George Foreman vs Mike Tyson early 90s dream fight

I’ve read different things about the matchup and both sides being blamed for not materializing. Foreman himself gave different stories regarding this.

I’d guess a lot of it came down to Tyson being with King and Foreman being with Arum, and Tyson being locked up from 92-95. Don King had offered Foreman the fight, but lowballed him and most likely demanded future options. I think that was a little before they were both on the same card in June 90 with Tyson-Tillman and Foreman-Rodriguez, but it may have been after, I have to check again.

Foreman would be a live underdog, especially with the style of Tyson being a shorter guy coming forward, but ultimately I think Foreman would get hit too much. Foreman’s slower reflexes and having more sensitive skin as he aged would hurt him too much

 

I don't think Mike ever won a fight like that...in fact, I don't think he EVER fought like that.

Once Mike went cautious his game lost minimum 50% effectiveness. As far as dancing around...do you have any specific examples of this, please?

I mean no offense. Really.

 

I'm thinking the Mike who lost to Buster loses bad to Foreman, otherwise...though Mike had significantly diminished after prison, I still see him beating the peak (comeback) Foreman of 1992, 1993.

Buster Mike gets KTFO in 8 at the latest. Otherwise a UD for Mike. I imagine post-prison MIke would lose about as many rounds as Holy did against George.

Of course, if George miraculously manages to back up Mike again and again...

 

He would have given Foreman a significantly worse beating than Morrison did, he had more speed in his left hook than Morrison and arguably a heavier/deadlier right hand post prison as seen in the Botha fight, he still had the ability to unleash combos and he would have gone to Foreman's body more than anyone else Foreman fought

 

Think about it this way. If Holyfield had enough strength to wobble George after repeatedly spamming headshots, imagine what the much harder hitting Tyson would've done. Tyson KO mid-rounds. The only thing that would tip this fight in Foremans favor is Tysons fear of him or if Tyson wants to play a game of trade.

As Moorer found out, playing trade with Foreman is a guaranteed ticket to KTFOville for anyone.

 

Really depends on which version of both guys, but let's say this is Tyson of the Ruddock fights vs Foreman of the Cooney/Holyfield matches since that's the best case scenario realistically. After prison, I don't get give Tyson any chance at all.

Tyson (slugger/counter puncher) vs 90's Foreman (slugger/boxer puncher)


Power: Foreman
Speed: Tyson
Chin: Foreman
Footwork: Tyson
Technique: Tyson
Stamina: Tyson
Ring IQ: Foreman
Defense: Tyson
Accuracy: Tyson
Ring generalship: Foreman
Versatility: Foreman
Combinations: Tyson
Heart: Foreman

7-6 slight edge in Tyson's favor.

I go back and forth on this. On the one hand, Tyson is younger, faster, has more energy, and more polished technique. On paper it seems obvious to favor Tyson. But then you think about the clash of styles, the size difference, and their mentalities and things look a little murky.

Tyson showed a lot of gumption and will to win in the Ruddock fights getting nailed by some vicious bombs in their 2 duels. However, his timing, head movement, and defense were not what they used to be prior to the Douglas beating. He became more and more of a slugger and head hunter with less discipline and ring awareness, sometimes just trying to end things with one big but or combination rather than box. Tyson has all the tools and ability to win, the question is would he have the mental discipline to...? Even if he's in shape and focused, his bad habits combined with Foreman's imposing glacier presence could cause an upset.

I think a lot of people forget Tyson simply cannot fight backing up. He can use angles, shift his weight, move side to side with slight shuffling or movement in spurts, but he has never in his entire career gotten on his bike circling the ring or been able to consistently counter punch off the back foot throughout a fight. As hard as Tyson hits, attempting to engage Foreman aggressively on the front foot is a suicidal ordeal. Not only is Foreman's big, bludgeoning jab going to be in his way, Foreman will be pushing him back and stepping forward or refusing to budge anytime Tyson attempted to get close. Tyson was a momentum based fighter who gained confidence and rhythm when the opponent backed off or stepped to the side. If the opponent won't move, has zero fear, and is strong enough to engage with Tyson, it kills a lot of his momentum. We saw this with Holyfield we also saw with Smith and Bruno that Tyson had trouble with bigger guys who can maul, clinch, or roughhouse him. The difference between Foreman and the aforementioned boxers is he hits far harder and would open up and let his hands go.


