Did tyson duck Foreman?

Theres gossip about tyson being scared, but I call BS, and its not like foreman had even fought any current contenders on his comeback

 

This is what i red about it if it is true or not i do not know :

Convention Center in Atlantic City in January 1988.

While we were eating, Benton said, "Bobby, what's up with Foreman and Tyson, how come they're not fighting each other on the 16th? Isn't that the fight that King was trying to make?" He said, " Georgie,You'll never believe this but, ****in' Tyson is scared shitless of Foreman and wants no part of him. I was there when Don was trying to make the fight. He was telling Tyson that Foreman represented huge money, plus he was old and slow and would be no problem. Tyson got up and screamed at King saying, 'I'm not fightin' that ****in' animal, if you love the mother****er so much, you fight him!'"

Goodman stated that Tyson said Foreman was much better than people thought, and was a dangerous fight for any of the top heavyweights. Goodman proceeded to explain how Tyson was calling Foreman a big con man, and explained that the grandpop act was just a front. He said Tyson saw Foreman as trying to set up the boxing world into thinking he was a pushover, knowing that he really wasn't. Tyson said Foreman was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Goodman continued to say that after seeing Tyson's response to King trying to push him into a fight with Foreman, he had no doubt that Tyson had fear of Foreman. He also said that from that point on, he felt that if Foreman and Tyson ever fought, Foreman would knock Tyson out!

Throughout the lunch Goodman, Duva, Benton, and myself shared stories and thoughts on the fight game. Out of the blue Goodman said, "Oh I remember why else Tyson wanted no parts of Foreman. He said that King had found out from Steve Lott that Tyson and Cus D'Amato used to watch the Frazier-Foreman fight over and over." He continued saying that Tyson loved that fight because he was awed by Foreman's power and Frazier's toughness and how he kept getting up after every knockdown. He also said that Lott told King that Cus sat alongside Tyson saying, "It's suicide against Foreman if you're short and fight a swarming attacking style like Marciano or Frazier," never figuring that Foreman could be a possible Tyson opponent down the road. He said that Cus said the only fighters who had a chance against Foreman were, tall rangy fighters who could fight him from a distance while moving away from him, and no way any swarmer could beat Foreman by going to him.

the article is longer but this soms it up i think

 

Tyson never ducked Foreman.

Remember the only time that Tyson could have conceivably fought George was after Buster Douglas. Tyson was taking his comeback seriously and after picking an easy KO in Tillman and Stewart, he was ready to step up his challenge.

Holyfield didn't fight Foreman until April of '91 and he caught flak in the boxing press for taking on such a fight. It was only after the Holyfield fight that Foreman earned some credibility but at that point Tyson was engaged in this 2 fight series against a more credible opponent in Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock. Remember Foreman Beating Gerry Cooney in 1990 (where Cooney was almost 4 years removed from his last win) didn't really mean much. I think people exaggerated the win and frankly Spinks beat a much better version.

If Tyson fought Foreman instead of Ruddock, he would have been accused of ducking Razor. No doubt in my mind. And that would have been more credible because Razor was the number 2 ranked fighter in all three bodies behind Tyson. Holyfield of course was the champion. So Tyson took the more appropriate route and fought Ruddock a month before Holyfield fought Foreman. (Incidentally Tyson-Ruddock outsold Holyfield-Foreman in PPV and Gate Revenues)

I read the article in its entirety and it conveniently forgets to mention that for this fight to happen, Bob Arum and Don King would have to put their ego's aside. Lets say they are cordial and they want the fight, at that point Tyson had signed a deal with Showtime and Foreman was an HBO fighter it was never going to be an easy fight to make.

 

I believe the word DUCK gets tossed around quite liberally! I used to do it alot myself, but have gotten away from it in recent months. I do not believe that Tyson was scared to fight Foreman, but do believe the fight could have been made. I don't believe Bowe was scared of Lewis, but the fight could have been made. Just because a boxer leaves the handeling of his carear to a management team, who may or maynot like certain match-ups or looks at risk reward type matches for their boxer, does not necesarily equate to a boxer ducking, dodging or being scared to fight another boxer!

Most boxers I know want to test themselves against the best, believe they are the best and would love to prove it..but leave the scheduling to thier handelers.

My belief is 1 that Tyson-Foreman could have been a reality, was a more feasible fight than some make it out to be and 3 that Foreman would have prevailed...But I still don't believe that Tyson for whatever reason ducked, avoided or was afraid of him!

 

Thank you...

