From what I remember, Tyson was going to fight Lewis right after Lewis/rahman. Rahman KO'd Lewis pretty easily so Tyson was going to fight Rahman, but Lewis had a rematch clause. So, Tyson had to wait almost a whole year just to get a fight with Lewis. Tyson also talked about retiring during this time. When Tyson entertained getting back into the ring, he talked about needing a few tuneups, because he had not fought at all. When he showed up against Nielson it was the first time Tyson looked out of shape and appeared over 240lbs,which is 20lbs above his normal fighting weight. When Tyson tried to get his next tuneup fight, Lewis forced Tyson to fight him now or he wouldnt fight him at all. Lewis gave Tyson an ultimatum. So you see, since Tyson was rusty and over the hill, it was the very best time for Lewis to give that "now or never" offer. For Lewis, It makes strategic sense.
not really acurate all through that time he was calling lewis out and never looked like he wnated to fight him. He also had 6 fights after holyfield which was plnety of time for him to warm up he was just delaying the fight so he was forced to fight by the end of it.
He WAS the best man in it, and not by a little either. He fought all the top guys in the era, and was never taken out early by ham n' eggers! Holyfield is the greatest HW since Holmes. A sure-fire top tenner.:yep
True, When we think about the second coming of the Golden era of the sport ( the 90's ), we are probably referring to the time that stretched from 1990 - 1998, or thereabouts. The best fighters of this period outside of Holyfield were, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Michael Moorer, George Foreman, Riddick Bowe and Buster Douglas. Holyfield was the only man during this period to have fought all of them, and his record against these foes was 5-4-1. It may not look pretty on the surface, but at the end of the day, he had a winning record against the division's very best, and like you say, he was never stopped by journeyman, fringe contenders or unknown entities. Additionally, it should be noted that he was past his prime post 1995 for the third Bowe fight through both Lewis fights, yet still gave galant efforts.
Very true, the Lewis draw was a robbery. But, I also forgot to ad his win over Foreman, so that makes it 6-5 with the adjustment. Still, he lost the Bowe trilogy 1-2. And he lost the Lewis trilogy 0-1-1, or 0-2 if one prefers. On the surface this looks bad, but these were all extremely competitve fights when he was past prime, and Evander had the claim of having additional wins over fighters that the others did not even face. Also, for whatever its worth, he's the division's only 4 time titlist. Can I rate Holyfield as the best of the 1990's super heavyweight era? I don't know for sure. But, I can say that its not a clear cut pick in terms of who takes this one, and whenever one of the other big candidates are mentioned, Evander's name will always be linked closely with it.
If Lennox felt that he would beat Tyson... then he wouldn't have had to worry about a few million in step aside cash. Beating Mike Tyson would have brought him MUCH more. They didn't just give him money because he was pushing the fight so hard. They gave him money because Lewis was his mandatory, but Tyson had a more lucrative bout on the table. I honestly believe that if Lennox really wanted that fight, he would have taken it when he could have forced it. Instead, he took the money instead of the fight.
People forget that Tyson was a student of the sport, the man lived it. I'm sure he looked at Lennox and thought 'Nah, this guy just has too much for me', but by the end of his career Tyson needed the paydays, so he took the fight, knowing full well he couldn't win. Maybe the Tyson of the late 80's would have had too much raw aggression for Lennox to handle, maybe, but in my opinion, almost any version of Lennox outbox's Tyson any day of the week.
Possibly... we will never know. I think that Tyson was never really proven against a top notch natural heavyweight. I also don't feel like Lewis was all that impressive by the fact that he managed to not fight any of the top 5 fighters in his own era... and only became the true Champion for a brief period during the transition period between the 90's era and the current era. Even during that reign, it wasn't very impressive.
Tyson clearly had troubles with even average taller heavyweights, so that obviously hurts him against Lewis. However, Lewis had awful footwork and his balance was never very good. A power, prime, swarming Tyson could have really had Lewis discombobulated in the ring as well, opening him up to eat some big shots.
He cleaned out an entire era of natural heavys, many of whom were very respectable. Sure, he never defeated an all time great heavy like a Louis, Ali or prime Holmes, but those opportunities rarely come in a lifetime. He convincingly destroyed Pinklon Thomas and Trevor Berbick who were the concencus best in the world around 1986. He outpointed an undefeated Tucker, and beat a formidable Razor Ruddock. Spinks though not a natural heavy, was still considered by many as the lineal champ, and lasted only 91 seconds. And who's fault was that? One of those fighters preferred to throw a title in the garbage rather than face him, while another spent half of the 90's in prison for ****. The third, was a man who I feel was one of the decade's very best, but albeit past his prime when Lewis beat him, but did so nonetheless. Who are the other one's you're referring to, and please don't tell me that you're talking about Chris Byrd or Wladimir Klitschko. If you're saying that he wasn't the TRUE champ until he defeated Holyfield, then he at least held the lineal title from 1999-2003, being interrupted briefly by his loss to Rahman. Lewis cleaned out an entire generation of super heavys, young prospects, and ranked contenders. He unified the titles for a brief period and defeated every man he ever faced at one point or another. I don't know how the hell someone who supports Wladimir Klitschko to the extent that you do, can claim that Lewis's reign wasn't impressive.