If Tyson Had Been In Prime In His Fights With Holyfield and Lewis?

Holyfield beats him at any age & Tyson has a punchers chance against lewis but only that.

 

Tyson TKO 8 Holyfield
Tyson KO 6 Lewis

Prime Mike Tyson is something we had never and will never see again. Of course he had weaknesses. Of course he wasn't invincible. The Mike Tyson firing on all cylinders with a stellar corner and tremendous team around him is even money or better against any fighter who ever lived.

He was as good as they said he was.

 

Tyson absolutely destroys both of them.

It took Lewis 8 rounds to put down an old and rusty Tyson. Holyfield had to land bomb after bomb on Tyson over 10 rounds to put him down and even then...one could argue Tyson mostly lost the fight because he was too tired rather than damaged. A peak Tyson who is motivated would beat both of them in probably 3-4 rounds max. This is why,

Holyfield
The problem Tyson encountered is he kept throwing 1-2 headshots over and over. That failed horribly against Holyfield and very few of those shots landed from what I can recall. In the moments where he instead listened to what his trainers were telling him by throwing combinations to the body, he landed all of those shots and put Holyfield on the backfoot and won the rounds. That happened in both of their fights. Given 88 Tyson liked going to the body with some crazy power shots, I don't see Holyfield surviving for long. Conversely Holyfield has nothing that will put this version of Tyson down, especially given he has few to no stamina issues from often being in peak shape. The most he could maybe do is outmuscle and clinch Tyson, but as the Tillis and Tubbs fight showed whenever Tyson chooses to fight in the clinch he can be a true monster with fast combination punches. Would he fight out the clinch here? Dunno, but considering he was more likely to listen to his trainers back in 88 I think he would.

Lewis
His biggest problem is that he's got poor recuperative powers. His excellent range and ring control works on most opponents, but Tyson? It'd have limited effectiveness given Tyson built his career off slipping the jab against guys much taller than him. He'd inevitably home in some bombs on Lewis and once he falls, which he will given an old 2002 Tyson nearly put Lewis on the canvas, he will very likely not get back up as Lewis is just one of those guys who struggles to stand back up on their feet when they've been knocked down/out. Even should he get back up, Tyson is an excellent finisher and will put Lewis back down. Now that said Lewis is a super heavyweight who has good power so he could undoubtedly still do a lot of damage if he lands, but I don't see him putting Tyson down before Tyson puts him down.

 

Seriously?Ali was the greatest HW boxer of all time & would have wiped the floor even one firing on all cylinders.There are Tyson fans then there are boxing fans & boxing fans separate all the hype.Tyson had good skills,good power in both hands but problems with stamina.The greats like Ali & Louis fought in an era where champion ship fights were 15 rds not the 12 Tyson fought in & he didn't have the gas for that.Ali & Louis also fought when HW were fighting with 8 once gloves not the pillows of today.Watch the Ali vs Frazier 3 when Ali 33 & Frazier 30.They fought 14 rounds in the greatest HW fight of all time & set a record for punches thrown in a hw champion ship fight & in heat of 100 plus degrees.#1.Ali 2.Louis 3.Holmes 4.Lewis 5.Foreman 6.Holyfield 7.Frazier 8.Dempsey 9.Marciano 10.Liston 11.Tyson

 

Tyson fans see a young Tyson knocking out lesser opponents early in his career & think the greatest thing since kool aid .When he fought good boxers who were not scared of him he had problems.He tired quickly & got frustrated easily & those are not good qualities in a true HW champion.Lewis sparred a 19 year old Tyson & gave him fits in the ring but then again Tyson was probably past his prime then.

 

Actually I agree with the gist of your post.I did emphasise that Tyson had tremendous raw physical gifts but sadly he didn't have the character to achieve his full potential.
Lennox Lewis would always have been a terrifically difficult opponent for even the peak Tyson ( or for any other heavyweight ATG ) but Holyfield not so
Evander had serious problems with guys like Alex Stewart and Bert Cooper so Tyson would have to be heavily favoured to beat him.
I have Muhammad Ali as the GOAT,Lennox Lewis as the no 2 greatest heavyweight in history with Tyson floating around nos 10 or 11.
Tyson's failure to become one of the top 2 or 3 heavyweight-champions of all time was due to his flawed character,but make no mistake,had Tyson been more intelligent and dedicated
he really could have been a serious challenger for the GOAT.
By the way I like your heavyweight ATGs ratings that featured in another of your posts.Very solid list indeed.

 

He only lost once to Holyfield.
And he wins both fights if the 87-88 version shows up.

 

Tyson can be in his prime physically....but he still wasn't mentally tough...no matter what period you wanna talk about. He had trouble with guys who weren't afraid of him!...Period!

 

Yes, but Holy didn't beat him, a DQ is not the same as being beat by KO/TKO or on points.

 

Fergy, With all due respect Sir, How can any fighter lose their prime at 23 or 24? I think that Mike Tyson made some poor managerial choices to cause his defeat and loss of the title to James Buster Douglas on the night of Feb 11 1990 in Tokyo, Japan. While he was the world's most dangerous champion at the time, he was not the most life intelligent one, I believe that he was coddled too much, not allowed to grow mentally as a man. Sure he could destroy any opponent, that is well proven, no doubt. But he let go of Kevin Rooney because of then wife Robyn Givens and her needy mother Ruth Roper. Givens used what some women use, it has been effective for centuries, even started wars in other countries, you know what I mean, it is frontal, I will leave it at that. Anyhow a more matured mentally individual would have said to Givens, There Is The Door, Don't Let It Hit You On The Way Out, This Is My Career, Take Your Momma With You Too. Or he should have never went out with her. You don't buy the first car in the lot, you try a few. I think that Tyson with Rooney would have kept winning.

 

Tyson’s speed and power is going to be a big problem for Lewis. Tyson is going to land some bombs on Lewis and I don’t think Lewis can handle that kind of power in combination when he dose not expect it. Lewis would not make it past the 5th round imo.

 

Holyfield would still beat Tyson but perhaps on the cards.

Tyson would beat Lewis at their best…

And Lewis would beat Holyfield just complete the scenario.

 

The "knowledgeable" Tyson fans on here have a habit of discounting/overlooking mental strength capabilities. A strength just as important as hand/hook strength/speed.