Tyson beats Holyfield - King's plan for '97

He doesn't get very far.
Mercer was in good form at that time and would have probably derailed Tyson.

 

Mercer wasnt smart enough to beat Tyson. He fought Lewis and he fought Holyfield. He couldnt grapple and tie up. He would have stood right in front of Tyson but it would have been a great fight for Tyson. He should have fought Mercer before he fought Holyfield.

 

Mercer got pretty smart in 1995 and '96, and was a serious fighter then. Smart enough to only narrowly lose to Holyfield and Lewis, the latter of which was a dead even fight in my eyes.

I don't think Tyson had the mental strength and determination at the time to beat a serious Ray Mercer. Even a prime Tyson would find that Ray Mercer to be one of his hardest opponents.

 

Not really. Holyfield was coming off of dreadful performances, and Lewis was being handed his balls by Emanuel Steward. Mercer was tough and in good shape for those fights, but not good enough to beat the pre Holyfield Tyson in my opinion, he was just never that good.

 

it is one the most stupid post ever. yoU forgot to mention that OLD foreman faced a prime holyfield and he was competent and tyson faced a PAST PRIME holyfield and he destroyed tyson twice.
the other results, IT prove absolutely ****. styles make fights, stewart was down twice and he ran from foreman, obviously a young tyson had better style against stylists and boxer-punchers. savarese was undefeated when old foreman did beat him. so according to you, foreman would have beat ali... because norton kicked the ass of ali.(ali never did beat norton really), and frazier gave the hell to ali, and he did beat ali once, foreman killed frazier and norton.... ANY VERSION OF FOREMAN 72-91 WOULD KO PRIME TYSON. FOREMAN 93-97 WOULD KO THE VERSION 97 OF MIKE, BUT THIS FOREMAN WOULD LOSE AGAINST A PRIME TYSON BY DECISION. morrison did fight with brain he did outbox foreman, and he was a puncher, because he knew that if he exchange blows with george he would get ko. tyson would exchance blows with foreman,styles make fights. what a stupid argument with no sense.
foreman in 1997 was stronger than tyson,much bigger, h eha dmuc better chin, much more heart, he was harder puncher, foreman never was fast, his hitting power was his heavy hand, tyson was not fast in 1997, the hitting power of tyson without speed=nothing.


(and OLD foreman did beat mark young in 4 rounds , prime tyson in 1996 did beat young in 5)

 

Bowe and Tyson mutually agreed not to fight each other because they were from the same neighbourhood.

I think Tysons plan had been to clean out the division unify the titles and then possibly go after Lennox once everything was cleared up because he knew Lewis was a genuine threat whereas Holyfield was viewed as "an old fart" Once Holyfield beat Tyson, he just realised he doesnt have it anymore and then went on his circus tour with botha, golota, savarese, norris etc

Was Witherspoon even relevant during that period?

 

THey might have mutually agreed but thats exactly what Rock Newman wanted and why he was trying to milk the titles until Tyson got out of jail. If Bowe could have held onto the title, they would have fought.

 

In all likelihood

1. He would have faced Mercer and beaten him soundly. Mercer would have been perfect for Mike; his pressure wouldn't bother him but his chin would have given Mike some rounds. Mercer is not Holyfield or Lewis and just didn't have the style to beat Mike despite having 2 strong back to back performances against Holyfield and Lewis. Would have been competitive, but not close.

Not sure about Witherspoon in the mix. He wasn't too relevant then but more importantly his relationship with Don King nothwithstanding it would have been tough to make. I'm not sure he would have presented a test for Tyson like he may have 10 years prior to that point.


2. Moorer would have been a pretty easy fight. Tyson catches him early and it never makes it to the third round.

3. Based on what we know, McCall would have lost to Lewis the 2nd time around and I think this is where the party would have likely ended. Lewis at that point would have been pretty close; close enough for me not to call it for either man. If Mccall pulled of the upset again then Team Tyson would continue by beating Oliver in a 12 round decision.

4. Foreman in 1997 didn't have much slow Tyson down. His stamina was even further deteriorated and his handspeed would have kept him on the losing end of a one sided fight. It would have certainly been a big draw but Foreman in 1997 had no chance against 97 Tyson.

Based on this Tyson would have effectively unified the belts individually and beaten the Lineal Champion all over again as he did in the 80s. Had he faced Lennox Lewis in late 1997 early 1998 we would likely seen Lennox take the belts away from Mike only to lose them to Rahman in 2001. Again this is all speculation.

Holyfield and Lewis IMO were the only 2 fighters up until 1997 that would have derailed him. There is always a surprise ala Douglas but from what we know now its likely that just Evander and Lennox would have the party crashers.

 

I feel Bowe Vs Tyson Is the missing jigsaw piece with the Lewis, Holyfield, Bowe, Tyson quartet.

For some crazy reason i believe Tyson would always beat Bowe. Alot of people would pick Bowe because he beat Holyfield who beat Tyson. But we all know, that logic never works out does it?

 

If Tyson had beaten Holyfield, I'm confident he would have faced Lewis or Bowe in 1997!

 

No that logic doesnt work, and not really why i believe Bowe would have a shot. He just had more overall skills to handle a fighter like Tyson at his best. Lewis had heart like Bowe, but he couldnt fight inside and his footwork got really mixed up when he was under pressure. I dont think that holding leaning stuff would have been enough on a prime Tyson. Bowe could fight inside, outside, and he was mean and took the fight to his opponents. In my opinion it would have created the most competitive exciting fight of three prime for prime.

 

How do you feel Bowe-Lewis would have gone?

 

foreman still had much better timing then i think you are giving him credit for..he had problems with movers,,,but tyson would have come back in..and foreman would not have been in any way afraid.....he would have used his longer arms and power with timing to catch mike coming in...and when tyson got in he would have man handled him physically..which would have ****ed with the fragil psychie of iron mike.....


not sure that would happen..but thats one "answer" foreman may well have given to you.

 

I think if Lewis had gotten what he wanted and fought Bowe right after the first Holyfield fight, he would have gotten his ass kicked. He wasn't ready for a fighter like Bowe. At their respective best I think Bowe beats him too. Bowe became a better pro fighter he just had no discipline to sustain it.

 

Both Tyson and Bowe would have handed Lewis his ass early 90s, mid 90s is where the tide changes.

Bowe had all the goods to trouble Tyson, but i think Bowe fought stupidly most of the time, he went to war with Holyfield, going to war against a guy like Tyson is suicide. Of course Bowe could always put a "Tokyo Douglas" type performance