dangerous risk for Tyson to be taking if he wanted a smooth run to a title challenge. If he was going to duck anybody it would have been Ruddock.

The fact that Ruddock’s career didn’t live up to his early promise is neither here nor there, but at the time he met Tyson he was considered a major threat to Mike.

 

I see what you mean. The terrifying ko of Dokes for sure made Ruddock a dangerous contender. No argument there.

 

Good post, Vic.

A bit of context. When Tyson was sent to prison, Boxing Illustrated did a poll on who out of Ruddock, Holyfield, Bowe and Lewis would emerge as top dog. Ruddock won. We forget how highly thought of he was back in the early 90s.

In fighting Razor and not George, Tyson chose to fight a huge puncher and a big, young guy who was seen in early 91 as a real threat. Remember this was just prior to Foreman fighting Holyfield, the fight in which his stock rose. At the time, before the fight, Evander was criticised for fighting an old timer. If we criticise Tyson for ducking Foreman at this stage, he is getting criticised for ducking a man who the champion was being criticised for defending against. That's a can't win scenario.

As for ducking Lewis, again that's not fair. Lennox didn't turn pro until 89. Mike lost the title in early 90. His focus, such as it was, was then on regaining the title. If he had fought Lewis at this fledgling stage of Lennox's career, he'd have been rightly slated for taking on such an inexperienced opponent.

Mike's last fight pre-prison was in June 91, at a time when Lewis had just beaten Gary Mason in a minor upset, and was taking on the 39 year old Mike Weaver. Lennox had been a pro barely two years.

Their career timelines simply didn't align. Tyson can't be blamed for that.. Despite being the younger man, he had unified the titles over a year before Lennox even turned pro. That's no slight on Lewis rather a nod to Tyson's willingness to take on huge challenges at such a young age and for which I think he deserves more credit.

 

Well in 1996 Tyson gave up the WBC title to fight Holyfield rather than take on Lewis who was the mandatory. This COULD possibly be seen as a duck, but then again a fight between Mike and Evander had been overdue for years. Not sure what Tyson’s actual thoughts on the matter were.

 

You covered more than I could remember Eddie…I actually forgot about the Holyfield/Foreman fight and all the slack Holyfield got for taking on “the fat old man” from the 70s.
I think the excellent performance George put up in his subsequent points defeat surprised many…I don’t think many people thought he would put up such a good fight against the unbeaten Holyfield.

Wasn’t the winner of that fight supposed to take on the winner of Tyson/Ruddock? If so had the toss of the life’s coin landed differently we would have had Tyson/Foreman after all…

 

Mike Tyson was a boxing historian watching endless films of fighters with his trainer Cus for years. He knew that he was tailor made for George Foreman and wanted no part of even an old Foreman. As other's have mentioned after George ko'ed Cooney he was on the David Letterman show and stated that the reason he came back was to fight Mike Tyson, and George said , I'll do the same to Tyson , I promise you no more than 1 or 2 rounds. Tyson would have mentally crumbled gazing at Foreman and I believe he knew it. Tyson didn't duck Lewis because Lewis was just getting started. I'd say Lennox beats Tyson whenever they'd have fought though.

 

Tyson once said that he wanted to fight Foreman 'before he died of rigor mortis'. I honestly don't think he was as scared of Foreman as some people are making out.

He took on Ruddock who most felt was much more dangerous given his youth - not once, but twice. He didn't have to have that second fight. And while Tyson's style could be said to be tailor-made for Foreman, the reverse might be true. A big, slow-moving target. Pre-prison Tyson is significantly better than anyone old George beat. He's significantly better than quite a few he lost to. And Evander had George wobbling and unsure of his whereabouts on a couple of occasions. If those punches had been Tyson's, I don't see George surviving.

I don't put much stock in what George said on the Letterman show. He's just as likely to have said his knees were knocking in fear at the prospect of facing Tyson. George said all sorts of things. The fact is, he was coming off beating a drug addict who'd had three fights in eight years and had been knocked out by a light heavyweight in his previous outing over two years before. George's victory was mainly noteworthy because he himself was old and fat.

I also don't see Lewis beating Tyson 'whenever they fought'. I think Mike wins up until he goes to prison and Lennox afterwards. It's that easy to demarcate.

Lennox was the mandatory challenger when Don King paid him step aside money so that Tyson could fight Holyfield. Beating that version of Mike, before Evander burst his bubble, would have sent Lewis' stock through the roof. Again, the fact is he was coming off a narrow squeak against Ray Mercer. He didn't have to accept that step aside money. As it turns out, I think Lewis would have beaten Tyson in '96 but, looking back, did Lewis himself share that confidence?

 

The rest of your post was interesting, but i would agree with you completely on this point, the first bruno fight i believe woke Mike up and made him realise he could lose, because for all his faults, Frank proved that Mike was not this invincible monster that could not be hurt, and he rocked him to his boots, i remember one magazine (Cant Remember which one) the front cover headline was, did the Bruno fight reveal that Mike can be beaten, and they were spot on.