Holyfield vs Tyson, 1991

Going into the fight, Holyfield was seen as washed up and a no-risk fight. He looked **** in his matches and was a 22-1 underdog for a reason. In hindsight, he pulled off one of his career best efforts, particularly strategy-wise, but going in, it was all Tyson. Only when he lost, he was shot, past his best, etc.

 

Holyfield wins at any stage post 1990. Against any version of Tyson before that it becomes extremely interesting. I think an '87/'88 Tyson should be slighty favoured to outpoint Evander or stop him late.

 

I don't believe this to be totally 100% correct. I think there'd be a definite case if you took the best attributes from the 1992 and 1996 versions of Evander and combine them in the same fighter, but it doesn't work that way. If you take the early 90's Holyfield, he just seemed willing to slug it out against naturally bigger fighters and harder punchers too often for me to outright favour him against the maurading late 80's Tyson. Whilst the 1996 version was strategically better, would he have survived the heavy combinations and sharper, deadlier pre 'Buster' Tyson - I'm not totally convinced.

Tyson has to go down as the better HW too in my opinion. P4P wise Holyfield wins.

 

I can just see Holyfield outgutting Tyson and winning the battle of wills. Tyson had his moments in their fights but Holyfield simply refused to wilt or go away.

One reason i like him here is that he was one of very few that had the balls and genius to bomb away at various times when Tyson did. Most went defensive and we saw what happened to the majority. This put much onus back on Tyson's own mental and physical will and endurance as he had to take his share for once. He went oodles of fights while barely being hit solid at all. Heck, it was big news if someone so much as fazed him or stopped his forward progress for a slit second, as Bruno and Tucker did.

To beat Holyfield when he was up you had to go to extreme depths and i just don't think Tyson can quite get there with him.

 

I think Evander was a smarter fighter in '96 than he was in '91. He was still trying to get out of Tyson's shadow and was fighting like a guy wanting to prove he could hack it with the heavyweights, sometimes fighting with his heart more than his brain.

But his self-belief throughout his career about being able to defeat Tyson was tremendous, and I think he could impose his will over Mike and intimidate him still. The '91 Tyson puts up a tougher fight but I think Holyfield could put him in his shell and keep him there to score a point victory (say around 8-4).

 

I go for Holyfield, his physical peak here for me. Mixes it up beautifully and breaks Tyson down. Unlike all the others, mentally too strong.
He has gotta keep his head though.

 

The Holyfield that fought Tyson was the best version of Holyfield to fight Tyson, imo. Not neccessarily other ATG's, but for Tyson it was.

Holyfield in 96 had the experience of all of his title fights and the Bowe trilogy. Younger Holyfield had better reflexes, and was certainly faster but wasn't nearly as strong, didn't fight with his head (literally and figuratively ) and wasn't as durable as the 215-220 older one.

For Tyson, Holyfield fought the perfect tactical fight to beat him. He tied him up and didn't allow him to unload on him from mid range, was able to rough him up because he was the stronger man, and didn't stand and trade with him. Younger Holyfield wouldn't of kept his head against Tyson and would of got into a slugfest like he did vs. Bowe, and would of got bombed out. And even if he did keep his head, the 205 Holyfield wasn't going to be strong enough to tie Tyson up and shove him around the ring like the bigger, stronger older one did and tire Tyson out.

I think the younger Holyfield was the clearly greater fighter, but the more measured Holyfield of 96 would of been the better bet than the younger version against ATG punchers.

Stylewise Holyfield was always going to be a rough night for ANY version of Tyson though, and stands a better chance than most of beating the 86-88 Tyson.

 

who was the favorite going into the fight at 4 to 1 odds?

 

In 1991? I'd pick Holyfield, but probably on a points decision.

 

How about the odds for another famous bout?


"The betting odds which had opened at 3-1 for Holmes soon dropped to 2-1 then 9-5. The day after Ali sparred 36 minutes without a rest the odds had dropped again, this time to 8-5. By fight time the odds would be 6 ½ -5 ½ in favor of Holmes."


Sometimes even the bookmakers don't have access to vital facts and they certainly don't have the perspective given to us by the passage of the years.

Hindsight makes geniuses of us all,but it doesn't mean we should dispense with it.

 

In 91 it's a hard pick. Tyson against Ruddock was better than against Douglas but fought in spurts and was a headhunter.

I'd pick Holy by late stoppage, but it would be more competitive than their actual fight.

 

Agreed,

I remember waiting in anticipation for that match and hoping to God that Holyfield wasn't going to be pummeled. Anyone who had seen his third match with Riddick Bowe, along with his fights against Moorer and Cyz had every reason to think that he was done for. He was 34 years of age, and though Tyson was on the comeback trail, Evander had actually fought less in the previous year leading up to the fight. There were many fans and experts who thought that he should have stayed retired.