How would the 1996 version of Tyson fare against the Klits?

Tyson would beat Wladimir in early rounds but Vitali could out last him

 

They have taken on the best but the division is weak. This weak competition does not indicate how the Klits would do against Tyson.

When Vitali stepped up competition and fought an out of shape and out of prime, he got beaten even though he had some good moments in the fight.

 

You answered your own question. There is noone that was even on the level of a 96 Tyson with exception to a 38 year old Lennox Lewis, fighting an uncharacteristic fighting style, and he still made Vitali fall apart. This was Tysons fighting style always. He would crush both Klitschkos. They would both fall apart like deer in headlights.:admin

 

Tyson went 10 or so rounds in the first fight in 96, the Tyson we are discussing, plus the Klitschkos would never fight Tyson the way Holy did, wasnt their style. Brewster, Sanders, Purrity, and Lewis did it with PRESSURE. Yeah they took a lot of punishment because they arent that great of fighters, but they stuck to the pressure and eventually they folded, because neither brother is a good physical fighter. If you dont think the 96 version of Tyson could do what a 38 year old Lennox Lewis could do, fighting a style that he is not a comfortable with, your nuts. Truth is both brothers would crumble by mid rounds.
Yes they have improved their boxing skills, but they havent been in and won the type of physical fight that Tyson would be bringing. The fighters that they lost to arent capable of bringing the type of physical fight Tyson would, so how you can just automatically assume they would be able to handle it?
Holyfield is an all time top ten heavyweight champion who fought in many physical fights against much bigger men. Just because hes smaller doesnt mean he doesnt have the physical tools to compete with anyone. He was a complete fighter and there's a reason that during his prime he didnt lose to guys on the level of Ross Purrity or Lamon Brewster or Corrie Sanders. More proof there is no lucky punches, especially three times.

 

LMAO at the suggestion that a '96 Tyson stops Vitali. It is widely acknowledged that Lewis hits harder than Tyson, yet he was unable to stop Vitali coming forward. People may say that Lewis took Vitali apart - that is utter BS! The doc stopped that fight, you only have to look at Vitali's reaction to the decision to see that he didn't fold. Hell, Sanders couldn't even drop Vitali, let alone stop him, and he hit Vitali with more firepower than a '96 Tyson could ever do.

Fact is, Vitali has never been down, nor stopped. He has a knock out percentage of over 90%. That isn't a record of someone who isn't a physical fighter. Vitali can tear it up with the best of them.

As for Wlad, a '96 Tyson gets his ears boxed off, but would still have a slim, punchers chance.

Vitali outfights Tyson.
Wladimir outboxes Tyson.

 

Widely acknowledged that a 38 year old Lewis hits harder than a 31 year old Tyson? By who Klit fans?
The doc stopped the fight because his face was falling off!! Those cuts didnt magically appear on Vitali's face did they? Vitali would have been knocked out, he was very close.
a 90 year old Sanders hit harder than Tyson??atsch:rofl:rofl

 

Yes, Lewis clearly hit harder than a '96 Tyson - that is beyond question.

As for the cuts against Lewis - that proves what exactly? Look back to the cut on Ricky Hatton when he fought Jon Thaxton - was Thaxton ever a better fighter than Hatton?

When was Klitschko nearly knocked out by Lewis? Give me a round? Lewis didn't have Vitali anywhere near being knocked out at any point in that fight - you need to watch it again before making such ludicrous comments! And whilst your watching that fight, look how Vitali pushed Lewis around the ring. Vitali overpowered Lewis, stood toe to toe with him and come out on top of nearly every exchange - this is why he was ahead on the scorecards. Watch the fight again and tell me that Vitali can't fight a physical fight.

And yes, Corrie Sanders hits a hell of a lot harder than a '96 Tyson. Whilst Sanders wasn't a particularly good boxer, he is widely regarded as one of the best punchers in recent heavyweight history. Hasim Rahman has even gone on record stating that Sanders hits harder than Lewis, so yes, your argument is severely flawed.

