Did Tyson really duck Lewis in 96?

From a Jose Sulaiman statement in 1996 :
« The WBC was informed later that promoter Don King and Lewis representative Panos Eliades had reached an agreement for the Tyson vs Lewis fight. The fight was to be held in March, 1997, and would have paid Lewis $15-18 million (which included the step-aside fee for the Seldon and Holyfield fights).

We were also informed that this agreement could not be finalized because the HBO network had an exclusive promotional deal with Lewis, and would not accept the fight unless Lewis was to fight Riddick Bowe first, another fighter promoted exclusively by HBO, and fulfill other commitments.

"Consequently, the Tyson vs Seldon fight was held and the WBC was later informed by Tyson's attorneys that he would relinquish the WBC title, to our extreme disappointment and sadness. The WBC Board of Governors voted, very reluctantly, to vacate the heavyweight title. No one on the Board could accept or understand why Tyson's championship was lost on the desk of a judge rather than in the ring. The WBC will always profoundly suffer due to this decision, which we consider a miscarriage of justice and an insult to the sport of boxing.

"It's very ironic that while Lewis sought an opportunity to fight Tyson, and succeeded in forcing him to relinquish the title due a court's ruling, he apparently never had the ability to accept the fight because of his exclusive promotional agreement with HBO." ».

 

It was Don King who orchestrated it.

He had control over Mike.

Mike would have fought anybody.

It was just a very simple business decision.

Don wanted 2 huge PPV’s against Evander.

So fighting Lennox beforehand, could have thrown a huge spanner in the works.

From Don’s perspective, Lewis was a far more dangerous fight, for less PPV. And if Mike had lost, people would have wanted to see Lewis fight Evander instead.

Don’s plan was to hold off Lennox at any cost, to get the Evander fights.

If Mike had beaten Evander, we’d have seen the Lewis fight years earlier.

Don would have had a 2 fight deal with Lennox in the late 90’s.

That would have been 4 huge PPV’s for King Promotions.

So it was just business, with Don moving the chess pieces in his favour.

 

King offered Lewis $13.5 mill and ended up paying for LL's court fees which were $4 mill. The leftover money was offered to Holyfield who stepped up and beat Tyson in the ring.

Stop your Tyson bashing. It's old hat.

 

I'm just stating facts. Tyson has been bashed around enough, I don't need to do it.

 

No I just stated the facts. You're misinformed and just parroting what you've heard others say here.

 

Fact is, Tyson gave up a heavyweight championship rather than fight Lennox Lewis.

You can dance around it all you want, but it doesn’t change that this is exactly what happened.

 

And Holyfield gave them both hell. Although I guess that one might be predicted. Anyone relying on power and physicality is going to have a rough time with Holyfield. The easiest defeat of him would have been by a slickster (I tend to think a prime Holmes would have comfortably beaten him and made it look easy, based off how their actual fight went).

 

If you’ve been raised to think a prime Foreman would be your kryptonite due to size, reach, and power, you can’t look at Lewis and think “I’ve got this”.

size? Check. Lewis was 20lbs heavier than a prime Foreman. And a bit taller.
Reach? Check. Lewis has an extra 5in reach over Foreman
Power? Check. Lewis is not Foreman, but Tyson saw Lewis blast out enough guys to know that Lewis is on his own level in terms of power (at least with his right, left id argue no).

I get it. Pretty easy to get why he’d be like “no thanks” to that one.

 

From this source, dated the 8th of September 1996 : https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/09/08/forget-the-ring-real-heavyweight-bout-pits-king-abraham/

« Sources on both sides of the negotiation acknowledge the deal was offered and that Lewis’ manager, Panos Eliades, accepted, only to be told by Abraham that HBO held a contract that bound Lewis to the cable network and that he would not allow Lewis to fight on rival Showtime unless King agreed to four concessions. (...)

They thought I’d say no but I said yes,” King said. “Now HBO says it wants the replay rights to go up for bid and they want a rematch clause for an HBO fight if Lewis wins. I agreed to all that and they still won’t let Lewis accept. (...)

WBC president Jose Sulaiman (...) added he is powerless to overrule the courts or to broker a deal that HBO is blocking. (...)

Many people close to Lewis and his fellow heavyweights involved in this mess have corroborated the essence of King’s claims.

“King has tried to make this happen,” one Lewis associate said. “He’s holding all the cards but he offered a fair deal. The problem is Lennox signed that new deal with HBO before the (Ray) Mercer fight and it binds him forever, for all practical purposes.”

Tyson has now offered Lewis three opportunities to fight him (last March, July 13 and now next June 21) and been unable to get him to accept.

The only out Lewis has in his HBO contract is if a Tyson fight goes to purse bids, which Showtime has refused to allow because it cannot win. Yet such a bid would net Lewis 25 percent of the expected $60 million bid, or a million less than King has already offered him. King has also said Lewis could take an interim fight while Tyson was facing Holyfield and Moorer.
(...)
“Now he wants to fight McCall, who knocked him out, for $2 million when he could be knocked out by Tyson for $16 million. I can’t believe this. ».

 

The fact that Lewis sued to get Mike in the ring should say it all, King wanted no part of Lewis and given the bigger fight with Holyfield and easier opponent (many believed Holy to be washed up) you can understand why

Even if they fought in 96 Tyson wasn't the same fighter from the 80's and it would have been a dominating Lewis performance

 

You should read the link I posted in my comment above.
Lennox was offered 16 million and refused.

 

It's not just about the numbers being offered King's contract was if Lewis won he would become a King fighter something Lennox had no interest in

 

The link stated that it was King who was willing to give options to HBO, not the other way around.

Edit : here is the proof ;
« Abraham demanded that HBO be paid its normal distribution fee for the pay-per-view event even though Showtime would handle it and that the fee come out of Lewis’ $16 million; that Lewis fight Riddick Bowe first; that HBO get the replay rights; and that HBO be given five options on IBF welterweight champion Felix Trinidad, another King fighter, including a guaranteed bout with WBC champion Pernell Whitaker.
“They thought I’d say no but I said yes,” King said. “Now HBO says it wants the replay rights to go up for bid and they want a rematch clause for an HBO fight if Lewis wins. I agreed to all that and they still won’t let Lewis accept. »

 

King was all about control and he would never allow Lewis near Tyson if it meant he couldn't control Lewis' career after, this is something Lennox and other fighters have all stated as facts

If you were Lewis and knew King stole and cheated his fighters you have every right to refuse doing business long term with such a snake and in hindsight it proved to be the right call just look at what Tyson says about King there was a video doing the rounds few years ago where Don tried to shake Mike's hand but he refused and he threw water at him

 

Why then Lennox worked with King on other occasions ?
I have edited my previous post.