I Wish there was a Foreman around today

If you dropped 25 year old or even 45 year old Foreman in to today he would have a field day, Usyk probably beats the old Foreman but other than that George cleans up

 

He wanted to go to purse bids, which is his right as a mandatory challenger.

He does not have to accept the terms of the promoter of the champ. That’s half of why mandatories were created: 1) To keep champions from ducking top challengers (like Tyson did Lewis); 2) To make them a one-off promotional deal where the challenger will get a fair share of the purse as determined by bid, a set percentage.

The challenger was not in any way ducking the champion here. Tyson was ordered to fight him, reached a one-fight (and one fight only) step-aside deal to wait in line just a bit longer for $4M, then welched on the Lewis defense after that with a ‘you accept my terms or else.’

Tyson gave up the title rather than face Lewis. There is absolutely no other interpretation whatsoever of how it played out.

And it was, what, six years later that Tyson finally came hat in hand to fight Lennox, so it’s not like he was champing at the bit to get at him as soon as possible after they didn’t fight when they were supposed to.

 

Yes but that fight with Holyfield also was more lucerative too and it was brewing since 1996. So I wouldn't exactly call that a duck.

And the bigger question, why did Lewis accept the step aside money in the first place? What about when Lewis didn't want to rematch vitali or when he didn't want to fight Ruiz or Byrd? That imo is a much more clear duck than anything. You could argue he was at the end of his career, it just kind of is convenient

If Tyson ducked anyone, it was Holyfield as Holyfield was his mandatory for 2 whole years in 87-89 I believe

 

Last time I checked, Lennox Lewis did defend his title against Vitale, and won. Then he retired.

We getting into the Thor thing with Thanos in the Avengers movie now?

“He’s never fought me!”

“Yeah, he has.”

“Well he’s never fought me twice!’

LOL.

Tyson could have fought Holyfield, as you point out, numerous times over a period of years. Yet he didn’t. Then Evander looks awful and seems completely shot AT THE SAME TIME as Lennox ascends to mandatory status … and now it’s ’well I have to take the more lucrative Holyfield fight.’ Which he could have taken over many other less lucrative fights along the way. Hmmm.

Why did Lewis take the step-aside money in the first place. WTF does that have to do with anything — if you take step-aside to wait a few months, do you forever give up your mandatory claim? No, it doesn’t work like that. Never has, never will.

I suspect Lennox’s management said “why not take $4M to wait a few months since we’re going to get our shot then anyway” … and then Tyson reneged on making good on his end of the bargain by refusing to fight Lennox even then. In short, they made the mistake of trusting Tyson and Don King to come through on their promise to defend against him next.

Again, there is no other interpretation of the events:

1) Lennox was mandatory.

2) Tyson was thus obligated to fight him.

3) Tyson gave up the title like a ***** rather than fight him.

The end.

 

Like Lewis gave up his title to not fight Ruiz in 2000? Lol.

 

And if someone says "Don't fight this guy,fight this other guy for more money" Mike Got more money for Evander than he did for Lewis so your manager would say "Fight evander instead, we are going to fight him anyway,but Evander is more lucrative to fight"

 

I disagree resumes prove the top guys in the 90s fought eachother more often and were a bit more active, plus the 90s gatekeepers and fringe contenders had more skill than HWs of the same level today. I don't see Wallin and Jermaine Franklin being better than Alexander Zolkin or Gary Mason

The only way the Fury/Joshua/Wilder/Usyk era benefits from nostalgia as much as past eras is if the succeeding era falls short, but if the next generation ends up exceeding expectations then the consensus of the boxing community will view the current era as a weak one

 

Holyfield and Tyson have deep resumes with 10 contenders beaten per man or more.
Fury doesn't have anywhere near the resume depth of these guys. Neither do Joshua and Wilder.

 

73 Foreman with Holyfield's strength and conditioning coach retires the division

 

We'll see. If he still fights some top contenders, his resume would be similar to Marciano's.

 

You don't. We'll see how the people in 20 years will look at that.

 

ATGs.

 

We don’t know what Tyson would have made to fight Lennox because Mike’s side didn’t let it go to purse bids.

But if fighting Evander was more lucrative than fighting Lewis, it was also more lucrative than fighting Bruce Seldon or Frank Bruno or Buster Mathis Jr or McNeeley — or before prison, it was more lucrative than either Donovan Ruddock fight or Henry Tillman or Alex Stewart … or Buster Douglas for that matter.

So that’s at least nine times Tyson chose to fight less lucrative bouts rather than face Evander. Yet in each case he chose the lesser money.

Then Lennox Lewis ascends to the top contender spot and all of a sudden, Mike must take the bigger payday and gets a pass for ducking, lol?

FACTY: He gave up a belt rather than fight Lennox.