1996 - "Tyson Ducked Lewis" ?

That's just crazy talk from crazy people, I rate Holyfield because of those wins.

The only thing I can think of is it's because he went 1-2 with Bowe.
Tyson still had a gas in the tank for Holyfield, a solid win.

Here's my top 15 ATG HW's.

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its tricky with holyfield. because you can use bowe and tyson but he sill lost twice to bowe and the only time he did beat bowe was in the fan man fight which was controverialy because of the circumstances and some thought bowe won that fight too. the tyson fights are his best wins even thought tyson was no longer what he use to, as you said, he still had some left in the tank.

 

I've moved Holyfield around more than any other fighter, extremely hard to place.

 

it simply because he was never a dominant heavyweight like a tyson, or lewis was. although he probably does reate above tyson since tyson couldnt keep it together long enough to really seperate himself from the rest.

 

In an ATG list Holyfield is above Lewis no question.
But on a HW list I rate Lewis higher.

 

Which performances (besides Ruddock)? He was certainly sloppy in the first Rahman fight, but it was more from just being lazy, technically he was all over the place pre Steward, mostly a mess with his balance.

 

From what I understand

The courts ordered it and it was money used to pay Lewis and his handlers for revenues lost for not getting the title shot.

 

Like quite a few posters on here, i was around when all this was going on. And while camps of boths sides can make claim and counterclaim, the general consensus at the time was that Tysons camp were reluctant to fight Lewis for whatever reasons. I dont blame tyson for taking easy money fights as it makes more sense to earn 30-50million fighting a few guys that he'd be really confident of KOing rather than take a chance against a guy who was capable of beating him (in his eyes) for substantially less money. Don King also features heavily here and we all know where his priorities lay. Also the fact that Lewis took him to court, regardless of the official reason for the 4mill awarded, kinda swayed public opinion towards Lewis. If ever there was a perfect case of boxing politics then this was as good an example there is.
As far as Bowe is concerned, i dont think that was politics. I think that he just didnt fancy the fight and lost a lot of respect when he put the belt in the bin. True fight fans are not stupid and seen through that masquarade. Just my two-cents.

 

Here's my question:

Does Tyson get any credit for his knockout of Larry Holmes? What's considered his best victory? Berbick? Spinks? Does he have any? Or is he so highly rated (relatively) because of his dominance of a weak division?

 

Tyson is not given the credit due in my opinion. He didnt dominate a weak division either, he just made a solid division look weak because he was so dominating. A weak division is this current one, and the second half of the 90's.

 

how can you say it ?
the second half of the 90's had :
vitali klitschko , wladimir klitschko , lennox lewis , david tua , chris byrd , evander holyfield , mike tyson , ike ibeabuchi (although just 2 important fights) , oliver McCall , Riddick Bowe
lesser , but still good : kirk johnson , george foreman , larry holmes (these 2 are in the 'lesser' part b/c they were old) , michael grant , lance whitaker , orlin norris , tony tucker (old)

and more

the time around 1992-2002 was the strongest h2h SHW division ever , if anything.
seeing this claim coming from you is a surprise

 

I said the second half of the 90's and a lot of the fighters you mentioned were non factors during that time.

 

like whom ?

 

Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman, and Tyson for the most part. Ibeabuchi fought Tua and Byrd, not in the title mix nor was Mcall, and the Klitschkos didnt become realistic factors in the main title mix until late 99 early part of 2000.