Mike Tyson vs George Foreman 1988

Ironically I'm actually a fan myself. It's his fanboys I have a problem with.

 

What's your excuse for Jesse "call my belly the Boogeyman but not me" Ferguson? And I wouldn't use Teddy Atlas vernacular if you wanna be taken seriously. Otherwise you're the typical Tyson Hater along with the rest of them.

Mercer's chin is solid but he's there to be hit. Ray doesn't have the style to hold and frustrate Mike. Tyson tees off and eventually cracks that chin. Overwhelmingly.

 

I don’t have an excuse for Mercer Ferguson. Everyone knows what happened. Mercer took him lightly, figured out he was going to lose, attempted to bribe Ferguson mid-fight, and lost an embarrassing decision. I believe there was an investigation as a result of the attempted bribe. As with most boxing investigations, I don’t remember the consequences being severe.

There are worse ppl to quote than Atlas. Thanks for your consideration though. That said, I have no problem being called a Tyson hater, even though it’s not true. I don’t have an issue with Tyson. I have repeatedly stated, in these forums, that his record as the youngest HW champion will stand the test of time.

I can’t stand Tyson’s insufferable fans who hate the FACT that their hero NEVER did what most of the other HW ATGs did. He never snatched victory from the jaws of defeat or avenged a professional loss. Tyson is an ATG bully and front runner. He won many of his fights through intimidation, which is why I think he loses to any version of Holyfield, Lewis, Foreman and an in shape and hungry Mercer.

We will have to agree to disagree on Tyson’s greatness.

 

H. A. T. E. R. Spelled out for ya...

Why do you think Tyson was a front running bully? There's a number of ATG fighters who never got off the canvas to win. Why is that a mark against greatness? Tyson showed you had to beat him into the pavement to take him out. So if he got dropped against Ruddock and came back to win, then that erases any doubt?

-Being able to take Ruddock's shots WITHOUT going down is more impressive to me.
-Going 10 tough rounds with Jose Ribalta showed grit. Sure there were lulls in action but every tim Ribalta opened up on offense, Tyson came back with 3-4 flurries to take back the high ground. That showed me he had heart.
-Getting stunned by Tucker in the first 15 seconds and turning that around shows, to me, Tyson could turn things around when facing adversity.
-Recouping from getting stunned by Frank Bruno early showed me he could win after facing some type of adversity.
-Heck, even the Botha fight proved he could turn things around with one punch.
-Tyson almost became the poster boy for overcoming adversity in the 8th against Douglas.

Claiming Tyson is a front running bully his entire career is just plain wrong. Even his return from prison he showed guts when losing and never tanked it until his final fight against Kevin McBride.

 

Tyson would have been able to hit Foreman at will pretty much, the speed of his punches and George's slowing reflexes. George does have a chance in this one no doubt but I just think the amount of Tyson power punches he'd take in the early rounds would ruin him.

 

Yeah, 88' Tyson was pretty relentless.

 

Please elaborate

 

Same here but I have't seen anyone on this site as bad as "fadethetrade" from Youtube. (If you watch Tyson fights on YouTube at all I can almost simply assume you've seen his comments all over the place.)

 

That in itself does not make one a fanboy, no.

 

Yet Lennox Lewis couldn't and he hit him with everything but the kitchen sink......

 

If you wanna call me a hater, that’s fine. Again, it’s not Tyson I hate, I can’t stand his fans.

I think Tyson was a front running bully because he either won through intimidation or got beat thoroughly. Plus, he NEVER avenged a professional defeat. The one time he tried to do so, against his Daddy, he resorted to biting.

I never said coming off the canvas is a mark against greatness. In fact, I don’t recall a few of my favorite ATG fighters (Sal Sanchez, Hagler, Finito Lopez) ever hitting the canvas.

If Tyson had gotten dropped against Ruddock in their fight, it would erase doubt about his ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. History lesson for you:

Louis snatched victory from Conn and improved on the result in the 2nd fight.

Marciano snatched victory from Walcott.

Patterson avenged the loss to Johansson.

Liston is like Tyson...a bully.

Ali avenged the loss to Frazier.

Frazier beat Ali once and pushed him to the brink in Manila.

Holmes snatched victory from Norton.

Holyfield fought valiantly against a prime Bowe and won their rematch. Plus he also avenged the loss to Moorer.

Foreman snatched victory from Moorer.

Tyson’s Jamaican Daddy, aka The Pugilist Specialist, avenged both of his defeats AND snatched victory from Vitali.

Fact of the matter is that Tyson’s standing suffers greatly from his lack of overcoming adversity as DEMONSTRATED in the Win/Loss column of his record. With the exception of Tyson’s most loyal fans, most objective fans are not dead set against this point of view.

Here’s a few more points to consider about Tyson.

1. Buster did receive 13 seconds to recover from the 8th round KD. Unfortunately, the record book shows Douglas KO10 Tyson. The record book also remembers Douglas as a 42 to 1 underdog.

2. Tyson’s career losses allowed him to demonstrate a superb chin. With the exception of the “Bite of the Century”, Tyson generally took his beatings like a man. Unfortunately, his most memorable loss came against a...drumroll please...42 to 1 underdog.

In closing, I never saw the Tyson Ribalta fight. Aside from watching his highlight reel of KOs, I’ve seen all that I need to see from Tyson to form a solid opinion of him as a fighter. I will always consider Tyson to be a bully and a front runner, sorry!

 

Idk who wins. Pre douglas tyson was a monster and had speed, combinations, and defense over foreman but i just dont know if tyson would patient enough to win by decision. Hes not winninh a slug fest with any version of foreman and as others pointed out, he never got off tbe floor to win or snatched victory after being behind on points. Its all about psychology, and in this matchup foremans intimidation vs tysons questionable heart are like fire and wood.

 

“Fire and wood” great analogy.

 

Its not like its gonna take alot of time to watch Tyson fights pre jail Particular for Tyson with EACH fight on tape and no lack of "data"....

You have to rate resume and H2H different for most of the fighters, since there is alot of variability in their performances. Rating a fighters best H2H from any unrelevant crap of that fighters resume makes less sence.
Same for Tyson. The star shined blinding bright, but short. He was a product of periodic fighting twice to once a month with a very strict daily training and dedication to fullfill what everybody predicted for him. His mentor died as the fighter was just a kid. Add everything together and you will get a predicted short peak. And if you ask me: Jimmy Jacobs success philosophy of "no matter if you play the guitar, are a professional handballer, or play the piano, you are better when doing it twice a week than twice a year" was shortsighted. In bewteen, he was married for no longer than a year. Everything happend just accelerated. After Tyson got the title, they tried to keep him busy by fighting every three months. Which worked at times, but I´m not sure if he didn´t look less sharp offensive wise in some fights. Then another mentor died.
After Rooney was gone, he fought three times in the time frame that he once fought 28 fights including Berbick! The rhythm was over and nobody was left.

What I want to say is that Tyson was a clockwork product of intensity. His style didn´t leave room to neglect any attributes since he physically just had power, handspeed and a chin, which is nothing without synergy. I don´t think he was every suited to have a long reign and you can rate his resume however you want. But in his peak, I wouldn´t safely bet money on any opponent to beat him. Which is the same for the rest of the #1-H2H-Heavyweights like Lewis or Ali. They could beat anybody.