 

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Thats funny, because Rahman actually got up and knocked out Sanders, who by the way has a record against a large group of nobodies and who you seem to think is some dynamo.
Rahman on the other hand was laying flat out unconscious when Lewis landed on him.
As far as Lewis and Vitali, we're talking about a six round fight where Lewis turned up the heat and started landing on Klitschko. As the rounds progressed he landed more and more. It was becoming easier to hit Vitali and thats the difference. Vitali was hurt and getting discouraged and on his way to getting knocked out. It wasnt an unlucky headbutt or elbow, it was an accumulation of punches that started breaking down Vitali, making him more stationary and easier to hit. It would have led to an eventual stoppage either way.

 

Let's get one thing straight - I don't rate Sanders, and I certainly don't think he is some 'dynamo'. I never said that he was a 'dynamo'. So, let's disregard our opinions of fighters for one second, and get on to the issue of you insinuating that I said something which I clearly didn't say - go and reread my post, and if you feel compelled to reply to something that I stated, go ahead, feel free. I would ask you however, to keep your opinions of comments that you have fabricated in your head, about me, to yourself as they simply aren't needed.

Now, back to the boxing. Rahman has gone on record as stating that Sanders hits harder than Lewis - who are you to argue? Have you been hit by both men? If not, you are unqualified to judge who hits harder. Yes, we can look to the fights with Rahman, but again, this would be a flawed judgement as styles make fights - you could even make the argument that Rahman knocked Lewis out first time around, but i'm not going to use that argument as we would be getting side tracked. In the second fight, Lewis used his superior boxing skills and took Rahman apart, and eventually finished him off - there was a clear difference in levels between these two. Sanders on the other hand, was nowhere near Lewis' level as a boxer, and consequently couldn't maintain the same sort of punishment as Lewis did. There's also the issue of punch resistance to take into consideration - at no point have I suggested that Sanders punch resistance was on par with Lewis'. Once again, Rahman has stated that punch for punch, Sanders is the harder puncher - if you have an issue with this statement, take it up with Rahman.

Lewis - Vitali. You suggested that Lewis nearly ko'd Vitali, I asked you at what point was Vitali nearly ko'd, you have failed to answer. You have chosen to come back with a 'forecast' of how the fight was going to end - who are you, Nostradamus? Can I have your lottery numbers? Who's going to win between Manny and Cotto, what round, what time, what punch? At no point was Vitali any more broken down that Lewis was - this was a heavyweight fight between two men who weighed in at over 250lbs, and your going on about Vitali's tiredness after round 6 - that's nothing to do with being hit, it's called being ****ed!! Lewis was completely gassed by the third round, but he kept on fighting, just as Vitali kept on fighting when he was tired. Let me ask you something, have you ever boxed? If so, are you moving as well in the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth rounds as you did in the first? Find me a heavyweight who doesn't slow down as the fight progresses.

I, unlike you, aren't stating for one minute that I knew how that fight would have went if the doc didn't stop it, for me, it was too close to call. What I do have an issue with is you stating that a 31 year old Tyson (who was completely untrained at this stage in his career, he states this in his movie) hits harder than Lewis, and your statement that Vitali was nearly ko'd by Lewis - we only need to watch the fight to see that if anyone was nearly ko'd in that fight, it was Lewis in the second round - aside from this point, neither man was ever in any major trouble. Anything which 'could' have happened after the stoppage is simply an unqualified opinion, and you know what they say about everyone having an opinion!

 

Tyson beats both, if sam peter can touch you, tyson will touch you and knock you out.
Vitali has a good chance to beat a 96 tyson, but its 50/50, you need to be smart to have beaten tyson in 96 regaurdless of how faded he was.

