Emanuel Steward talks about Heavyweight History

So, how many fighters were terrified of Tyson?

Carl Williams certainly was not.

Watch this:

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Was actually coming in here with the purpose of doing a thread on this particular subject, but...

There were two things that especially caught my attention:

Firstly, it was the words he related from Futch about Bowe dropping his belt. That is a really strong indication of a very pruposeful duck job from the Bowe camp. They just didn't think that Bowe, in his prime, would win against a pre-prime Lewis. Of course, it's second hand, but that is the kind of source most used in biographys etc. Much of what's seen as knowledge about historical figures is through second hand accounts.

Secondly, his take on Foreman as a very smart boxer. Because of Zaire people are going to have a very hard time accepting this, but he may just have hit the nail on its head. This may in fact have been Foreman's X-factor.

 

I think he is emphasizing this angle because he believes Foreman deserves more credit there, even if he's not as smart as Ali.

For the record, i agree with you. His fight with Ali may be one of the dumbest strategies in history. But i think Steward was saying that while he looks crude, he's better at getting his punches in that it looks.

I think what he meant was that Lewis could box but could also physically impose himself on the opponent and fight a rough fight. I have no doubt that he could've boxed Tyson in round 1 like he did in 2-8. Tyson was past his best, but he could still fight pretty hard for 4 rounds or so, not just the 1st.

A guy like Wladimir Klitschko could only dream of having the ability to go to war like Lewis could, despite their similarities otherwise.

 

Its funny why people say Tyson had problems with bigger fighters...yes he did, everyone has their own weaknesses... Lewis could get careless, Ali enjoyed eating left hooks etc etc
but then people mention names like Bonecrusher, Tucker, Tillis and Mitch Green...they seem to forget....he beat all of them.
Stylistically taller guys gave him problems, but he still beat them, so to say oh Tyson would lose to (insert name) because he was bigger and not afraid of Tyson is absurd

 

Yes, they lost because they weren´t great fighters. Great fighters with those advantages wouldn´t lose to Tyson. Like Lewis.

 

Lewis could not control the speed of his opponents pressure? I think for most of his career he decided when and where to engage. Lewis size, power, and jab controlled the action, and on the inside he was a top clincher, a rule bender, and had a heck of an uppercut.

Tyson only had one round in him, and went back to his corner saying he was hurt after the first round.

 

Wasn't it you who argued that Foreman didn't make a big mistake in not setting his punch up with a jab etc in that fight? In a discussion with Unforgiven, I think it was.

 

Here it is:

I was with Eddie Futch and Eddie Futch said that was a decision that he made. He felt that as good as Bowe was, he still felt that Lennox was still mentally and physically too strong and if they had fought, that what happened in the ’88 Olympics would have happened in the professional fight—that Lennox would have still just overpowered Bowe at a certain point. So it was his recommendation that Bowe give up the (WBC) title rather than fight Lennox.