Verdict:

I think Tyson can be favored slightly on paper, but I just don't see a realistic scenario where Tyson keeps a cool head "boxing", going in and out, side to side, picking his shots carefully, and keeping a responsible defense from start to finish. If that were to happen, I could see Tyson winning an ugly lopsided decision while having to eat some thumping jabs and uppers before getting his hand raised (especially if the ref penalize Foreman's shoving). Realistically, it is far more likely Tyson doesn't follow the game plan, gets hot headed at some point, and attempts to slug or gets greedy when he has Foreman hurt pressing the issue rather than backing off. It's also possible Foreman psyches him out at the state down or simply breaks Tyson down with his power, framing, experience, and calm demeanor refusing to back up and going into his fortress like guard when hurt letting Tyson lose energy. Gun to my head, Foreman stops Tyson by the 9th round in a very brutal and gruelling battle full of fouls, mauling, huge bombs being launched, etc. Tyson's own bad habits and style fall right into Foreman's hands. If it were the prime, disciplined Tyson of the 80's I would probably be more confident favoring him to win.

 

Dream match? Back in the early 1970's...the public was hoping for a George Foreman-Jerry Quarry fight...Quarry KO's Mac Foster...24 fights...24 KO's....UD over Ron Lyle in 1973...and a first round KO of Ernie Shavers. The word WAS AT THAT TIME...that the Foreman camp wanted nothing to do with Quarry. Jerry's chin...toughness...excellent counter punching...which he used against other punchers...was thought by some writers to be a serious problem for Foreman. And that if the Foreman camp had taken the fight...that it could have ended up like the Mac Foster fight. Would have been a terrific fight...

 

I think he would fight him like he fought Razor Ruddock, win or lose. Tyson would test the waters, then try to find openings. Once he felt confortable, he would go harder, but things could change in a hurry if George tags him and hurts him. I would have loved to have seen that fight, more so now in retrospect because i understand their strengths and weaknesses better than i did at the time.

 

Don King initially wanted to set up Foreman-Tyson for February 1990 in Japan.

The East Coast New York boxing media and press had mocked and denigrated Foremans 1987 comeback unmercilessly from the get go. I have often wondered if the very well connected Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton influenced this. They were the world's biggest fight collectors and extremely friendly with figures like Mike Katz,Seth Abraham,Steve Farhood, Herbert Goldman, Jerry Izenberg etc etc. Cayton and Jacobs lent their fight library to Cus and surely would've been aware of Cus's feelings about George's annihilation of Joe Frazier and his reported feelings about Foremans invincibility against that style. Cayton and Jacobs also wanted to have Mike beat Rocky Marciano's 50-0 record and be the most lucrative athlete of all time . Of course I'm playing devil's advocate here and don't necessarily beleive that. They matched Tyson very hard throughout his 1985-89 run he took on all comers. He fought power punchers like Bonecrusher and Bruno. Boxing stylists like Tucker and Holmes...speedsters? Tubbs and Spinks...awkward big men like Berbick...he ckeaned out a divisio ln. Theres no style and no fighter he avoided.......except a George Foreman....

If the unmotivated out of shape Mike Tyson who lost to Douglas turned up against the Foreman who decimated Gerry Cooney around the same time I see a 6 or 7 round shellacking similar to the Lewis-Tyson fight a dozen years and several lifetimes later.

Ironically some feel the best version of Tyson to fight Foreman may be the post Douglas pre prison Tyson of Summer 1990-Summer 1991....that Tyson had lost his elusive defensive ability and combination ability. But he was hungry as hell, had a granite chin and a fight all night 15 round mentality. He retained his power and most of his speed. I would have to favour Tyson . Foreman struggled with Alex Stewart. In a war of attrition perhaps that Tyson and also the 1987-89 Tyson would be his match and could arguably knockout the 'unstoppable' older Foreman. Many would lean to that.

Otherwise the 1990-91 Foreman would stop any post prison 1995-2005 version of Tyson that I can comfortably assert.

1986-88 Tyson could conceivably patiently pitch and outpoint,stop or knockout Foreman. Foreman struggled with Dwight Muhammad Qawi...but equally he made Bert Cooper quit.Comeback Foreman beat a lot of world class shorter cruiserweight. He never faced anyone of peak Tysons speed,defence and multi handed power . Peak Mike in my opinion is a superior version of Holyfield..faster ,harder punching and with just as much will to win and stamina.

Still in the final analysis I still find myself convinced peak comeback George Foreman had the intimidation powers the abilities to do what only 1 man could to Tyson during his incredible 1985-1991 run.But I dont know.

I also still find myself surprised Forenan didn't hurt the 1991 Evander Holyfield more seriously during their fight .Peak Evader Holyfield was a truly legendary heavyweight who in my opinion would have always beaten a Lennox Lewis. Heck the old worn out one gave him all he could handle.

We never saw Foreman-Tyson so I can't say with any degree of certainty or accuracy what would happen.

I'm more convinced Tyson wouldve beaten Holyfield pre prison.

 

I very much like this write up. It very concisely and with a touch of colour puts forward a very interesting outlook.

 

It would have been a mismatch w Mike taking him out ... George was way too slow.