1988 Tyson vs 1972 Foreman....

You mean look at how fast Tyson was when he got a second rate fighter hurt... none of these guys can be remotely compared to Foreman, give me a break... none of those guys were half as tough as george, you underrate Georg by saying that or at least not taking in the quality of who he was beating up easily, the moment Mike met real talent, real toughness and guys who could jab hard and have big punches to go along with it, in other words guys with real class he got beat up. Mike just could not take that final step into true greatness, every great he fought, Holyfield and Lewis he was beaten to a pulp, Yeah his personal life helped him to decline as well but Mike's problems as I said before were all his own fault... nearly every boxer has had a hard life and you don't hear them making excuses, it's usually fans that do that. One guy here mentioned he didn't have Rooney in his corner... yep, who's fault ???? Tyson's, because he let King treat him like a child and Mike went along with. It was Mike's fault his prime was short and he should have been a top form when the talented but highly flawed Douglas destroyed him. Buster had far bigger problems in his life but for one night he was... brilliant and very very dangerous. I do feel sympathy for Tyson but it's his life, we couldn't live it for him.

 

Late in his career Tyson went to jeff Fenech his mate and Jeff took over his training and tried to guide him, problem there is that Fenech is very very similar to Mike in most ways so it was like Mike was leading Mike or even Jeff leading Jeff, it was like getting Mike with all his problems and doubling it. What a pair, Fenech seems these days to still be making news for a lot of wrong reasons, there has been more run ins with police but we have not heard half of it.

 

Awesome info. Apparently this has nothing to do with the thread but to each his own.

 

so you are the classic idiot who use mistakes of fighters when they were not in their primes and then you uses it to make a point against them in a prime vs prime fantasy match..." if buster douglas can stop tyson, imagine that could do to him a much harder puncher like foreman.. uh?" was foreman 1972 the version who fought lyle? was lyle 5´10? did tyson have the reach of lyle?
i don´t care a **** about the weight, tyson was packed of muscle and foreman was skin and bone in 1972 and still he was much bigger than tyson, because his frame was bigger. you can put all the muscle what you want, your frame is the same

 

So you're going to call him a classic idiot for this post? Relax Combat! You should be calling the trolls the idiots.

 

You are correct. But '72 Foreman hadn't quite hit his peak yet, so the thread should be a '74 Foreman pitted against an '88 Tyson.

Tyson hadn't faced anyone like a prime George Foreman. But he did face bigger, power punching heavyweights like Bonecrusher, Bruno and Ruddock. And Foreman did fight similar Tyson characteristics in a Joe Frazier. Still, neither Foreman nor Tyson fought anyone close to each other.

An intriguing SuperFight nonetheless.

 

Indeed. Foreman of the Ali fight was scary. Interesting, two devastating body punchers, neither took that much punishment to the body that I recall. How are they gonna react? Foreman took apart small guys, Tyson took apart big guys. Tyson's chin and punch resistance was off the charts so don't underrate him. I go back and forth on who I like.

 

Old fat Foreman and Tyson not firing on all cylinders for the first and totally washed up for the second, had some common opponents.

Lou Saverese and Alex Stewart.

Foreman went life and death with both over the distance looking like raw hamburger meat in the one he could not keep a glass chinned Stewart on the deck and Big Lou traded with him without going down........one can argue that he lost at least one of the two and got a gift decision. Yeah I know he had the name and HBO/Arum $$$ behind him.

Michael Gerard Tyson waxed those two ham and eggers in less than three minutes aka almost a round COMBINED.

 

If you're going to take the Lyle fight to prove anything then to make it fair it should be against the Tyson who fought Douglas. That comment aside l think Foreman would win this fight. I don't see anyone coming forward into Foreman's punching range and beating him, Tyson included. But it's no sure bet either way. If l had to set odds on this fight it would be something like 55-45 in favor of Foreman so a Tyson win wouldn't be a huge upset.

 

For me it really hangs on who controls the centre of the ring. If Tyson can consistently stay on the front foot, he can wreck Foreman.
If he find himself losing ground and momentum, Tyson is in big trouble.

In either instance, major firepower would be thrown. It's always been a fascinating matchup because we have the two most destructive fighters of their eras going at it. And both have advantages over the other.
Really a great 'what if' fight.

 

Yet Tyson was turned into a drunk by Holyfield and Foreman lived to see the final bell.....

 

I think it was at the end of the 9th, when Big George got caught with a classic Holyfield counter right. George was visibly stunned and was in trouble when the bell sounded.
But George did have a great chin.
Morrison bounced some real beauties off his head but they never fazed George.

 

Tyson went 11.5 rounds with Holyfield, Foreman went 12.

Prior to facing Holyfield, Tyson fought in 4 bouts, approx 7 incomplete rounds in 5 years.

Foreman, in the 4 years prior to facing Holyfield had fought in approx 25 fights with approx 80 rounds.

Can you see the difference between an active and an inactive fighter.

 

The only fighter who really tested Tyson before Holyfield was Buster Mathis Jr. And Tyson looked like shat in that one, which Mathis might've had something to do with.

I just remember seeing how badly Tyson's timing and balance were off. And he didn't have any real trainers, just cornermen.

 

And was still bad enough to beat almost anyone in the division. We're talking primes though Tyson of the Spinks or Berbick fight vs Foreman of the Ali fight. Foreman would dominate Tyson physically, but oddly enough Tyson's nice little jab could offset Foreman here. Mike outjabbed superheavies. Someone's getting starched within 6. Any ring articles back in the day on this?