How Anticipated Was Tyson V Holyfield 1, For You?

I was expecting his first fight in 5 years. Turned out to be one of the greatest nights of boxing ever imo.

Michael Brodie and Duke McKenzie were picking Holyfield to win, though McKenzie bottled it and changed his pick like 2 days before the fight.

 

I remember people being worried about Evander . Wrong

 

I wouldn’t say I necessarily favoured Holyfield but I didn’t discount him - he was a fair chance but his recent run perhaps dimmed a lot of prognostications.

But then I didn’t see Tyson’s loss to Douglas as the anomaly many believed it to be. Not that Buster or Evander fought alike - just that Holyfield made a whole career out of the determination and focus that Buster exhibited in particular in that one fight in Tokyo.

If Evander had lost - then he too could’ve optioned to fall back on this excuse and that excuse - contextually Evander was at least as handicapped as anyone could claim Tyson to have been at that point in their careers - if not more so.

Despite prior ups and downs, Holyfield reset and always came to win. It’s the manifest victories that count, not the woulda shoulda couldas - and Evander already had plenty of those manifest victories under his belt, despite some troughs in between - at the very least, Evander was not going to lose to mere adversity.

 

If you keep on saying that you might start believing it, Holyfield and Lewis were already

If you keep on saying all that you might start believing it!

 

That's it? That's the best you got? Where's the Wass I used to know? The one I put on ignore all those years back!?

 

You put me on ignore, I'm flattered.

Nah, I think Holyfield was always a better and smarter fighter than Tyson, let's not remember, we didn't see the best version of Holyfield when he faced Tyson IMO.

 

I don't think Holy could have kept his Warrior self at bay if he'd fought Mike in the 80s. He'd have been led by Mike into a firefight, and I don't see Holy making it out of that.

 

I went off the rails and took a jab at Wass with that post. Although I do believe Tyson beats Holyfield in a battle of primes, their 1991 bout is 50/50. I envision both guys winning but lean towards Tyson with my main reason being Holyfield didn't have that big fight heavyweight experience yet.

Holyfield's work rate was better back then and dude was always on his toes. Problem being his power wasn't top shelf but his accuracy was.

Beating Foreman is one thing, beating a still formidable Tyson is another.

 

I was really looking forward to the fight and i actually picked Holyfield to win, people thought i was crazy beyond belief, i followed both of their careers and there was something about EH that told me MT does not need this guy right now or at all, i did not buy into all the British hype about Holyfields heart and the scare mongering that he may be killed in the ring etc etc.

The fight panned out just as i thought it would, and whilst many were shocked with the result i certainly was not, i spent about a fortnight telling folk they DKSAB!!!

 

He wouldn't need to keep it fully at bay, the warrior would need to show itself in the bout and that would be too much for Tyson to handle, never before would he have faced such resilience and will to win.

 

It would have been a heavyweight championship fight like nobody has ever seen.

 

I love Holy and want to believe that.

Holy tended to get hit a lot in Warrior mode.

 

And, he had a granite set of whiskers, you don't go swimming and expect not to get wet.

He walked through all of Tyson's shots in reality, the proof is in the pudding.

 

No he didn't walk through all of Tyson's shots. There were a few shots that stunned Holyfield but Tyson couldn't throw in rapid combinations like he used to. Holyfield's been hurt by lesser punchers.

Holy's gone on record saying Tyson pre prison was difficult to figure out and became much slower and predictable by 1995/96.

Holyfield had a great chin but it wouldn't matter if you're trading with a bomber like Tyson. The best thing to do is clinch and stunt Tyson's offense, frustrate him and pick your counters wisely. Holy never showed that by 1991 and didn't fight at a measured pace until the Bowe rematch in 1993.

Not sure if there were guys like David Tua and Gary Bell to emulate Tyson during sparring. Duva and Benton could bring in Dwight Muhammad Qawi but he wasn't even a heavyweight and I doubt he'd spar. Maybe Bert Cooper? But I doubt he'd be reduced to a sparring partner then as well.