There has been a lot of talk on this forum, about the Tyson Douglas upset, including Rumsfeld's recent fine analysis. One thing that rarely gets mentioned, is that Tyson was under absolutely no obligation to fight Douglas. He would not have been criticized for selecting a different opponent. Dokes or Damiani would have been equally credible choices. So lets say that Tyson had identified the danger posed by Douglas, or simply gone in another direction. What are the possible scenarios, and how does history play out?
He probably beats Dokes or Damiani, I say probably based on the fact the he would've probably beaten Douglas. I reckon Evander would've had the game to beat him by then, he'd use his head.
Here are the ratings 1989 https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_1989 I don´t think he looses to Dokes or Damiani. Not sure how good Witherspoon was at that time. More challinging would be Ruddock or Mason at the timeframe imho. Lets say he beats anyone of them next, I see him taking Holyfield not very serious and losing a decision in process.
I've got in my notes that Tyson was planning five defenses in 1990 - Douglas in February, Holyfield in June, Ruddock in September, Renaldo Snipes in November, and George Foreman in December. I'm not sure how serious these plans were or whether they're just press-release hyperbole put out by his management. By this time Tyson was starting to pull out of, or postpone, fights on a pretty regular basis. He'd already pulled out of a scheduled November 18, 1989 defense against Razor Ruddock. As far as options go, this list shows what team Tyson were putting out there.
Oh my Jesus, Tyson would have annihilated Mason. That's an awful fight for poor Gary. Far, far too static. Incidentally, (and sorry for the minor derail) how do people think Danny Williams v Gary Mason would have gone, prime for prime?
He was due to give Ribalta a rematch, but Jose looked bad against Sims so Buster got the job instead. Even Tokyo Tyson beats Ribalta comfortably. Then the June date with Holyfield probably sees his unraveling.
It was a cash grab in Tokyo before Holyfield. I imagine Don King would’ve put in Orlin Norris (and Norris’ fight with Tubbs wouldn’t have happened).
He K.O's Damiani easily & he slacks off even more in training leaving him ripe for Holyfield, or, Dokes gives him a hard time & gives him a wakeup call & he beats Holyfield in dominant fashion.
