Foreman (1994) vs Tyson (1996)

Find a nice, quiet place to sit down now :rofl

 

A lot of people talk about how Tyson wanted no part of Foreman, because Cus told him a come-forward fighter would never beat Foreman. Perhaps rightfully so, but let's be honest, how large is the chance of Foreman wanting to fight Tyson?

He made it clear that he wanted absolutely no part of Bowe and Lewis, and thought Holyfield/Morisson/Moorer would be more "beatable" champions.
Remember that before Holyfield beat Tyson, Tyson was still seen as near-invincible, in the ring he'd shown no signs of weak mentality at all yet and the Douglas loss was seen as a fluke. I strongly doubt Foreman at any point would've want to fight Tyson.

 

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I believe Foreman would knock Tyson out.

Tyson could win if he runs and boxes all night very cautiously, like Tommy Morrison did.
Because the old man Foreman was SO DAMN SLOW that almost anyone could beat him with the run-rabbit-run strategy (Even Axel Schulz did it, remember, and George needed the judges to rob the German that night).

Still, I never saw Tyson run and box cautiously all night against anyone, and I think the 1996 version had less patience and less intelligence that the 1980s version.
So he's gonna get into a fight trying to KO big George, and Foreman would pummel him.

 

After so many of Big George's wins during his second career, he would continually rev up his partisan fans with "I want Tyson, I want Tyson!" and continually would hype that matchup in post fight television interviews in the ring, repeating over and over that Tyson was too accustomed to being the predator in the squared circle, rather than the prey. Why did Tyson never take Foreman up on these lucrative challenges which the fans clearly wanted to see happen as badly as George? Simply because scared little Mikey had no prayer of beating Foreman, and everybody at the time knew it.

Considering how the weaker and smaller Bonecrusher Smith completely smothered Tyson with no difficulty whatsoever (and would unquestionably have knocked Tyson out if that one had been scheduled for the 15 round championship distance, just as he did Frank Bruno in ten) what's going to happen when George starts effortlessly and casually tossing frightened Mikey around like a little rag doll? This would be the proverbial man versus boy mismatch, and Tyson knew it as well as George. Foreman took Cooney's best hook coming forward, and no power punch in Tyson's petty little arsenal had anything to measure up to it. (I'd still like to see George get Mikey into the ring, but only if Foreman was granted immunity from prosecution for homicide.) All George would need to do, is plant his mitts on the little man's convenient shoulders, and keep him shoved away at arm's length. If itty bitty Mikey somehow managed to get closer inside, the lumbering giant would simply shove him back outside again.

At some point, Tyson might connect flush with the hardest punch he could ever possibly deliver, as Foreman walks right into it, and continues his inexorable advance. Then, midget Mikey would begin looking for a soft spot to lie down in.

Of course, itty, bitty Mikey might do something dumb to make George mad, like trying to bite him. If an incident like that takes place, then a hearse will be needed at ringside to cart away scared, stupid little Mikey.

Widdle bitty Mikey was easily pushed around by overblown cruiserweight Holyfield, who could never force Foreman to take a backward step. What kind of chance would this short little critter have in a contest where every single backwards move made is his? Foreman shoved the much bigger Tommy Morrison all over the place.

Tyson would eventually quit out of fear and frustration.

 

Some very astute observations here Deen.. :good

 

I'm starting to feel a Rooster - Leonard thang here duo

 

Now you're just trying to stereotype me. (Stick around. I'm sure Rooster and I can find some issue to launch at each other about, just for your entertainment, JT. You'll find me perfectly capable of acting as an equal opportunity offender.)

 

George kept trying to hype a fight with Tyson for all of those years because he couldn't actually get that fight through merit. He tried to publicize his way into it with clever quotes, soundbites, and wins against inferior opposition. If George had to go through a legitimate contender to get into the ring with Tyson, the fight never would have happened anyway.

You can tell a lot about what a figther thinks of his abilities by judging his level of competition.

 

I can say Tommy Morrison was able to completely outbox, outpunch, and outfight Foreman as well. If Smith had no difficulty how come he lost nearly every round of the 12 round fight?

 

For the exact same reason Smith lopsidedly lost nine of the first nine rounds against Frank Bruno, simply because he did not try. (The only difference betwixt Smith/Bruno and Tyson/Smith is that Smith finally got uncorked earlier in the tenth and final round against Bruno, whereas he waited until the very end of round 12 to rock Tyson. If Smith had begun round 12 against Tyson the way he began round ten against Bruno, he would have unquestionably dropped Mikey for the ten count well before that final round was over, exactly as he did to Frank. Nonetheless, I wholeheartedly grant that Smith should have been disqualified for not trying halfway through both matches, and had his purse forfeited each time. What Ali did against Foreman, and what Weaver did against Tate is not the same thing.)

 

I wait with baited breath.

 

any George loses to 80s mike

 

I guess we found the overlap of people who overrate old Foreman to big up Morrison and underrate post prison Tyson to downgrade Evander's win.