Mike Tyson vs. Comeback Foreman

Which version of Foreman and which version of Tyson are we talking about? 88 Tyson? 91 Tyson? 91 Foreman? 94 Foreman?

 

I do think that Foreman could probably weather single shots from Tyson, as Foreman did have a good chin. Morrison hit Foreman with some howitzer-like punches, and I think Morrison hit just as hard, perhaps even harder, than Mike Tyson....But I agree with your post....Foreman would not have the speed, reflexes, or power to beat Tyson.

 

Tyson would have benefited from fighting anyone. Tyson's status would not have gone up for beating up Foreman. For instance, Holyfield's stock did not go up after the Foreman win. In fact it actually went down. Not to mention it further exacerbated the notion that he was too small to compete.

You know how many people wanted to fight Mike Tyson for the Payday? Foreman just happened to be a little more famous than those guys. He wanted the payday. Another thing, Ruddock was a better fighter than 2nd Career Foreman. He was also a more dangerous choice. The fight would have been a more circus event than a credible fight. If you think that fighting Foreman in 1991 was more credible than fighting Ruddock then you sir are crazy.

You may remember it for your own reasons but in terms of credibility, if Tyson fought Foreman instead of Ruddock poster's with an anti- Tyson agenda would have flooded the forum with why did Tyson duck Ruddock? And you'll have a few of them saying Ruddock would have knocked him out in the late rounds if they fought.

Agreed.

 

Ruddock was very highly regarded when Tyson fought him. People don't really know this or forget it, though.
Ruddock and Tyson were basically seen as the two best HW's out there, in fact even after Ruddock lost twice to Tyson he was STILL favored to beat Lennox Lewis!

Tyson's stock would of went down for fighting an old Foreman, just like Evander's was. It's a lose lose fighting Foreman, if you beat him people just say he's old and if you lose you're finished. Tyson was also hungry to get the title back at this stage and beating Ruddock meant more than beating George for a title shot. There was never a time where this fight really made a lot of sense or had to be made.

 

In a legacy sense it probably was. But I think Mike would be fighting for the money too. And Foreman could've have brought him the dollars. Mike just didn't want it.

 

Mike would have loved to tee off on George. For the longest time no one took such a fight seriously. When Foreman went 12 with Holyfield most of the sport exhaled in relief that he did not disgrace himself. After that fight he continued to fight handpicked opponents that would play into his strengths ... Tyson went to jail and that was mostly that ...

 

Foreman was wanting Tyson and was planning on fighting Tyson. I honestly believe he thought he could beat him and I also think that Tyson's style would favor well for his.

I guess he was hand-picking a potential super-fight with Tyson in 95 after he beat Moorer. Didn't pan out though.

 

Here I am. Foreman shoved around an admittedly roided up Morrison like a rag doll (while Tyson found former cruiserweight Holyfield to be too much to match strength with), and took all his best hooks with nary a flinch, but Tommy surprised everybody with his mobility. Tyson doesn't share Morrison's height and reach though.

Mike would need to find some way to neutralize George's reach and unparalleled physical strength, and he simply didn't have the mobility, strength and stature to do it. In shoving him back and away, Foreman would eliminate much of his power. Tyson could easily get frustrated and discouraged, and George was just the sort of physically domineering presence to take away his heart. When Foreman was agitating for this one, he expressed the fact that Mike wasn't accustomed to taking on a predator like himself, and George was definitely going to subject him to a healthy dose of predation.

Foreman was always a rather filthy animal in the ring, dropping Qawi to his knees with a vicious right handed kidney shot. Although it was clearly illegal, and not counted as a knockdown, that punch was probably very much on Qawi's mind when he threw up his hands in disgust and turned his back to quit. I don't care how proficient Tyson was defensively, there's no hope of his avoiding the same kind of debilitating shot. Nor is there any way he counters the manhandling he'd be in for.

Beyond that, Foreman tended to pace himself and take it a bit easy during his second career. One time he didn't though was after Cooney stunned him with what was probably the hardest left hook anybody ever stood up to from Gerry. Whenever he was aroused during his second career, he remained extremely dangerous, and he would be the most psyched up for Mike of anybody he took on during this period.

George wanted the fight, the media plugged their prospective match up incessantly, and it was guaranteed big money. So why did it never happen?

