I think Tyson beats Holyfield in 1991

Holyfield was coming off an awful performance against Bobby Czyz when he beat Tyson. Had lost 2 of his lat 4 and 3 of his last 7 or something like that.

The Tyson of 1991 who fought Ruddock loses to the Holyfield who beat Big George IMO. By this time Holy had matured into being a full-blown heavyweight and is a sharper version than the one Tyson lost to later.

I don’t see it being any different.

 

The wars with Bowe, Moorer, Stewart, Cooper and Foreman didn’t affect Holyfield?

He had Tysons measure simple as. The diminished Holyfield of 96 whipped him and the close to peak Evander of 1991 does likewise. I remember the first time the fight was announced in 91 and Evender looked like a cut , fit and prepared professional and Tyson looked like a slob.

Tyson wasn’t living the prize fighters life at that point. By comparison Evander was a spartan.

 

I understand your opinion because at the time I agreed with it, I thought Tyson would overpower Holyfield , get him into a shootout that he couldn't win. And I was willing to bet big on it. But time has shown otherwise, and while Tyson did decline so did Holyfield, maybe more so with the wars and beatings he received. I think Holyfield showed he had the necessary ingredients to beat Mike, chief among these are mental toughness, discipline and the ability to box . Mike really never had a plan B in the ring. Could Mike have pulled it off? certainly ,but I lean towards Holyfield about 70 - 30 .

 

Holyfield was almost washed bashed through the wars with Bowe, & others. yes more active. but look at damage toll!

 

1991 I cannot say do not know. Tyson pull out the fight injury & then also trial for ****. 1990 Tyson take Douglas instead & loss.
almost we never get the fight at the all !

time it did happen & both past the prime on a long ways. for the realism.

it is difficult imagining Tyson to win with Holyfield but anything opinion is possible

 

As i've often said Holyfield in 96 was different to the 91 version of Holyfield, he was a smarter fighter in 96. Where as Holyfield in 91 would get into many wars, if Holyfield got into the same trouble vs Cooper against Tyson it could be curtains.

Now the plus side for Holyfield is that he is so mentally tough, that even if he did get in trouble vs Tyson he could more than likely comeback, and then what does Tyson do then ? we all know Tyson has suspect mentality.

I think i would still favour Holyfield, but Tyson would have a better chance of winning in their 91 encounter IMO.

 

Tyson looked to be in decline before Douglas. He was shaken for a while even rocked vs Frank Bruno and beat a fat Tony Tubbs after giving up the first round. I think the 1991 Holyfield still Ko's Mike Tyson just similar to Douglas. Tyson was way too left hook happy and Holyfield had a good counter punch and for certain was going out box Tyson. He would be broken down in this 1991 match-up. He fought Holyfield in Tyson 1996, and TKO'd him. Holyfield was in decline a little too when they fought in 1996, but was not in 1991. Tyson was not the type of fighter to produce a late round KO. Tyson often finished his man inside 7 rounds, then coasted for a distance win. Holyfield had a fine chin and wasn't the type to let anyone coast. Holyfield via late round TKO.

 

I am not saying that he wouldn't, but there was a fundamental stylistic problem there, and I am not sure how Tyson would have solved it.

Factor in that Tyson is already slipping by then, and perhaps Holyfield was always going to be the right man, at the right time?

 

Nothing that Tyson exhibited in the ring after 1988 makes me think he could have beaten Holyfield after 1988. The things that he showed against Stewart do not differ enough to my eyes from what he showed against Holyfield when they actually fought to make me think the outcome would be any different, and any improved savvy Holyfield showed in 1996 was more than offset by what he'd gone through since 1991. Through 1996 Tyson still showed the power, chin, and aggression that he had in 1991 but none of the other things that made him special during his pre-1989 run.

 

I honestly think it always *looked* like Tyson would beat holyfield... until they fought. When they got in the ring it was a different story. So really doesn't matter what year I can see why someone would predict a Tyson victory but I think holyfield is always a favorite.

