Evander Holyfield vs Mike Tyson, November 18 1991

Holyfield wins it on points after a close fight.

 

Tyson by KO/TKO in mid/late rounds in a competitive bout.

 

Holyfield has Tysons number on speed dial. It's a better fight than '96 but I still think Holyfield would have won that fight.

 

Holyfield by stoppage.

 

The Real Deal had his number beats him 100 times out of a100.

 

I don't know. The way he got rocked by Cooper gives me pause. Plus, he wasn't as big and strong as he would be in 1996.

 

At the time, Tyson would have been the favourite to win and I would have picked him to do it.

Now, I’m sure that Holy would have beaten him.

 

Exactly. A lot of people were predicting Tyson to destroy even despite the Douglas loss. After Evander’s brief troubles with Burt Cooper, it only amplify that sentiment that Tyson would have destroyed him. But like yourself I think Holy still would have won

 

I believe even Holyfield of the Tyson fights would’ve beaten any version of Tyson, he had his number stylistically and was confident in the game plan.
Holyfield opted to go low with Tyson as Tyson closed the distance, and also step in, which closed the substance quick enough so that Tyson couldn’t get any punches off, Holyfield used Tyson’s quick feet and how he closed the distance fast, Holyfield used that against Tyson with the tactics I just mentioned.
Holyfield and Tyson are both very different fighters on the inside, Tyson like to swap punches and to beat you to the punches and overwhelm opponents, and he doesn’t use clinch work, he only uses punches, that was his undoing, Holyfield used his strength and clinch work to not allow Tyson to punch when Tyson wanted to punch, and it also allowed Holyfield to push him off to create space to land punches on Tyson, Tyson wasn’t as good at this sort of thing, but Holyfield was smart to not get into actual trades with Tyson and use his advantage which was his clinch work and strength.
Holyfield was also able to time Tyson’s head movement and anticipate where Tyson was going to be and punch accordingly.
He was also thinking steps ahead of Tyson, whereas Tyson was thinking in the moment, Holyfield would do certain things to draw the mistakes from Tyson, like give him a shove or tap to get him to bite (not literally) then Holyfield was able to counter accordingly, he was more tactical, whereas Tyson was more of a hothead, he let emotion get the better of him in both fights.

 

Holyfield wouldn't be able to KO Tyson but he for sure would've won on points. It would be more of a spectacle than what happened in '96 and '97.

 

The problem I have with this is that the Evander of 91' was kinda smaller and less roided, would he have been able to overpower Tyson in the clinch to nullify his offense? Also, he was still training in the headbutt science and he wasn't so skilled to use 'em that much in order to frustrate Tyson.
I think if a trilogy happened during those years Tyson had not been sent to prison, he would have won at least one match against the Commander.

 

The problem is that Tyson also was bigger and stronger in '96 than '91. He started with weights after prison. The size difference would have been the same in '91 as it was in '96, about 5 lbs.

 

Tyson was sharper in 1991, more ferocious, had better footwork/footspeed and demonstrated arguably some of his best bodypunching.

In 1996, he was more static (especially in the Holyfield fight) and headhunting compared to his pre-prison self.

The few times where Tyson went to the body in 1996 was a success, so I think a 1991 Tyson would definitely use that strategy to a greater extent and overwhelm a very game, but outmatched Holyfield.