Mike Tyson doesn’t have an inside game, look at the Bone crusher Smith fight, look at the Tillis fight, you hold him and he doesn’t throw, why do you think Holyfield had such an easy time with him, Botha too. Tyson punches on the way in, tie him up he lets you hold, he very rarely punches to get out of clinches, hell even Bert Sugar did a write of this after his awful showing against Botha. Regarding the Bruno fight it was literally 6 months after the Spinks fight, what do you mean he “wasn’t firing on all cylinders anymore? That makes literally no sense at all. Wlad is a very strong guy, the fact you are trying to tell me that a guy who is 5’10/210lbs is physically stronger than a guy who is 6’6/245 is ridiculous, you are literally banking on Tyson winning early and “easily” against a guy who is bigger and better than anyone he had faced in ‘88 based on Wlad getting blown out off a 6’4 southpaw.
1 example provided was a guy who was on medical suspension. That's why they didn't have the rematch in the U.S. the 2nd fighter could hardly be described as durable since he had like half a dozen stoppage losses. The third guy wasn't even stopped. So like I said, 3 invalid examples. You're an idiot if you think I'm shifting the goal posts by dismissing them. You clearly don't even know what that means. And I'm done with that debate, you lost the moment you decided to make straw man arguments. I see nothing has changed and you're liking your own posts just like a 14 year old so I'll leave you to your delusions.
Wlad didn’t cope well with pressure. Wlad’s physical advantages in height and reach wouldn’t have been a big advantage for him against a squat, 5’10 guy who’d have been bobbing and weaving in front of him, whilst attacking him with bad intentions. He’d have found it very difficult in trying to time him. Some guys just came to survive against Mike. They grabbed and clinched, but had no real offence. Wlad’s reach came into play against smaller guys who didn’t have Mike’s elusive movement. In a boxing match, they were a big advantage. But this wouldn’t have been a boxing match. Mike would have fought him hard from the opening bell. Mike would have known of his vulnerabilities. There’d have been no feeling out rounds. Mike would have hunted him down and gone for the kill early. Regarding Lennox, I’m of the opinion that Lennox was so good that he could have beaten any version of Mike. But there fight has zero relevance here. Like others have noted, Mike was a 3 round fighter at that point who didn’t even want to fight. He was fighting only due to financial reasons at that stage. And he didn’t even resemble the guy who we saw in the late 80’s. Personally, I don’t think that Wlad would have had the confidence to have beaten Mike. I think that he’d have crumbled both mentally and physically from Mike’s onslaught.
My reference regarding Lewis was not so much the state that Tyson was in at that point but the physical presence that Lewis brought to the game and Wlad physically was just as intimidating. Plus throw into the mix that Tyson would be in with a far more physically intimidating man than he’d ever faced in ‘88 and maybe he has doubts? Wlad would have to be switched on and I believe he would be, would that be enough to beat Tyson at that time? Maybe, maybe not but I don’t see Wlad getting blasted out.
Again, some guys came to survive. They had no offence. What would Wlad have done? He couldn’t have landed his jab with authority against such an elusive target. Trying to continually have tied him up wouldn’t have been good tactics. Also, those smaller guys could tie Mike up easier, as they could get closer to him. It’s like Ali having more issues against smaller fighters than many of the bigger ones he fought. He wasn’t firing on all cylinders against Bruno. He got hit a lot. He wasn’t as elusive. His defence wasn’t as tight as it normally was. Those were the signs that he was cutting corners in training. Regarding Sanders, it’s easy to say that Sanders and Mike were nothing alike, because Sanders was a southpaw who was bigger. The truth is, Sanders found success against Wlad because he had great speed, great power, strong aggression and supreme confidence. Mike didn’t need to be the same size of Sanders. He had the same dangerous attributes of speed, power, ferocity and confidence. Mike was a ruthless finisher. Like others have said, even a basic Sam Peter had Wlad hanging on. And although he was bigger than Mike, he was nowhere near the same level of fighter. Wlad likes to box. He doesn’t like to fight. Wlad couldn’t have beaten Mike by boxing him.
Yet the massive difference is that Sanders was of similar size to Wlad, not the Wlad we are talking about regarding this fight and Tyson is not. Taking into account the Sanders fight regarding Wlad is the same as me using Botha/Lewis as a stick to judge Tyson on.
I don’t believe that Wlad’s size would have intimidated Mike. Not if Mike had been knowledgeable of his style and his vulnerabilities. Are we assuming here that both guys would have possessed knowledge of each other? That would have made a huge difference in my opinion.
I’d assume so and that would be a double edged sword, as Wlad could view Tyson as a quitter when the fight wasn’t going his way (I don’t believe this, but I have seen people say stuff). It’s a good fight, May the best man win.
It wouldn’t have made a huge difference if Sanders had been smaller. Peter was smaller than Sanders. It was Sanders’ speed, style, pressure and power which caused Wlad issues, not specifically his size. Sanders would have been problematic to Wlad at any stage of Wlad’s career.
But he had the size to land, Tyson regardless of how fast he was did not have the size or length to lad as easily, nor was he a southpaw, plus Tyson had never fought a super heavyweight with the size and athleticism that Wlad brings to the table.
It’s a great debate. And I always look very closely at the possible psychological aspects of the sport. It’s very intriguing. It fascinates me. Are we looking here at a fantasy scenario where Wlad watched Mike’s entire career, before then hopping into a time machine? It’s highly amusing, but also very relevant to the discussion. Because if in this scenario, Wlad only had knowledge of Mike up until 1988, then I 100% believe that he’d have been intimidated by him. Especially as he was unbeaten at that stage, and seen by many people as being unbeatable. If Mike had been knowledgeable of Wlad’s career up until 2009, he’d have seen his early defeats and known how vulnerable he was against power, speed and pressure. It’s fun to speculate. Personally, I just can’t see how Wlad could have won. Not unless Mike had blown himself out. And he only did that against Douglas, as he’d not trained properly, which left him gassed after just 4-5 rounds. IMHO, I don’t think that Wlad would have believed that he could have beaten Mike. Of course, I can’t know what Wlad would have thought, but that’s my honest opinion. I think he’d have gone in there knowing that he’d have been facing an absolutely ruthless finisher, which would have been after he’d already suffered 3 stoppages in his career. And it’s not like Wlad was just a superior fighter in his prime, than what he was when he was younger. It’s just that he was more risk averse. He was more cautious. He leaned and clinched more and looked to box instead of fight. I just don’t see any victory for Wlad. I see a scenario where Mike would have intimidated him both inside and outside of the ring, leading towards a stoppage.