 

The Holyfield Stewart fight wasn’t really a life and death fight. I watched that one live and Alex basically got schooled . The only really solid round Alex had was when Evander opened up with him in the fifth and Stewart was able to land some good barrages. In the corner right after, Lou Duva scolded holy for trying to show off and take shots. After that things went way down hill for Stewart. But to your point, Tyson was still very dangerous in 91 and there were doubters about Evander after he got a scare from Bert Cooper. Still, it would have been great to see that match come off when it was supposed to, either a year earlier in June of 1990 or even In November of 1991. By 1996 the value of that fight was significantly diminished except for casual fans

 

In 91 Tyson was still a active Heavyweight maybe firing on 7 instead of 8 cylinders but still considered the best Heavy on the planet, he had the stamina for 12, still worked the body, was more elusive avoiding big shots but last but not least he still WAS a fighter and WANTED to fight.

Holyfield went life and death with bum of the month Stewart, beat the corpse of Douglas who ANYBODY in the top ten would have iced (the morbid obese version) and was stretched against two fossils plus the genuine Cooper crack head debacle................and the first prime first tier Heavy he met in a green Bowe he was getting beat from pillar to post. Fact.

When they finally met years later Holyfield was a seasoned ACTIVE fighter obsessed getting the Tyson pay day, took every PED in the book to get there.

Tyson was totally washed up when he came back from prison, fought less than a dozen rounds against set ups in close to four years until he stepped in the Ring with a ACTIVE Holyfield..............he never ever after prison had the steam to go a hard 12, turned into a predictable one shot head hunter, barely worked the body, had no sprung in his legs and was easily getting hit.and was a fighter in name only anymore...............compare that to pre prison, you can count on ONE hand on how many times he was severely clipped, fired fluid rapid combos, worked the jab , had way better footwork and set his opponents up..............none of that he did after prison, his entire post prison career is a clown train wreck.

Tyson hit Holyfield with a body/uppercut combo and it took the air out of Holyfield, but he never followed up or duplicated it because he strictly one bomb head hunted

Its not like Holyfield put up some master class, lol, he clinched and clinched and clinched until Tyson was dead tired and even after literally throwing the entire kitchen sink at him in the 11th hour he got a standing Ref stoppage.....

But a washed up Tyson is the only rack Holyfield can hang his hat on, he is 1-2 some say 0-3 against Bowe, 0-2 against Lewis, 1-1 against glass cannon Moorer who in his very next fight was axed by a ancient Foreman who was so bad that he rather let the belts go before fighting anybody worth a lick and 1-1-1 against Heavyweight disgrace Ruiz who was clipped in 20 sec by a samoan One trick Pony.....

Conclusion: the original encounters means Jack in reference to a 91 fight and I pick Tyson to stop a brawling Holyfield.

 

Holyfield would always be a tough go for Tyson. Always. But people get carried away with the '96 bout as if this would always play out the same. It's quite obvious that it wouldn't.

Holyfield was able to adapt at a greater age than Tyson did. His game plan was to clinch, outmaneuver and disrupt a Tyson who was doing things wrong in the gym. A Tyson who had less than 8 rounds of fighting since 1991!!!! That's 5 years!!!!!

Holyfield looked bad against Czyz because he tried to look impressive and get Czyz outta there early. Remember, he was one clean shot away from giving Bowe a KO loss and fought a 10 round barnburner against Ray Mercer one year earlier. Dude was seasoned and primed to fight Tyson at the right moment.

Tyson still had a formidable work rate in '91 and was hell bent on getting the belts back. He wouldn't have taken Holyfield lightly. Also, Holyfield didn't have big fight heavyweight experience and got that seasoning against Holmes, Bowe, Bowe again, Moorer, Mercer and Bowe a third time while Tyson was rotting in prison for 3 years.

Tommy Brooks brought Gary Bell and David Tua in the gym to emulate Tyson. And Holyfield almost backed out of the fight until things started to click.

Revisionism. Let me tell you about revisionism. Sometimes it's correct to look back and see things in the right scope. The media hype claimed that Tyson was back and most of us fell for it. But compare him in 95/96 to even 1990.

 

Those fights did make Holyfiled smarter. He had a dumb habit of letting himself get absolutely nailed earlier in his career.