Holyfield On Tyson

Most people have read this before, i found it, it was posted a few months back

I tend to agree with most of what he said

JENNA: Evander now you mentioned Tyson a few moments ago. You had a lot of people doubting you before that first bout the way they sort of doubt you now. Can you tell us how you felt about facing Tyson back when everyone thought you were going to be an easy match for him?

HOLYFIELD: With Tyson, we had known each other since back in the amateurs. He was the best at heavyweight and I was the best at light-heavy and I knew eventually we would fight. Even in the beginning, the respect that I had for him, I watched each and every one of his professional fights. I knew that this guy was the guy that I was going to have to beat because he was just that good. I truly thought he was a lot better than people gave him credit for because people said he was just a brawler, but he fought the perfect fight for his style and his build. He had shorter arms, but he was short. If you have short arms you have to fight aggressive. You have to fight that type of fight to win and he was able to do that, but because I did my homework, I watched him, looking for where he’d be vulnerable and which area he’d be vulnerable in. As you can see when a person has that punching power and all of that and was aggressive, because Tyson used to fight very hard but once the reputation started beating the people before they got in the ring, he didn’t have to fight that hard. I realized that when he fought me that I was going to be able to take those shots and could he fight like hard like he used to fight hard like that. Life is not about what you’ve done, it’s about what you’ve done today, and he didn’t have a lot of fights that made him have to be in great shape like that. When he fought me, we fought each and every round pretty hard. I won of course on a condition standpoint.

JENNA: When you did fight him it was actually the third time that fight had been set up. You had it set up for ’91. It didn’t happen obviously, and it had a chance of happening if he won a fight with Buster Douglas and you were at ringside for that. I was just curious what were your thoughts when you were sitting ringside for what some people say was the biggest upset in heavyweight history?

HOLYFIELD: That fight kind of reminded me when you take people for granted. Buster Douglas was a very good fighter. He wasn’t a slouch and it’s not like Tyson was fighting somebody that he was bigger than. He was fighting a guy who was bigger than him with a longer reach who usually knocked people down with good jabs. So everything that people just allowed him to believe, this just wasn’t a match and I just remember people talking about how many seconds was going to last, and unfortunately this guy came to fight that night. He was very skillful and he was hitting Tyson with the jab, and combinations, and all of that, and he was able to win. So with me, it didn’t bother me because I didn’t lose my opportunity. My goal was always to be the heavyweight champion of the world. It wasn’t built on beating Mike Tyson. If I fought Mike Tyson it’s one thing, but if I didn’t have to fight him my goal was to become heavyweight champion of the world.

JENNA: Evander, when you did have that fight scheduled with him originally in 1991, do you think it would have played out any differently than it did five years later if you fought him more towards his prime?

HOLYFIELD: I don’t know, but I’m just thankful that it played out the way it did in ’96. In ’91 I was a good fighter. I was undefeated. I had never been beaten and I don’t think my energy was any different. I probably would have fought a little bit more aggressively, but I was fortunate enough to fight him in 1996 and I was able to get the job done.


Whole interview
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=26346&more=1

 

He amkes some very interesting points

Especially about Tysons rep, once it started growing, he started training less whcih lead to Tokyo

He basically admits that Tyson is/was a great fighter, regardless of what people say.

He obviously looked upto Tyson because he knew Mike was the man to beat

Interesting comment that he only won in 1996 due to condition standpoint and was wondering if Mike could fight hard like he used to (pre prison)

Very good information, straight from the horses mouth.

He also says he didnt know how a fight in 1991 would have gone and admits he was more aggressive then (which would have played right into Tysons hands)

 

Evander also makes some nice comments here on this video 04:15

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkkMuy3NQZM&feature=related[/ame]

 

He is underrated alot nowadays

But as Holyfields comment above show, Tyson was a genuine ATG

 

Tyson would wipe the floor with todays heavyweights and that includes Haye, Adamek and the 2 Tits

Theyre overrated so much its unbelivable.

 

The funny thing is, you state that everytime there is a Holyfield Vs Tyson thread


and nobody ever listens and here it is, straight from the horses mouth