If Tyson Had Been In Prime In His Fights With Holyfield and Lewis?

Obviously Tyson lost twice against Holyfield and once Lennox, but how different are the results if it were Tyson of 87 - 88 in there?

 

He would have beaten Holy and still lost to Lewis.

 

He stops Holyfield ko 7
Lennox stops him in around 10.
Agreed, mate.

 

Sounds feasible,Fergy. Lennox would have to be really......really careful in the first five rounds or so though.

 

Absolutely, Stevie. Can't take Tyson for granted, especially a peak one.
Lewis wouldn't take him lightly imo, hd probably be ultra cautious at the start, he can't go in guns blazing

 

When folks talk of underachievers names like Riddick Bowe and Ike Ibeabuchi
invariably come up.However Mike Tyson is in their company for underachievement.
Tyson was so naturally talented he really should have been butting in between Muhammad Ali
and Joe Louis for the consensus title of GOAT heavyweight-champion.
That said,I believe that Tyson 1987-88 would have been too much for Holyfield and perhaps,
just perhaps,might have been able to beat Lennox Lewis.
This is based on pure natural talent alone.

 

Tyson is still defeated by both Lewis & Holyfield.

 

Either fight could go either way. I'd make Tyson and Lewis marginal favourites.

 

Impossible to say.

They would have been very different fights, but both men would still have posed him with significant stylistic problems.

 

Beats them both ... would have to be his absolute best version but that version was too much ..

 

I think at his absolute best he beats both. But what do I know? I think Holyfield fight is close UD. I feel like Holyfield may have always posed a problem for Tyson, no matter what version. And I think he KOs Lewis early.

 

Lewis always beats Tyson hes an ATG Super Heavyweight, that knows how to control distance and he would beat the smaller Tyson.

As for Holyfield pinning down his prime is a tough one, whilst he was younger in the early 90s and probably had more energy/workrate. He wasn't as smart as the Holyfield in the mid to late 90s, i think if you could combine the early 90s Holyfield with the mid 90s Holyfield he would beat Tyson. But an early 90s Holyfield who liked to brawl too much and often got himself in trouble ? I see Tyson winning by stoppage.

 

Lewis does not survive the 87-88 version of Tyson. If McCall and Rahman were able to stop Lennox, Mike will catch him sooner or later. I would say sooner. As for Holyfield. He gets hit too much. All I needed to see was Evander getting nailed in round 5 by Alex Stewart in their first encounter. The same Stewart that a 1990 version of Tyson stopped in the first round. Never mind that Holyfield came back to win that fight. He faced similar struggles with Dokes and Cooper around the same time. Holyfield, without the roids, won't be able to push, clinch and maul enough to discourage Mike. The ref saves Evander sooner or later. I would say later.

 

I might catch hell for this but as exciting n needed as Tyson was for the 80s n boxing n general, I feel ppl can get carried away w thru assessment of his prime in H2Hs.

Don't get me wrong, he ain't a pushover and it would take an ATG performance to beat him but imho he's more beatable than ppl make him out to be. I feel 92-99 Holyfield beats him still and Lewis 97-01 does too. Anytime b4 those spans I'd favor Tyson but Tyson has himself to blame for not having the discipline for fighting either sooner. All still ATGs.

 

A peak version of Mike Tyson would surely do more than get knocked out by both of them. Let's not forget that Lennox Lewis knocked out Tyson 12 years after he was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas, and that wasn't Mike Tyson's peak either.
So 1988 Mike Vs. 1996-97 version of Evander. Holyfield wouldn't be able to absorb the punches as they would because they would come faster, and there would be more of them in great combinations. Holyfield would miss more, because Tyson's head movement is much better in 1988, close to perfect. In the best-case scenario, according to Evander, Mike would win that fight with SD.
1988 Mike Vs. 2002 Lennox Lewis. This would be a tougher test for Peak Mike, even against past prime Lennox. It is that Lennox has never seen anything like that in the ring, and that he has beaten everyone he has entered the ring with. 2002 Lennox is a wise, skilled and experienced boxer; the real executor. Mike would have the initiative for the first few rounds. Afterwards, the fight would be even (like Lewis vs Mercer), and the second half of the fight would be dominated by Lennox. If Mike was able to see out the end of the fight on the feet, it would be a unanimous decision for Lennox Lewis.