Im not convinced at all that Bowe could take Lewis power

If you read enough of my posts you will see that i always believe Tyson was badly prepared for Douglas and a fair way off his game. I also agree Lewis was a different fighter under Steward and it was well documented prior to the Rahman loss how woefully he had been preparing. Tyson had the same with Douglas. Joe Louis was similar for the first Schmeling bout tho like Lewis was also lacking a little in some key technical area's and polished these up.

I throw things at you because you only want to swallow one sides story.

 

LOL at Holyfield's "light" punches. Jesus H Christ LOL

I don't think you are going to get much mileage in here using Holyfields inability to drop Foreman as proof he was a "light" puncher.

 

The Lewis fanclub is hypocritical where they highlight excuses for Lewis but go on and on about Tyson being on his A game in Tokyo. This stuff annoys me

 

Tyson was a better and a multi faceted fighter under Rooney who could make several adjustments. If he couldn't knock someone out, he would out work and out point them to win a decision using proper boxing skills.

Trever Berbick tried to push and backpeddle Tyson in their bouts but failed miserably because his chin was not good enough for this strategy in the long run. Tony Tubbs tried the same approach for a while but his chin failed him. Holyfield is the only guy who could succeed with that approach because of his excellent boxing skills, counterpunching skills and his chin. Tyson had excellent bounce in his legs and could bounce in and out range from 1985-88. He was a much better technical boxer from 85-88 using that Peeka boo style when he was training properly and practicing those skills correctly in the gym. Even Holyfield acknowledges and conceedes in his documentary that no body could beat the Tyson of 1985-88 when he was on his A game and that the Tyson he fought was a beatable fighter.

Lewis's size becomes immaterial with respect to Tyson's speed, footwork, punch accuracy and combinations. Sammy Scaff weighed 265 lbs against Tyson, Frank Bruno weighed 247 lbs against Tyson, Razor Ruddock weighed 240 lbs against Tyson, Andrew Golata weighed 240 lbs against Tyson.

George Foreman wasted so many opportunities to fight Tyson in the 90's and i am sorry but the Foreman of the 90's is going to get a beating by the Tyson of 1985-88, even the Tyson of 90-91 can hurt him bad. The Ruddock wars proved that Foreman's power is not going to hurt Tyson. Let's be realistic here.

Btw the fighters you mention i.e. Foreman, Ali, Holmes and co will pose all sorts of problems for Lewis and there is no guarantee Lewis will win against them.

 

I just called you out for this exact thing in reverse lol

 

Not sure if I’ve changed or just commented differently. Bowe didn’t have a great chin but certainly decent , especially when focused and motivated. At his best he sure could fight. That first Holyfield fight was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

 

Agreed. The young hungry Eddie Futch trained Bowe would have been a handful
for any HW in history. It was only when he stopped being disciplined outside the ring
did it start affecting his performances.

 

I think you have always favored Lewis in this match up, maybe Holyfield's statement about favoring Bowe in this match up had an impact on you?

 

That may be a part. I also rewatched some of his prime fights and Bowe was a terrific fighter. Maybe not for long but for the window of time he was terrific. I favor Lennox but really don’t know. Bowe could fight.

 

If they met as they were supposed to, after Bowe had won the title from Holy, it's hard to say. I think Bowe probably was the better fighter at that point, but he also became more lacking in his preparations once he won the title. Lewis, on the other hand, would be 100% focussed. I think that would make the difference.

If they met peak for peak, my guess is that Lewis's size, power and ring generalship would win out against Bowe's more polished skills.

 

It's amazing how Tyson fans believe that Mike is the only who wasn't 100% for every fight. Say that about any other fighter and it's mere excuses, but when it comes to Mike it's gospel.

 

True. But Tyson is the exception for me there, rather than Lewis.

First of all Tyson almost always kept his chin tucked in. Like Hagler, his discipline in doing this was a big part in why he could take the bombs he did.

But Tyson walked at least into two perfectly timed clean bombs he didn't see without losing consciousness, and that's very rare. The first was the uppercut Douglas caught him with in the 10th. Douglas did finish him off directly afterwards, but that Tyson was still standing after taking such a punch at that stage of the fight is a testament to his iron chin.

The other is the perfect right that Holy caught Tyson flush with in their first fight, when Tyson was looking to unload a punch of his own. No man should be able to stand after being timed like that at that stage of the fight, but Tyson was special.

The only HW I've seen with an ever better chin in that regard is old Foreman. He just shouldn't have been able to survive against Holy in the 9th round after Holy timed him perfectly with a counter, but he did what even Tyson didn't manage.

Those two are for me extremes, and, yes, Lewis's chin wasn't on that level. But neither was Ali's, Holme's or Holy's. To weather unexpected punches that land perfectly is almost abnormal. Ali, Holmes and Holy was so hard to KO to a large extent because they saw everything coming.

 

Tyson could take a whack for sure.

 

He's certainly the poster boy for extreme, whether it be fanboys or haters. Both ends of the scale are very definitely covered.