If Mike Tyson would have beat Buster Douglas

Interesting take. Mike is the hardest boxer to rate.

 

You say this but during this period Holyfield was having back and forth slugfests with Dokes, Cooper, Stewart, and showed quite alot of vulnerabilities in these fights.

Holyfield was also considerably lighter than he was in 1996 vs Tyson. Where he had bulked up and was considerably stronger and a smarter fighter.

I'd pick the Tyson of Tillman, Stewart, Ruddock 1, to stop the lighter more gung-ho Holyfield of 1990.

 

I think Tyson pre-prison beats Holyfield.

 

Yeah, that version of Evan was a great combination puncher but with his slim waist, lean build and sans the confidence of looking at a post-prison degraded Tyson, whilst immediately after Buster, Mr Fields is a good enough boxer to outbox that version of Mike, I'm not sure if he can outmuscle him and Mike has a wonderful chin - seeing Evan wince with every body shot, I'm not sure if Evan has the tools at that time to discourage Mike from continuing to work his way to the highway to the danger zone, danger zone. Say what you like about this version of Mike, he was still an archer, capable of landing a big shot like a missile.

The skinny Evan, pre-medical issues could very well outbox a post Tokyo Buster victorious Mike and he could very well get folded. He would get up, such is his mentality but I think he was really vulnerable to body at this stage. Mike still had that aura - a cautious referee could well stop it prematurely.

 

It's hard to say. I wonder what would have happened if Octavio Merchant had stopped the fight in the 8th round. There wouldn't have been this beautiful Cinderella story.

I think that in 1990, Holyfield, faster but still slower than Tyson, prone to war, outspoken, not as powerful and disciplined, would have been the perfect opponent for Tyson. Looking at his form against Cooper and Foreman, and Tyson's form against Tilman and Stewart, I think Tyson would have scored a great, impressive victory, but one that would have been underappreciated years later. A warrior, Holyfield would have given everything he had and sustained significant damage. I think a rematch with Douglas would have been a formality, followed by a fight with Ruddock, and that could have been worse than it actually was. Tyson would have likely already been losing discipline, slowly destroying his legacy, just as he did in real life. If he had gone to prison, he probably wouldn't have fought Holyfield in 1996, but he could have fought Mercer, Tua, Lewis, Ike, Foreman, Byrd and lost to any of them. He would have been rated more or less the same as he is today, maybe a little higher

 

Mike is a weird one, he can potentially beat everyone and lose to them too. I agree he is the hardest to rate.

 

The Tyson that beat Ruddock would beat the Holyfield from that timeframe.

 

If he HAD beaten Douglas then that would have meant that his head was in the right place and all the things that needed to be in order for him to retain his title. In such an instance it’s possible he might not have lost to Evander Holyfield either. But we’ll never know. In any case he would have eliminated a devastating loss to a much lesser opponent.

 

You are correct. 2-0 then.. 2-0 now

 

Honestly think a prime Tyson would've beaten Holyfield in the early 90s but would've lost the rematch

 

I still think prime Holyfield and Prime Bowe at their best beats him. Probably on points in a hard fought win where none of these guys walk away unscathed. I do think Mike probably would’ve gotten to pre Steward Lewis’ chin and got the stoppage. Had that fight materialized. Lewis with Steward against prime Tyson is a toss up imo. DEFINITELY isn’t going down the way it did in ‘02! No way in hell.

I think prime Bowe’s jab, good chin and range would’ve overcame Tyson and Holyfield just had too much dog in him and would’ve done what needed to be done including head butting unfortunately. UD win most likely. Maybe MD.