What if Tua and Tyson switched eras?

The 80's would be a horrible era for Tua to enter, as it was dominated by stick and move jabbers.

A prime Tua was barely able to track down the likes of a green Maskaev when he elected to move, I'd put his chances at very slim against the likes of Tucker, Thomas, Holmes, Tillis, Spinks. A Bonecrusher-Tua fight could be interesting, though.

Tua just plain out sucks against guys that stay away from him. The thing that usually bails him out is that he keeps his power from start to finish and his durability ensures that he's in it for the duration. The 90's was the perfect era for Tua as it was a puncher dominated one.

 

Tua would struggle with guys like Tucker,Smith and Ribalta.Lewis showed that a big guy with some skills would have Tua beaten.He would also have found it hard going with Thomas who would be too fast for him.I think he would have beaten Tubbs,Berbick and Bruno,but a lot of the guys Tyson beat would be too skilled for him.I think Spinks would have been able to beat Tua and even though he was old by then Holmes would also have caused him problems.
Tua is a good fighter and I like his fights but he would not have made the same impact as Tyson,not even close to it.

 

I agree that Tua would have Mission Impossible if he were to fight a fit, motivated Holmes but he would eventually get to the version that fought Tyson. Spinks would also be a tough matchup for David but it wouldn't be as difficult as one with Tucker or Tokyo Douglas.

 

I agree lefthook, but '03 (when Byrd had just captured the IBF title) would've been the only appropriate year for such a fight, since Tyson was disgracefully shot in '04 & '05, whereas he appeared to have at least got into some kind of shape in '03.

 

I'm not saying Tua loses to them all, because he was very dangerous at his Peak ('96 & '97), but Tua could lose to the following, although he might have to be past his short best to lose to some of them:

Jesse Ferguson
James Tillis
Mitch Green
Trevor Berbick
Bonecrusher Smith
Pinklon Thomas
Tony Tucker
Tyrell Biggs
Old Holmes
Michael Spinks
Frank Bruno
Buster Douglas
Alex Stewart
Razor Ruddock

 

Tua is a terrific puncher and absolute bull of a man. But put simply... he is not Mike Tyson.
He would'nt have had the run Tyson had in the mid to late 80's without losing.
If you put prime Tyson in the 90s, then he would still lose to Lewis and Holyfield IMO has these two were just stacked with self belief and a winning mentality, and would nearly always have his number, stylewise and mentally. To be honest i think a prime Bowe would maybe be a bit of mouthful for Tyson to chew on aswell.
But all said and done, a prime v prime Tyson v Tua matchup would be fun to watch!

 

TYson gets Beaten by Ikey Ibeachu, Lenny Lewis And Hassimy Rahman has a Puncher's-CHance.

 

86' - 88' Tyson would not lose to Ibeabuchi. And wouldn't even come close to losing to Hasim Rahman.

 

The rest would probably beat Tua.

 

Tua needed championship rounds to demolish Maskaev, who had neither briliant defence nor good chin. Virtually all of his opponents (Ruiz is an exception) were able to outbox him for a couple of rounds before they finally got KO'd - Oquendo, Nicholson, Maskaev, and so on. And generally his opposition was weaker than Tyson (I count only wins, so Lewis and Ike do not count).