Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson 15 years later

Probably because he knew he wasn't ready (and was far, far removed from where he needed to be at that point)... but he had to accept the payday for various reasons.

Tommy Brooks briefly alluded to some of that during some pre-fight analysis. He was spot on.

 

Pre- prison Mike wins post prison mike loses.

This fight signified nothing on how Mike would perform had he been in his prime. He was shot to bits for this fight and actually surprised me he lasted as long as he did

 

After the 2nd round, it was sad to watch. It was clear Tyson was past it and completely shot, and Lewis was playing with him and teeing off on him.

As others have said, had the fight happened earlier it would have been more competitive, but I still think Lewis wins. Lewis would have won a UD12 against the best version of Tyson.

This fight just made me feel sorry for Tyson.

 

Lewis knew that Tyson was over the hill at that time, Don King destroyed Tyson's career, but if Cus D'Amato had still been alive it would have been different. Tyson lost Cus, Kevin Rooney did a great job as Cus wanted, Jimmy Jacobs died, then Don King came in like a snake, got rid of Bill Cayton, King robbed Tyson of everything...........

 

Yeah and he did have his career best win when he escaped with lucky punch agains Mighty Francois Botha!

 

Almost cried watching Tyson get beat down. Hard to watch.

 

Tyson would have went 50-0 if his inner circle didn't fall apart

 

Telling people on a boxing forum you were in jail doesn't make you cool or tough LMAO. It's just proper cringy.

Almost as bad as gamers on a gaming forum telling people they smoke weed.

 

Funny how you don't see with your own eyes how Tyson changed even before prison+couple of years in prison is not an ideal situation.

don't know if "prime" Tyson would win against Holyfield or Lewis.

but it's ignorance and hate here with many posters.many also accepts the "truth" that Mike was nutcase,who's career went horribly downhill in his 20's. It's also evidence in film how he fought.

yes,everything is blame for Tyson.and lot of if's.

Tyson was a shadow of himself when he fought Lewis.and when against Holyfield was just shot.

don't want to explain the whole story.posters have done it here multiple times.death of Gus,parting ways with Rooney,Givens marriage,prison etc... and all that before you are 25.

post prison Tyson(or almost post hw champ) Mike was changed man.obvious to see it from the film and what all the people close to Mike spoke.

But maybe Mike was always destined to be great young and short period of time.didn't have the disiplicine for boxing.

no movement,no combinations,no conditioning,only big muscles for the looks etc.. slow plodding and head hunting.

 

Didn't know I was trying to act tough or "cool".....thanks for the update though SamboKing.

 

96/96 tyson was even worse than tyson 2002...at least tyson 2002 had added some of the old combinations and head movement..the problem was tyson 2002 had lost even more punch resistance and desire than the 96 vintage who altho younger was struggling greatly to regain his combinations...tyson 96 relied on rep and power...........now than....tyson 91 beats every version of lewis...that tyson with his hunger and anger at an all time high could not be hurt even by lewis...and coukd fight all night....his own deterioting skills were still more than enough for lewis......tyson 86-88 forget about it a knockout every time

 

Anyone who says Mike wasn't in any way impaired is talking ****. He looked useless. He went through the motions in the first round and Lewis looked confused, He then stopped throwing punches for the rest of the fight. Imagine the 80s Mike in that fight, Lewis would've looked just as confused but Mike would've hit him with meaningful shots for the entire fight til he knocked him out. He was fighting for money and was in a terrible state mentally and physically. Worst he's ever looked.

 

Holyfield and Lewis were both better than any version of Tyson.


Tyson looked so unbeatable in his earlier years because he was not fighting highly skilled fighters who knew how to deal with him and also had -the ability- to carry out that game plan

Holyfield and Lewis were highly skilled boxers who studied his aggression beforehand. They both nullified Tyson's short reach aggression with a very effective jab that kept the 5 foot 10 Tyson at bay, And rendered him rather ineffective

And combine the Lewis jab and his ability to control distance- combined with his brutal power and get the same result, no matter what "version" of Tyson is in there with him

 

Nah...just doesn't ring true. Tyson's life was an emotional rollercoaster, more so than any living fighter I can think of. He was a complex character. His career was meteoric, he shone brightly then quickly fizzled out. Boxing for him under Cus was like a kind of exorcism of demons, it later became the cause of more demons. He was confused, stressed, depressed, disillusioned and in various phases of emotional breakdown through all his losses. I'm sorry but you can see the difference in his demeanour in his losing fights before a punch is thrown, not buying it!

 

Tyson couldn't EVER fight 12 straight rounds like he fought the first 3, not even 1985 Tyson has 6 rounds like he had those first 3. LL was always way too much for tyson. The best ever tyson vs the worst ever LL is still mismatch with tyson having a very slim punchers chance.

LL would always respect tyson in the ring so highly improbable you'll see LL wavering like knowing e his 2 mishaps.
Tys