Throughout boxing history, there have been many potential match-ups that could have come off, but didn't. There are numerous reasons for fights never materializing, and one man "ducking" another is just one of many.. The business of making a multi-million dollar deal is complicated and it goes much deeper than two men just merely agreeing to " throw down."

The fact is, during Tyson's first career which ended in 1991, George Foreman's comeback was viewed by many as nothing more than a novelty item, and I can remember a lot of people saying that George fighting Mike was suicide. Foreman wasn't even necessarily interested in specifically fighting Tyson anyway.... He just wanted to fight the heavyweight champion of the world, no matter who was holding that belt at the time.. George was never a mandatory during Tyson's reign... In fact, he was barely even rated when Tyson lost the title to Douglas in early 1990....

Now,

1. Was Foreman a formidable opponent who could have given Tyson problems? My answer is yes.

2. Did Tyson know that Foreman was a dangerous propostion? Probably.

3. Would both men have made lot's of money had this fight come off? Absolutely.

4. Were there some fans who wanted to see the fight? Sure..

But, none of these things provide any sort of varification that the bout's making, never occurred specifically to anyone ducking anyone...

 

My thinking was Tyson never really ducked anyone. If he would get in the ring with Ruddock at that time, who not even Holyfield wanted to tangle with, he would certainly fight Foreman who was struggling with the likes of Alex Stewart. I will try to get more info on this matter and ask someone who was close to King around that time.

 

True, but a fighters are often not rational in assesing how dangerous an ageing, once great opponent is.

In Tysons mind he might still have been the Foreman that destroyed Frazier.

 

Guess I'll be playing the diplomat on this one.

Duck, no. I wouldn't go that far. But Tyson was on to the fact that Foreman's best tool was getting people to believe he was harmless, and when the timing wasn't working out post-Douglas, Tyson didn't put any extra effort out there to force it to work out.

And even though I think Tyson knew he couldn't beat a young George, he should have also known that he could probably get by (or perhaps KO) an old George, so I doubt he was as scared as the famous story above makes it out to be. More like cautious and not willing to potentially throw away a comeback if George manages to hit him with a shot he doesn't see coming.

 

the fights that are easily made are the ones where the profit is high and the risk low.

the fights that should be made, that the public demand only ever hapen if the money justifys the risk for both fighters.

even if the risk is moderate but there is nothing to gain and as much money can be made elsewhere then "elsewhere" becomes the choice.

of the two, foreman who sailed his own ship during his comeback was the more selective. Perhaps justifiably so. george openly admited he did not want lenox lewis. george's record proves he was wise enough to understand that he needed size advantage if he was to concede youth. For such a big guy he fought an awful lot of cruiser weights and former lightheavys.

 

I don't know about duck but Foreman's style was all wrong for Tyson like Liston's style was for Patterson. The only difference would be that I don't think Foreman takes Tyson out in the first round as the accumulation of hard punches breaks Tyson down and maybe he gets stopped in the later rounds but would Foreman have enough fuel?

 

"Tyson-Foreman" of 1989 / 1990 was sketchy from BOTH sides of the coin................. King claims he did offer Foreman 5 million dollars, but Foreman balked when King wanted Foreman to sign a contract obtaining certain rights and liberties from Foreman..... Foreman refused....

Rumor has it Cus and Jimmy Jacobs told Mike Tyson when he was young that Foreman's style was all wrong for him, so therefore, Mike Tyson was leary of Foreman..... I smell a pile of horse**** there, but who am I to judge Tyson......

MR.BILL

 

"If Tyson fought Foreman instead of Ruddock, he would have been accused of ducking Razor. No doubt in my mind. And that would have been more credible because Razor was the number 2 ranked fighter in all three bodies behind Tyson. Holyfield of course was the champion. So Tyson took the more appropriate route and fought Ruddock a month before Holyfield fought Foreman. (Incidentally Tyson-Ruddock outsold Holyfield-Foreman in PPV and Gate Revenues)"

Yep, and in fact, at the time, Tyson was already being criticized for ducking Ruddock. Ruddock was the fight for Tyson, not Foreman.

At the time, Foreman was constantly squealing for a Tyson fight. He had nothing to lose, and he wanted the big Tyson payday.

 

10-4........ Tyson was accused of ducking Donovan "Dull Razor" Ruddock in early 1990 when team Tyson opted to fight Buster Douglas in Tokyo........ Many critics felt Ruddock should've been fighting Tyson in Japan back in Feb. of '90 on HBO.......
:deal

MR.BILL