June 27, 1988: Charles replaces Spinks vs Tyson

Spinks got KO'ed in 1 because he didn't want to be there to begin with and was ****ing terrified, Charles would be there to win, not just pick up a nice payday like Spinks. As for the fight, well the size difference might be too much but then again with Tyson's mental fragility and Ezzard's toughness and skills who knows what might happen.

 

It's hard to say. I think Tyson is a bad matchup for Ezzard. Tyson was smart enough to land shots you don't see coming and nobody lighter than him ever gave him a problem.

I think Charles would do better than Spinks though. It depends how early Ezzard can make an impression and give Tyson something to think about. Charles would have to be ready. Tyson was a very young guy, being so used to blow outs he really could not solve a problem very well. He could be forced into showing too much respect.

If you look at the tactics Douglas used to beat Tyson there is nothing he did that Charles could not. Tactically I think Douglas broke Tyson down. He was big enough to rough Tyson up but I don't think that was the biggest factor to that success. With everything Holyfield had access to Charles would match him for size anyway.

But all that being said, If Tyson did not respect Charles it's over pretty early.

 

I see it as a similar outcome as Tyson v Biggs, but with Charles doing well for a few rounds at the beginning. But eventually Tyson breaking him down and busting him up. Tyson by ko round 7.

 

At that point of Tyson's career I see Charles getting blown out... and most other heavies as well.

You have your Toledo Dempsey, I get to have mine.

 

Tyson only fought (I think) three guys around Charles' size, and they were damn sure no Ezzard Charles. The guys I'm thinking of are Lorenzo Boyd (Boid?), Ricardo Spain and Micheal "Jack" Johnson, and their final records are outright comical. (One of them, I think Ricardo Spain, retired with a record of something like 2-25.)

Although Charles did absolutely everything better than those guys, I wouldn't go so far as to say he did everything as well as Douglas. It seems to me that whatever happens is extremely likely to fall int one of two scenarios: Tyson catches and finishes Charles around five or six (~70%) or he survives and makes Tyson look bad like Tillis did (~20%).

I think there's at best a ten percent chance something distinctly different would happen. It would be really interesting to see, if only the experiment could be run.

 

I think that some former light heavyweights could have done a lot better against Tyson than Spinks did, and that Charles might well have been one of them. I also think that in doing so they would merely be buying time. The problem that this type of fighter has, is that at some point Tyson is either going to put them on the canvas for ten seconds, or knock them down three times in the same round. Simply put, they can run but they can't hide.

 

People forget just how fast Tyson was both in handspeed and in cutting off the ring against an elusive boxer. Spinks being a built up light heavyweight was still pretty quick at the higher weight but against Tyson every shot that he attempted he either missed because Tyson was fast enough to evade it or he was beaten to the punch by the faster hand speed of Tyson. Add in the power and strength advantage and I think if it was Charles that faced the same Tyson that almost killed Spinks, then Charles would have been lucky to see the end of the 2nd round at best no matter what tactics or fight plan he employed.

 

There are versions of Tyson that I think Charles could beat. This isn't one of them. I do think Charles makes it out of the early rounds but eventually gets caught and finished by round 5. Charles could maybe see the last bell but he would have to be completely defensive and likely drop the fight on points.

 

You could imagine somebody watching Joe Louis destroy John Henry Lewis, and thinking that Billy Conn was unlikely to do much better.

 

He was, but like with Spinks, it all looked OK on paper.

Being there to win can make a big difference.