Holyfield-Tyson 1991 - Who wins and why?

Tucker had a good, solid showing against Tyson when Tyson was very dangerous -however, Tyson was, to borrow Peter McNeely's phrase, in his cocoon of love with the D'Amato remnants. Tyson's confidence came from the outside in and his seconds understood his psychology.

Bruno had no intention of winning either of his fights with Tyson. He probably apologized to Tyson every time he accidentally connected.

...and like Conteh already stated, Ruddock was landing one booming shot at a time. The width of Tyson's neck could pass those brief pop quizzes. During grueling exams, Tyson's neck wasn't enough.

 

preperation and stragety had alot to do with it. tyson by 1989, was a fighter who soley relied on power. so you saying he was unable to overcome vs. lewis, holy and douglas has to do more with simply being outsmarted. a good technical boxer will more then likely beat a headhunter. he tried the best he could vs. douglas, but couldnt beat him same with lewis and holyfield. as for the holyfield fight, he bit him because he was losing but also the way he losing. not only was he getting outboxed and outfought but he was getting roughed up. he kind of felt like a victim in a sense and was fustrated but he did want out. you didnt see him take a that route vs. holy I, douglas or lewis becasue he knew he they were better that night. in the bite fight, head clashes and not being able to avoid the inevitable came together to cause the that crazy act. in the end, tyson wasnt aslways sure of himself which caused doubt in his mind but being prepared and being a well-rounded fighter with rooney helped surpress that self-doubt. once he was all alone, you saw what happened. could holyfield bring out that flaw in tyson of 88'. quite possibilty but it not entirely certain.

 

Holyfield has the intelligence to fight Tyson in a manner that diminishes Tyson's momentum. Mike is the grade A example of a downhill fighter. When things are going his way, he will fight with the intention of overwhelming his opponent. Holyfield, was much more likely to fight as the flow of the fight demands it. He wouldn't let any version of Mike Tyson to do what he wanted or try to weather it. Whether it's the occasional headbutt, lateral movement or clinching, Holy will slow down Tyson's engine in the moment to give himself time to regroup and make Tyson do the same.

Eventually, Tyson is going to allow Holy's intentions to affect his own. He'll become less consistent in his defense and offensive attack and Holy will take advantage of it. Holyfield could fight successfully with a counter offense, whereas Tyson wanted to influence his opponent by testing their will to take what Tyson will have to offer.

The difference is, that Holy will do what's necessary to stem the tide that Tyson is comfortable with; and when Tyson settles into a lull, Holy will take advantage of it.

Holyfield UD (8-4)

 

Yes... except that I think that Tyson's technical deterioration happened a little more gradually upon Rooney's exit. I think that without the grounding and discipline of Rooney, he began to believe that hype -that his quick blast-outs would happen with or without an eye on technique and delivery.

His mental approach deteriorated into thug-dom too. At one point in the 90s he said something like "it's me or it's him". That is a huge red flag! "Do or die" is too primitive a statement for a great fighter. A great fighter would say, "do, or find plan B."

What kind of warrior has no contingency plan?? Bums and barbarians.

 

well it goes to show that talent isnt everything . a true atg's prime should not fly by like that. shows that tyson lacked maturity. as for not having a plan b. well you know the man is a straight forward fight. not like he can turn into something hes not. things like more consistence headmovement, going to the body, using the right hand more etc. etc. etc. would have helped him in his losses but at the at of the day, you can't change his style. being tough dosent you need multiple game plans. being smart and being prepared is. tyson lacked the later.

 

Tyson being a swarmer doesnt need much of a plan b aside from being patient and mixing up his attack if he's not doing that already.

What isnt being pointed out is that Holyfield at some point in the fight would get hurt/stunned and in the process his instincts would prompt him to fight back instead of sticking to the game plan and boxing.

In 1991 Evander hadnt gone thru the Riddick Bowe fights which IMO was his biggest learning experience in the HW division. Before those fights his self belief in his resiliance and durability and ability to fight prompted him to slug when he should box. Against Tyson this wouldn't work. Holyfield didnt really headbutt much until he started losing his step. So that won't come in to play and Tyson's endurance was good enough to last him till the end.

Forget the Douglas loss for a second. Tyson respected Holyfield and would train accordingly and would fight accordingly. So had this fight actually happened we would have seen a very good version of Tyson fighting Evander. In the end the decision would have gone to Tyson based on effective aggression.

 

Anyone who gets hit with a FAST 4 punch combination will be shaken. I thought he took the combinations of Douglas very well (until the end when they finally accumulated). Tyson recovered and kept coming. In Holyfield's case - he was heavily concussed from the headbutts (Holy won the fight with his boxing skills & strategy & toughness but without the headbutts I think he'd have gotten a clear UD rather than TKO). George Foreman has a great chin but he seemed heavily staggered by the punches of Muhammad Ali. Anyone hit with fast combinations will be shaken. When he faced Lewis - he couldn't take a punch as well as in his youth because part of being able to take a punch is being in top shape & young so you can recover quickly and so Lewis combinations were even worse for him than they would be in 1990.

 

Some great posts. I'll keep it short and simple. Holyfield would always have handed Tyson his assssssss.

 

The 7th round was the first serious clash in heads but there were headbutts before that. The headbutts slowed him down considerably.

 

Holyfield wins, either by close decision (possibly late TKO).

I reckon this fight would unfold similarly to the '96 bout, though would most likely be a fair bit more competitive approaching the later rounds. Incidently I think Holyfield has Tyson's number at any stage from '91 onwards.