 

Just what I was waiting. :happy

I was expecting a tad bit more of "Foreman is a tank. Foreman could take whatever Mike could give. When Mike would see this he would **** himself. Foreman would demolish Mike with his lethal uppercuts while Mike would be launching in. Mike knew this and that's why he wanted no part of Foreman."

I agree, though. Why the fight didn't happen? Tyson fans say it's low-reward fight. What they don't say is it is a high risk fight. I find it to be the biggest risk but also the biggest reward money wise. People say it does nothing for his legacy or ranking, though. Maybe... but Mike could have made a message by dominating Foreman after Holyfield only won a decision. But he re-matched Ruddock. He had a chance in 1995 with a proposed super-fight but wanted no business.

 

Tyson rematched Ruddock because of the controversy of the first fight to prove a point, I think as stated earlier Tyson wanted the title back at this time. I get the feeling he may have matched up with big george if this had happened, its a tough call but I think Tyson would emerge the winner if they had fought

 

The punch Cooney hit Foreman with was not a big punch; it was a short, inside hook that caught Foreman leaning in. I remember reading about the fight and that so-called "monstrous" hook from Cooney before I actually saw a video of the fight. After I watched the fight, I was like, "That's the big Cooney hook"? Morrison hit Foreman with much bigger punches; heck, I think Holyfield did, too.

Tyson was able to reach Bonecrusher, Ruddock, Holmes, etc., I don't think Tyson being able to reach Foreman is going to be a problem. Foreman beats tomato cans and starts calling out Tyson. I think Foreman had like 7 or 8 fights in his comeback and he was already stating how he was ready for Tyson and that the only thing stopping him was the opportunity. Foreman was broke and desperately wanted the money that a Tyson fight would bring....

Foreman was trading off the aura and reputation that he built up during the '70's, and this combined with all the stiffs that Foreman knocked over during his comeback made many in the press tout a Foreman/Tyson mega-fight...But Foreman was exposed against Holyfield, Stewart, and Morrison. He handpicked his opponents for a very good reason....George needed Tyson, at least early on in his comeback; Tyson didn't need GEorge. There were lots of fighters that Tyson COULD have fought, but not all of them deserved a shot at his title, including George. It was just that George was so popular and carried the aura from his first career that gave his demands for a title shot or Tyson fight much more credence. But there were several fighters around that were much more dangerous for Tyson than George, and one of them was Ruddock!

 

Tyson wanted the titles back more than fighting Foreman. Im sure Tyson didnt want that fight, it represented nothing but a payday. King had promotional rights to Ruddock and most of the fighters Tyson faced, therefore fighting and possibly losing to Foreman would do little for him. Foreman was also promoted by Arum, and regardless of all the handshaking and smiles on the outside, there was no way King was going to fight Tyson against Foreman. Why should he allow a rival promoter beat his cash cow and reap the benefits in future fights without King being involved? King would put Foreman on Tysons fight cards, he also put Riddick Bowe on Tysons fight cards, but if he didnt have future promotional rights, forget it, they saw nothing else with King. King was forced by Tyson to make the Holyfield fight, as King didnt want it. Even after the second Ruddock fight when Tyson is saying he wanted Holyfield, you can hear King in the back saying "we dont want Holyfield."
There was a lot more to the whole situation during this time, because Tyson was trying to leave King and sign with Steve Wynn who signed Buster Douglas after Tyson lost the titles and King was pulling a lot of funny business because he couldnt get Douglas to rematch Tyson, or find a way to have Holyfield to step aside for a rematch or secure any futures with any of the fighters. Kings biggest mistake was not signing Douglas to future fights. In one night he lost complete control of the titles and didnt gain it back until 95 and thats the only reason Tyson resigned with King after prison.
If King had secured futures on Douglas, he 100% would have been able to convince the sanctioning bodies to order an immdediate rematch with the bull**** controversy he cooked up concerning the long count. After Douglas saw how King behaved, he wanted nothing to do with him in future fights, and Main Events was licking their chops, as they had a sacrificial lamb in Douglas lined up to gain control of all the titles.

 

Why didn't King want Holyfield?


When Foreman had the belts they couid've had a super-fight in 1995.

 

Tyson by UD I can see Foreman going the distance but he would be badly bruised up, too slow to compete with Tyson...