What if? Tyson had fought Holyfield before Douglas?

And twice on Sunday.

 

There's footage of several rounds of sparring between Holyfield and Tua on YouTube. Good stuff. It was a no-brainer to get the Samoan Slugger into their training camp since he could deploy similar devastating left hooks to the body and head a la Tyson with a high octane, in-your-face tough as iron style.

Being able to hold your own with a monster like Tua would give anyone confidence, not to mention all the extra weight lifting and superb game plan. People back then overlooked all of this and assumed Tyson would simply find a way to detonate his dynamite eventually. Plus, Holyfield had some really rough nights recently against Bowe and Moorer. So it did make sense on paper to favor Tyson given how he somewhat looked like his old self steamrolling credible world class opposition in Bruno and Seldon.

That being said, I'm not sure Younger Vander would've succeeded, although he damn sure would've given Tyson more resistance than any previous opponents. The difference in style was clear: Younger Vander was like a dynamo constantly moving with twitchy hands, a sharp jab, good movement, and more than happy to let his hands go throwing 3, 4, 5+ combinations. He was also more than happy to brawl at the drop of a dime. This would make for an exciting match at ring center as Tyson was all about throwing combinations as well at breakneck speeds.

The difference between this hypothetical fight and the actual one is that Vander's fate kind of depends on Vander himself. In his rematch with Bowe, he was wise enough to box and have more reasonable defense because reading with the harder hitting New Yorker led to a knock down and a clear loss. It also depends on how Tyson reacts to someone firing rapidly with both hands and refusing to back off. The only guy to really do that prior to his imprisonment was Ruddock who didn't half a fraction of Vander's ring IQ, technique, or capacity to fluidly throw with both hands.

Ruddock did give Tyson all he could handle, especially in the rematch, and even frustrated him at times leading to Tyson's body shots straight south of the belt line. I am not trying to paint some narrative Tyson would falter the minute someone stood up to him, only that he'd kind of be in uncharted waters against this high volume version of Vander. If Tyson takes control of the pace and lands some heavy shots early on, I think he gains more and more confidence falling into his momentum and eventually breaks Vander down in maybe the 8th round or so.

However, if Vander can punish every slight mistake, keeps his guard up, uses his brain and doesn't simply go to war anytime he gets nailed hard (I know, those a bunch of big ifs), he might be able to at the very least go the distance in a fight that may resemble the Tillis fight. Vander winning isn't out of the question if he can avoid too many bombs, but overall I'd have to slightly favor Tyson.

 

I guess some people aren't aware. Did you know they already fought twice?

Diminished Holyfield- 2
Same ol' hype Tyson- 0

Holyfield was going to beat Tyson in '90-'91, guaranteed (I would have made a killing in Vegas, just like I did in '96). Buster Douglas just got there first. Yes, ol' hype Tyson would have been the favorite going in, heavy, without a doubt.. just like he was against Douglas.

Glass City Cobra analyzed the fight.. and picked ol' hype. He got a lot right, though. Tyson throws 2 punch combos, maybe 3 max. Holyfield threw 4 punch combos, maybe 5 or 6.. That's exactly the difference. Even old man Holyfield, that was reduced down to 3 punch combos, won that way. Tyson was too stiff compared to Holyfield.

 

Holyfield wasn't diminished he was 10 pounds heavier on average than he was compared to the late 80s.

Holyfield had bulked up on PEDs and was considerably studier and stronger compared to when he was getting rocked and having wars with the likes of Cooper, Stewart, Dokes.

I know at the time people thought Holyfield was diminished because he had a few poor performances prior to the Tyson fights. But that due to his heart condition issues against Moorer and he also had hepatitis vs Bowe in their 3rd fight.

Holyfield's run of form vs Tyson 1 & 2 and then destroying Moorer in their 2nd fight is arguably the most impressive string of performances Holyfield ever had at Heavyweight.

The Holyfield of 1996 was able to bully and nullify Tyson's inside work due to being considerably stronger after bulking up compared to what he looked like in the late 80s.

The Holyfield of the late 80s who was still growing into the division and wasn't quite as smart and clever as the older Holyfield. And he was also getting himself involved in alot of unnecessary wars which I don't think is wise vs a prime Tyson.

 

I appreciate you dropping your nonpareil knowledge of boxing for all of us. (because you know damn good and well that Tyson didn't do PEDS). It's what we need more of. You should have a column on this website.

But:
Holyfield '91 > Tyson '91 (it must have simply slipped your mind, and hey, it happens, that Douglas KOed Tyson in '90.. so you get a pass, being an expert and all)

 

If you're going to be snarky and sarcastic just because I have different opinion to you don't bother responding.

 

After Spinks fight Tyson parted with Rooney and the decline after that was clearly evident. The tip off is look at his head movement after that fight was never the same. Now with maturity he may have had a peak beyond the Spinks fight I don’t know but don’t think he was ever far above the Spinks fight. If he stayed with Rooney improving hard to tell how good he could have been maybe could have beaten Evander. Holyfield was so pumped and developed he beasted out probably weight training program and he went beyond Tyson. So Mike didn’t even have the power advantage plus Holyfield was better boxer and had more character and guts. Why he ended up kicking As……..

 

Buster's number was 246 out-of-shape pounds for Holyfield.

 

4-6 punch combos don’t exactly mean they’re “better”? (MT vs JCC) if anything 2-3 punches are where it’s at, if you’re just throwing a lot of punches like Holyfield did on some people it may have just been the opponent… Pryor threw a lot of punches but like Holyfield they weren’t usually even “combinations” someone like Napoles, R Leonard, Louis and Monzon they got it. I don’t remember Holyfield having lost his ability to string long waves of shots together either, it’s just that he approached the MT fight smart and didn’t lose his head.