Mike Tyson 1987 vs. George Foreman 1973

George Foreman against Mike Tyson is an interesting matchup. If I had to bet, I would bet on Big George.

 

With two big bangers like Mike and George anything could happen but I lean toward George. Foreman's worst moments came against boxers like Ali and Young. Against a fellow banger George is in his own element. He didn't look all that slow by the way against Frazier. He went right at it from the opening bell and attacked pretty fast for a big man. Ther was nothing slow about him that night. Like Angelo Dundee said in his book "I only talk Winning", "George was built for punching down and hooking" which is what he would do against the shorter Tyson. Now don't get me wrong. This would be no walk in the park...far from it. Either man is capable of taking the other one out but when you have two bombers in there the edge almost always goes to the bigger man and George was bigger. Tyson has to punch up while George has the luxury of punching down and I think that tips the odds in favor of Foreman.

 

Holyfield slugged with Tyson and won.

The '73 George feared no one...and Tyson fed off of intimidation.

Plus George had a good jab when he wanted to use it.

Archie Moore, Dick & Sandy Saddler in George's corner.

George in 2.

 

Big George by KO in 5 maybe 6

 

On that we agree

 

I think that's a rather crude simplification of the gameplan Holyfield had. He didn't slug with him. He was very aware defensively (something Foreman never was during his prime), covered up when Tyson came, then threw one or two counter punches and immediately tied Mike up, about 16 times a round, and again something that Foreman never does. Evander Holyfield is tremendously skilled and has an iron jaw, which is why he was able to pull that off. Foreman could never do it that way.

Indeed, he'd probably slug it out with Mike, but i wouldn't like his chances there, considering the only time he did that against someone who packed a punch (Lyle), he was a hair away from being stopped.

 

1973 foreman was in better fighting shape than the one who fought lyle. foreman would enjoy this fight more than tyson would. i think it would end within 3 as a slugfest with foreman being the one still standing. i don't give old foreman any chance against peak tyson btw.

 

Foreman talks a lot of ****, but i think he must have been somewhat intimidated before fighting Frazier. The man was undefeated, had beaten Ali in a grueling war and usually left his opponents a shell of what they used to be. On top of that, he hadn't been knocked down or hurt for several years, so the scenario that we saw in reality was not a very likely one, either. Plus, Foreman's a smart guy, he must have known that his competition going into the fight wasn't that great. However, if he was intimidated, he did not let it affect his performance one bit.



One more comment on the "Tyson is tailor made for Foreman, style-wise": this may appear so at first sight, but i disagree completely. Frazier WAS tailor made, for the following reasons. To clarify why Tyson is not, i've made Tyson's description in red when it contradicts the stylistic entity:


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Again, i think it goes without saying which of the two is favorable against Foreman.

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In addition to the former reasons and given that Foreman's defence was pretty much non-existant and that he nearly got stopped in the only slug-out he had against Lyle, i'd go with Tyson. Better chin, better defence, better combinations, faster, and more one-punch knockouts.

 

Exactly! Holyfield fought a very tactical and measured fight; he didn't just stand and blindly trade with Tyson in a punch for punch manner. Holyfield was on a different planet in terms of skill and strategy compared to Foreman.

 

Foreman by ko for me. Strip away all other considerations and what is left is that it is a fight between two guys who only fight going forwards. Stylistically they're as different as chalk and cheese but the approach is the same, force the fight forwards and knock the other guy out as quickly as you can. Inevitably they're going to meet in the middle and in that case it seems only logical to go with the bigger, stronger, harder punching man.

Both huge punchers with rock solid chins but I really can see Foreman thrwing Tyson around the ring like a ragdoll, like he did to Frazier and yes, Frazier isn't Tyson and didn't have all his tools but he was around the same size which is really the only valid comparison. Liston v Patterson is nearer the mark.
I think Foreman would dominate it really and stop Tyson in about 6. I don't see Tyson trading like Lyle did, Tyson's always been very quick to complain when things got rough, I think he'd crumble.

 

I pick George by TKO.

People keep going on about George's destruction of Frazier without mentioning that George had a JAB.

Look at the fight again and you will see that George set up his punches by using his jab.

Everytime he landed he was able to make Frazier wince.

Tyson don't like jabbers, especially jabbers that had a jab that was harder than Lennox Lewis.

Lewis pawed with his jab even against a shot Tyson until he knew Mike had nothing left.

As another poster said, Holyfield slugged with Tyson and won. I know it was a post-prison Mike, but he was still the heavier man and a bigger puncher and got bullied.

A 28 year old prime Holyfield landed more punches on a 42 year old George than he did a 30 year old Tyson and never stopped him. He couldn't even bully him.

In my opinion no version of Evander beats a young George.

George proved his heart and chin v Lyle. He got up to win.

He could do that v Tyson. But can you say the same for Mike?

 

in his amateur days he had a swarming like style but improved his boxing in later years

 

Thanks for the indepth analysis Chris. Just want to clearify that I acknowledged some of these things at the very start of this thread. Here is what I said.

 

The problem is Foreman only needs to land a small fraction of his punches to gain Tyson's respect. Foreman doesn't need to land like Ali or Holyfield. He can push Tyson back to maintain distance and then keep pounding away from a distance. Even if he is sloppy and misses a lot - that's OK. He was pretty sloppy against Frazier too if you ask me. Foreman just needs to keep sloppily punching and landing by sheer probability. This will make Tyson ineffective.

Tyson's speed or skills were great but they won't help him much if he can't get in range against Foreman. When he does get in range he's busy against Foreman's heavy shots or gets pushed back.

Tyson's best chance is to use his speed, power, mid range style and carefully time / place his shots on Foreman. Hopefully land a few shots like he did aganst Holy AND FOLLOW UP (like Lyle did). Foreman doesn't have to be as elaborate or careful. Push and keep throwing punches against the shorter armed fighter!