Lets settle the did tyson duck foreman debate

Can you really blame a fighter for not wanting to sign with King tho?

 

I see you have chosen to bury your head in the sand. That's ok. Suit yourself.

 

I have no problem with that. But it's not a reason to assert that Tyson ducked Foreman (I'm not talking about you) whereas it's him who rejected several offers at different times.

 

What do you mean? Ruddock was much more dangerous than Foreman at that time and Tyson was much better than Stewart. If Tyson preferred to fight Ruddock, he had a phobia of planes and Foreman. But I won't call him an idiot because Ruddock was rated higher. You can't punish a guy who fights a higher ranked and more dangerous opponent

 

FOREMAN WANTS FIGHT WITH TYSON

George Foreman accused Mike Tyson of ``hiding from a 46-year-old man'' Wednesday and issued a public challenge to the newly freed former heavyweight champion.

``The word now,'' the IBF heavyweight champion said, ``is come fight.''

Foreman, meeting with reporters to pronounce himself ready for an April 22 title defense against Axel Schulz of Germany, said he contacted Tyson in prison to set up a $100 million title fight.

But Tyson declined the offer, which would have resulted in a $50 million paycheck for each fighter, Foreman said.

``Mike Tyson was afraid of a 46-year-old man,'' Foreman said. ``Fifty-million bucks Tyson could make right now ... Tyson is hiding.''

Neither Tyson, who was reported to be busy buying luxury cars and a multi million-dollar home in Las Vegas, nor his representatives could immediately be reached Wednesday.

Mort Sharnik, Foreman's publicist, said he was approached by a Tyson representative before that fighter's March 25 release from an Indiana prison, where he served three years of a six-year **** sentence.

Sharnik said Tyson wanted to fight Foreman without involving promoter Don King, and Foreman sent word for Tyson to call him in Houston. But Tyson never called, and Foreman claims ``he won't even return my phone calls.''

Foreman, who became a grandfather last month, said he has decided not to fight again after 1995 and hopes to close his career by boxing Tyson. He said his offer stands should Tyson choose to accept.

``C'mon, let's do it now, because this is the last year,'' he said. ``The word now is come fight.''

- Roanoke Times, Apr 13 1995

Tyson was utterly terrified of big George. His ducking persisted in the mid 90s as well.

 

This is strange because it's Foreman who reportedly said that he didn't want to fight Tyson if King was involved, not the other way around as it's written here.

 

There’s been like a thousand different stories about this and Foreman himself has said different things about it.

The most believable to me is Foreman saying Don King offering him a contract on the dotted line and Foreman refusing. King was probably demanding options on future Foreman fights, and Foreman was with Arum.

Also, some of the discussions came when they appeared on the same card in June 90’ (Foreman-Rodrigues, Tyson-Tillman). Of course Foreman would have liked the huge payday of a Tyson fight, but he also wanted a title shot. He probably knew he was close to getting both the title shot and massive payday with Holyfield-Douglas coming up in October.

And he ended up getting it.

I’m sure King knew this as well.

 

Is it possible to duck someone who has done little or nothing to deserve a title shot?

Floyd is frequently accused of ducking various fighters but in this case Foreman was never in a position where he was Tysons outstanding challenger? Wouldn't he have to do more to prove himself for it to be a duck

Id probably favor Bruce Seldon over anybody Foreman beat in his comeback aside from Moorer but I've never seen Holyfield or Lewis accused of ducking Seldon

 

Not wanting to sign a crappy deal with Don King doesn't debunk anything to me. Foreman publically wanted and asked for the fight and showed zero fear. Tyson did neither.

The money trail says Tyson should've chased this fight if he considered it an "easy" one. He didn't take more money and chose less money for other fights.

 

George Foreman! If Mike Tyson was not ducking him, he did a good imitation of ducking him. I do not blame Mike if he was, in fact, ducking George. That would have been a very high risk fight for Tyson. True, when George shoved Mike back (and he would have), Mike would have been at his own best range, also, but he would need to regroup some, yes? It is hard to land with power immediately after being shoved backwards. Big George, on the other hand............

 

China was willing to pay. The money was right. I reckon Douglas defeat screwed both Holyfield and Foreman in that regard.

 

It's easy to call out someone, but when negociations started it's Foreman who always balked.
And Tyson made plenty of money during his come-back, he didn't need Foreman at all.

 

Sure. Tyson made more money fighting nobody Buster Douglas than he would've fighting Foreman there. Right.

And Foreman was the one who didn't want the fight. Uh huh.

I think you can proudly call yourself a full fledged member of "Team Tyson".