Mike Tyson: After Holyfield II

I always wonder how a fight between Tyson and Lewis would have been in 1996

 

I'd rather see the significantly better conditioned Tyson of 1997 (Holyfield II) fight Lewis.

 

well, here the thing you're talking about legacy. those would have been some good names on his resume as all of you have said, tyson no longer cared about that. he cared about money, so did everybody else around him. his comeback was designed for him to look indestructible by fighing weak opposition like mcneely, mathis, bruno and seldon, and pcik up two titles in the process. and even with these opponets, he didnt look all that great, especially in the mathis fight, where he was missing all kind wild shots before dropping mathis. then holyfield was the next target since people thought he was finished. remember they were suppose to fight lewis but holyfield look like an easier fight so the plan was to knock out holyfield then set-up a big fight with lewis, but as you all know, he lost to holy twice and holyfield would go on to fight lewis 2x. the rest is history. thats been tyson's career, a bunch of could haves, should haves and would haves

 

Tyson and Mercer were friends. Tyson always wanted to fight Mercer and give him a good payday. He was very close to fighting him before going back to jail for the road rage incident.

 

The Mercer who destroyed Morrison and was extremely competitive with Lewis would pose serious stylistic problems for Tyson.

 

Mercer was there to be hit. His punching power is waaaaayyyyy overated due to his blowout of Morrison, but realistically who else has he KO'd with even a decent chin??? Noone, he couldnt even knockout Bert Cooper who everyone knocked out, and fought face first. He was lazy, inconsistent, and besides a decent jab, right hand and solid chin, he had good but not great boxing skills. He fought at close range flat footed, chose to mix it up, and Lewis, who had never fought and won using the style he did in the Mercer fight, beat Mercer at his own game. Lewis two years later would have won every round against Mercer or knocked him out. He was competitive against Holyfield because Holyfield fought almost identical to Ray (at that time, slower more flat footed Holy), and Ray had a good chin which kept him in the fight.
There is nothing to suggest that stylistically Mercer could do anything close to what Douglas and Lewis could do, or had the ring savvy that Holyfield did, and everything suggests he would be fighting at close range and more at the distance that favors Tyson. In other words, Ray was not a ring smart fighter, just a tough guy with a grade A chin and solid but not great boxing skills, thats why he was befuddled by guys like the Boogieman and old Larry Holmes.

 

Well if he went an alternate route this might not have been the case. Would you still believe this had Tyson not returned to boxing in 1995? Losing only to Douglas with his prior body of work would have most likely put him over Lewis?

 

i cant believe the crap coming out on this thread about tysons legacy youngest world heavyweight champion at 20 still the only man to unify all 3 titles by beating all 3 champions won 45 of his 1st 46 fights the only man to knock out larry holmes beat the man who ended larry holmes unbeaten run in 91 seconds micheal spinks won 12 world heavyweight title fights tyson has been judged on losing fights when he was well over the hill people forget before the holyfield 1 he had been in the ring for 0nly 17 minutes in 5 and a half years and his primes was at least 8 years before that when rooney trained him tyson at his peak would have destroyed lewis inside 4 rounds maximum who did lewis ever beat a totaly shot to bits tyson a fading holyfield he was knocked out twice with single shots when did that happen to tyson holyfield and any other atg heavyweight and got a lucky decision against ray mercer who was outclassed by holmes over 4 years after tyson beat him in 4 rounds

 

It is a bit comical how underated and brushed off Tyson is at times on this board. Its understandable because of his behavior turned off so many people, but he was a hell of a fighter. I think most on this board only watched Tyson after 1995.

Yes Lewis would have more defenses, but like you said the Holyfield wins would not be as significant, and the losses against Rahman and Mcall would most likely overshadow his career more significantly. Personally I dont know how to rate Vitali, becuase his comp has really been that bad. As said in the previous post at the time the blowout of Spinks was signficant, and at this time, considering what fighters have done in advanced age and what Larry went on to do, the Holmes win is also looking better these days.

 

Yes Lewis beat Vitali, unconvincingly to most, and Vitali for me and a lot of others has not faced what has been considered stellar competition. Vitali has been consistent, but the struggles he had with Lewis and his quitting against Byrd, leaves a lot of question marks as to how he would have performed even against Lewis comp, which in my opinion is leagues above Vitali's, but not as good as Tyson's.

 

I dont think he would have won those fights and I presume neither do Tysons handlers - Botha was easily beating Tyson until Tyson got a lucky punch in

.You cant beat mercer with a lucky punch and Moorer was better than the bunch listed above.

Might as well say why didnt he fight Holy for a 3rd time - The easy answer is - He just wasnt good enough and never was.

Tyson is like the ATG gatekeeper - He could brutally batter a certain level of opponent but when faced with an elite fighter where raw power is not enough but an iron will and adaptability are needed he falls short.