Imagine Lewis never got the rematch with Rahman. Tyson v Rahman.

OK, I have a thread on Rahman but this is truly fascinating in its own right.

Tyson beat Francis, British Champion and a Williams level fighter (Francis got very unfortunate in their second fight and won the first against Danny) in two, beat Savarese in 1 and beat Golota after 2.

Say he enters at his usual fighting weight instead of blowing up deliberately like he did for Neilson, and Rahman weighs in like he did for Lewis II.

What happens?

 

Tyson tried like hell as did Rahman. Lewis sued and won. Tyson would have beaten Rahman.,

 

I thought so too at the time.

 

Tyson would have been the first man to be HW champion in 3 different decades, Lewis beats Tyson if Tyson doesn't just avoid him and go for a Holyfield trilogy. If Tyson beats them both he suddenly has a much more impressive resume

 

Don King was the reason why this never happened.

And Lewis's legal team.

Otherwise, I'd say at that point Tyson would have stopped him in 5-6 rounds.

Rahman was never fleet flooted nor did he have the fluidity or athleticism even to beat that version of Tyson.

But Tyson winning the title in 3 different decades guarantees him a top 8 spot

 

Lewis had an immediate rematch clause with Rahman. Im sure King would have rather had Rahman fight Tyson, it represented more money. Rahman was not signed to King during the Lewis fight, and thats when Don King handed him the duffle bag of cash and stole him away from Cedric Kushner, just minutes before Rahman was headed to Kushners office to sign a contract.
King gained promotional rights to Rahman and the rematch with Lewis, but it wasnt the fight they wanted. King hated Finkel at the time, but Im sure he would have had Rahman fight Tyson if the fight could be made. Its the fight Rahman wanted too.

 

Is this such a cut-and-dried affair? Rahman did very well in two fights with Tua, losing only due to controversial circumstances in their first fight and winning the second fight in most people's eyes.

Does this mean that we are saying that the Tyson of 2001 was better than the Tua of the late 1990s/early 2000s?

 

Now looking back I have my doubts about Tyson being able to do it. At the time I thought Rahman would be an easy touch.

But yeah, it might have been a tougher job.

 

See, I think by round 5 or 6 it would be too late. Rahman has strength and if he fought an intelligent fight, and I think he would have, that would be enough to wear Tyson down, perhaps.

 

As moderate a fighter as Rahman was,he'd still have been too good for Tyson at that point in Mike's career.

 

I think both mentally and physically Tyson would have been a lot more motivated to fight Rahman. Tyson was fast than Tua and could put his punches together better.
I dont think Tyson felt deep down he had a chance with Lennox Lewis, and thats why he fired his trainer and f*ucked off to Hawaii to train for him.
The Tyson that fought Golota would have handled Rahman pretty easily in my opinion.

 

rahman would have beaten tyson and taken away his credibility as a contender. lewis would have lost his chance to fight tyson. rahman was the more consistent and proven fighter during the period of 1998-2001. tyson looked awful against the punching bag nielsen. lewis was the big winner here.

 

Tyson looked bad against Nielson but pretty good against Savarese and Golota. As I said the motivation for fighting for the title as well as it being against Rahman and not Lennox Lewis, would have most likely had Tyson better motivated. He was badly out of shape for Nielson, and basically winged it against Lewis.

 

Rahman did well against Tua because he could keep him in his shell by jabbing at him all night. He was not comfortable against guys who could pressure him and put punches together, and as evident by the Golota fight, Mike could still weave under a decent jab and get in your face. Rahman had a tendancy to freeze and it would be costly. I think Tyson overwhelms him and knocks him out in 5 rounds for the undisputed title.

 

If this match up occured, I would like Tyson early or a Rahman decision, but I think the former would happen, especially if Rahman tried any of that extending my arms out is my defense crap that he did against Lewis in the second fight.