1988 Tyson VS. Holyfield (Bowe 2 fight)

100% agree with the first comment in the above quote--no way even the best version of Holyfield could handle peak Tyson!!

 

Tyson by decision 116-112. When Holyfield and Tyson went at it the first time, Tyson went 10 full rounds and got ref stopped into the championship rounds. Tyson showed he could take some punishment against Holyfield, so I think he would do good in the first 10 rounds and as the championship rounds start to show, Holyfield would try to amount a last hurrah but Tyson's pressure and his skills in his prime would've been too much

 

Bert Cooper had Holyfield hurt badly enough to put him on orange alert, and though I hate when people overextrapolate in using one of two similar fighters as a proxy for another in a hypothetical matchup, Tyson finishing the job where Cooper couldn't is one of the more easily visualized scenarios in my mental simulations.

I certainly wouldn't expect Foreman to absolutely manhandle Tyson as effortlessly as he did Cooper.

 

As far as the quote above, I’ve never actually seen Holyfield say those exact words about “’87 Tyson being unbeatable.” What I have seen, and this always stuck with me, was a Showtime bumper they used to run between fights back in the day. They’d show short interview clips, and there was one with Holyfield talking specifically about Tyson’s head movement in the ’80s. He mentioned the constant bobbing and weaving, the side-to-side movement, and how Tyson never came in on a straight line. Holyfield went on to say that by the time he fought Tyson, Mike was coming straight in, which made him much easier to time.
I wouldn’t call that an “admission” that he couldn’t have beaten an earlier version of Tyson, but it was Holyfield on record acknowledging that the Tyson he fought was different from the one in the late ’80s.
That said, there’s also the well-known sparring story where Holyfield more than held his own with Tyson when they were younger, which tells me Holyfield was never going to be an easy night for Mike under any circumstances. I’ve always believed Holyfield would’ve been a tough out for Tyson no matter what, styles make fights. I do agree with those saying that ’88 Tyson was a completely different animal. That version of Mike was special. It’s just hard for me to dismiss how competitive that matchup would’ve been. People bring up Cooper hurting Holyfield, and that’s fair, he did, but Holyfield rallied within seconds and had Cooper reeling all over the ring. Cooper was also known as a massive puncher. He didn’t have Tyson’s finishing instincts, but he could crack. I understand the argument that if Tyson hurts Holyfield, he finishes him, but how many times was Holyfield actually finished in his entire career?

For me, it’s a legitimate toss-up. If you forced me to pick, I’d lean Holyfield by a razor-thin decision, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it went the other way. That’s how close I think it is.

 

Okay, that's valid. Let's remember, however, that Henry Tillmann also beat Tyson twice during his sparring sessions with Holyfield, so I wouldn't attach too much importance to that. I've never heard of Holyfield defeating Tyson in sparring, but simply surprised him with a strong fight.

 

Yeah I never took what happened in the ams seriously and nobody else should either. Tyson was far younger than these guys at that point and less proven so to say Holyfield or Lennox Lewis or Carl Williams held their own is really strange. Tyson was the one who held his own against the bigger and more seasoned guys.

1991 was the moment where Tyson and Holyfield were closest in skill set. But a prime for prime battle and I'm taking Mike the entire time and lean towards an 8th round TKO.

 

I think Evander Holyfield would have still defeated Mike Tyson, in 1988, in a very tough fight. Stamina would have won the day.

 

So many people like to say what Tyson COULD have done or what he WAS capable of doing. In actually he fell short. Much less was expected of Holy yet he ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISHED MUCH MORE. Same result Holy wins

 

Holyfield wouldn't be off-guard against Tyson like he was against Cooper. No way.

And I don't think Holyfield-Bowe II was Holyfield's best showing. What was he 32 yrs old?

 

Not in this comparison. It's purely based on what we know Mike did '88 vs Holyfield in '93. Mike in '88 was at a level above Holyfield. One of the all time greatest peaks in Boxing.

 

I see your point. I still believe that Holy drowns him late

 

yeah, and I mean, I didn’t say he beat him in sparring. I just said he held his own, basically saying exactly what you wrote. I take more from the 96 fight than any “sparring”’stories. I remember watching it live, revisionist history is much different. I remember people, fearing for Holyfield‘s life. I remember the ring magazine, which I still own the issue, predicting Tyson KO1. Both guys were past it. If they’d fought in 91 when Tyson pulled out with the rib injury, I think Holyfield beats him right there. 88 Tyson is his apex. It’s a 50/50 fight, but I still slightly favor Holyfield.

 

I'm fan of both so I think I'm not biased here. It would be a great fight. Tyson was an absolute beast at the time, while Holy was also a brilliant fighter with great skills, iron chin and recuperative abilities. I'd lean towards Tyson in a competitive 12-round fight

 

Yes, Tyson was the favorite because most people thought the 1996 Tyson was the 1988 Tyson. Ha, even after Holyfield literally destroyed him in their first fight—in what many people considered the best performance of his career—Tyson was STILL the slight favorite in the rematch. Because despite the obvious fact that Holy had his number—they still thought the 1997 Tyson was the 1988 Tyson!!

Even though Holy had an obvious style and psychological advantage in the rematch, it was still wrongly assumed that the post-prime Tyson was as strong as the pre-prime Tyson.

That couldn't have been the case, and today we know that wasn't the case. I don't know when Tyson began experiencing serious mental health issues. It probably wasn't overnight, but we do know—because it was documented during the hearings and the state commission's work, and it was made public—that he had been undergoing psychiatric treatment since 1997, suffering from insomnia, depression, anxiety, and mood swings. This effectively sabotages your athletic performance. With such problems, Tyson Fury suspended his career, and Mike Tyson stepped into the ring. When he faced Holyfield in 1996, Tyson wasn't just rusty—he had fought only four absolutely terrible fights in his five-year career, ALL of which were one-sided, NONE of which went beyond the third round.
The ONLY person who wanted to fight him was a crypto-boomer named McNeeley, and the fight lasted one minute.
Tyson had a 41-1 record before prison, and 9-5 after. It's worth watching the fight with Botha to know that the Tyson of that era isn't the Tyson of 1988. Even though SAM Holyfield points out that Tyson was already worse.

Despite this, we still act like Tyson was a young prospect who, at 30 years old, in his 46th fight, was only facing his first real test in his 14th title fight.

 

I think out of all the versions of Holyfield this would be the best version of Holyfield to pit against Tyson.

Holyfield had bulked up he boxed smartly against Bowe using in an out movement firing off combinations.

I think I might have to side with Holyfield here this is literally the perfect version of Holyfield to overcome Tyson.