 

Lewis was close to the KO in round 6!!!!!!!!! Thats why Vitali's face was falling off. I already told you he was getting hit more and becoming more stationary. Thats how Im sure it was going to end in a KO win for Lewis.
I would love to see this quote by Rahman. How can he say that when he was unconscious by one guy and got up from another?? It has nothing to do with their boxing style, it has to do with their power. Both guys landed substantial straight punches on Rahman.
Im just going to say I dont agree with your assessment of these fighters. Sanders had some power in his punch yes, but he became grossly overated after taking out Klitschko. He really has no substantial wins or KO's over fighters who were difficult or never knocked out. His record consists of a laundry list of mediocre to crappy fighters. Using him as some barometer to a big puncher on the elite level of heavyweight boxing is not really possible. His biggest win is over Wlad. He knocked Rahman down, but Rahman had been knocked out a few times already and didnt have a stellar chin.
Like you said styles make fights. Tyson still brought a brawling style with a lot of speed and power behind it and maybe not stellar defense, but certainly better than the guys that the Klitschkos had problems with including the 38 year old Lewis. Regardless of the giant puncher you think Sanders is (and I disagree with), Tyson still punched faster and was harder to hit, so he would be buried in both Klitschko's chests until they crumbled.

 

As for my personal views on this topic:

I believe Mike Tyson was one of the best pressure fighters in the heavyweight division, utilizing a lot of upper body movement which you dont really see in a modern day heavyweight of today, you see movement but not with the same angle or speed that Tyson used, he'd muscle in on either of the klits quite easily compared to the guys that have the tough assignment of doing these days, and i think and with the huge shots he could put out there i see him catching either one of the brothers with some big shots. I think they would both get KO'd, even Vitali with the stronger chin.

 

Ok, it's clear that we are poles apart on our opinions of all things Klitschko, Lewis, Tyson et al, so we will have to agree to disagree, but I will leave you with something to ponder. If Tyson was so hard to hit in 1996, how did Holyfield land so many punches on him? Tyson 'had' great head movement a long time ago, before he was incarcerated. Following his release he was a shot fighter - his record proves this: 16 fights, 2 nc's and 5 losses. The losses were to Holyfield, Lewis, Danny Williams and Kevin McBride. I'll focus on the Lewis and Holyfield fights and the Williams and McBride fights were when Tyson was well and truly past it. If you watch the Holyfield fights, you will see that Holyfield overpowered Tyson in the exchanges - if Holyfield could push Tyson around, what do you thing the Klitschko's would do to him in the clinches - Tyson would tire alarmingly from trying to fend them off, if he stayed and range, he would have got picked off as he no longer had any head movement. Regarding the Lewis - Tyson fight, here we have a fighter of similar stature, physically weaker (as proven in the Vitali fight), with a suspected lower punch resistance to Vitali Klitscho, although I will concede that Lewis was the better boxer. All you have to do is look at the demolition job he done on Tyson - Vitali would have done exactly the same to a post '96 Tyson, for the simple reason that Tyson had lost his head movement and combination punching ability by that time. I would ask you to go and look at some videos of Tyson circa '88, and then watch the holyfield fight in '96 - he is not the same fighter, and he had lost the things that made him so great by this time.

A prime Tyson would pose a whole different set of questions, but a '96 Tyson doesn't beat anyone of note, i'm afraid.

And just to add one other thing regarding Sanders 1 punch power. He is the only fighter to have ever visibly rocked Vitali with a single shot. This is something that Lewis was unable to do, despite your claims that Vitali's "face was falling off". Lewis hit Vitali with everything that he had, but didn't rock Klitschko like Sanders did - go and watch both fights, then come back and agree with me!

 

Again your putting the Klitschkos on the same level as Evander Holyfield and you cant do that. With the level of opposition they have faced they could never be in the same class as Evander Holyfield, a top ten all time great heavyweight thats proven he can fight against all styles on the elite level.
Forget about the Lewis Tyson fight. Tyson was too far gone by then. We are discussing the fighter that was released from prison and faced Frank Bruno for the WBC title. As I said before Holyfield was a different kind of fighter than the Klitschkos. Like you said styles make fights. Holyfield was a complete fighter with world class experience and was very good at fighting against pressure fighters.
In comparison both the Klitschkos go backwards, have a proven track record of not being able to fight inside and dont seem to do well against a fighter who takes away the distance factor. To say Tyson couldnt do this is crazy. He was still very quick at that time.