Did Tyson really duck Lewis in 96?

Business works according ot the rules of the business.

In the business of boxing, a mandatory goes to purse bids with the challenger accepting a fixed percentage and the champ accepting a fixed percentage.

The challenger doesn’t have to accept less than the fixed percentage (or getting screwed by Don King) because you or the promoter say ‘we think he’s worth this.’ He’s worth exactly the 25% or 35% of the winning purse bid BY DEFINITION. So if that’s less than $13.5M as you claim, why didn’t King jump at the chance to go to purse bids, lol? He’d be getting the fight cheaper.

But the fact is, HBO and Lennox’s promoter were willing to bid whatever it took to outbid King. That’s the free market at work. King wanted no part of the free market (where he’d have to actually fork over the entire purse bid to escrow rather than promise $13.5M and then hand Lewis $3M and say ‘sorry chump’ like he did to Tyson and so many others).

King doesn’t get to decide how much Lewis gets if it goes to purse bid. Can you not understand that? The rules don’t say ‘mandatory challenger must accept whatever promoter of champion thinks he’s worth as long as he gets an offer higher than his previous high purse.’ It says ‘if the parties can’t agree to a contract (they did not, and Lewis’ side gave them a number to meet to avoid purse bids and Tyson’s side did not meet it), it goes to purse bids and the champion and challenger split the purse on the percentage basis outlined in our rules.’

 

Then why did Mike Tyson sue Don King alleging he stole $100M from Tyson — by not paying what he agreed to pay?

You’re basically saying Lewis should have taken whatever pittance King threw his way, because in no way was he going to pay Lewis in full (unless it went to purse bids where the money is paid out of escrow rather than by King).

https://www.murphyfalcon.com/result...-king-sued-by-mike-tyson-for-fraud-and-theft/

I can fill this thread with lawsuits where it was established in court that King did not pay what he agreed to pay.

 

Ok so, King went to court to get Lewis stripped of the belt but Lewis didn't go to court to get Tyson stripped?

Thee ONLY heavyweight fight anyone wanted to see was a Lewis-Vitlay rematch. Good money would've been made, yeah?

 

You mean how Lewis couldn't duck one single shot from McCall, someone Douglas beat with ease? Or the one hit wonder Hasim Rahman whose claim to fame was shattering LL's chin with a single shot? That's all it takes to put Lennox on his back, face down azz up.

 

Then Tyson "ducking" Lewis has never been proven either. Goes both ways.

 

And yet he beat Tyson with such ease …

 

It established that Ruiz was not a duck, but no one has still made any really viable argument for that Byrd wasn't a duck imo. Only that Byrd wasn't the outstanding challenger like say Wills and Liston back in the day, but the same goes for Lewis in '96. And the fact remains that Lewis dropped a belt to sign with a lower ranked challenger instead of facing Byrd.

 

Lewis went to court, hence he got 4 million to wait out until Tyson beats Seldon, lol.

Yeah, but why do that if you just beat your man to the pulp and wanted to retire anyway.

 

But it took twice as long as Danny Williams, right?

 

Not as easy as one shot on the gipper, by Tyson's punching bag sparring partner. That's all it took, one shot! And two times in his career at that.

 

Lennox got $4 mill to cover court costs to get his shot. Remember? He didn't want King's offer of $13 mill and yet Holyfield stepped to the plate.

Class act, your hero Lenny is...

 

Don King was calling the shots & he wanted the easy payday against Holyfield first before the tougher challenges. And often overlooked is the fact that Lewis very readily accepted the step aside rather than forcing the fight.

 

I will say that the Douglas - McCall fight wasn't exactly with ease, Oliver had James rattled a couple times, and it was still a good, tough challenge for Buster, even though he ended winning quite handily. McCall was one of those men who could ruin your record if you didn't take him seriously- There was a lot of guys like that back then.

 

If you agree that Tyson ducked Lewis, then Lewis also ducked Ruiz.
He signed before the unification with Holyfield to fight after that the n°1 WBA contender (Akinwande, who was sick) OR the leading available contender (Ruiz).
And it was Lewis who started the legal battle with Don King, not the other way around. Don King was on his right legally speaking.
Contractually, it was not possible for Lewis to fight Grant (more marketable challenger but ranked n°5 by the WBA) and at the same time, keeping the belt (because Ruiz wasn't willing to wait like Lewis in 1996).

 

I can't blame him for not wanting Don King's 13 million dollar offer (which wasn't confirmed by both sides btw.) Going to purse bids was a good option. Mike didn't want 45 million he was offered either.