Mike Tyson vs George Foreman (1991)

Truth.......Foreman in His prime was a Monster...only got TKOd once in his long career and that was by The Great Man Himself Ali....Foreman to strong.!!!

 

atsch

Ruddock threw one punch at a time and telegraphed it all fight long. No jab to set it up and no right to keep him honest. Yet Razor caught him more than he should have with that leftuppercut. Ruddock also had shitty balance and a couple of the knockdowns Tyson scored against him were due mostly to Ruddock being off balance. Tyson`s defense had slipped quite a bit by `91 a simple fact.

Maybe you should view those fights again to freshen your memory.

 

I think people would have written Foreman off as being too old had Tyson beaten him, and thrown him in the box of has beens along with Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, etc, whom tyson had already dispatched. Would this have been the reality? No. Foreman reinvented himself into a very live force in the division in the 90's, but the perception would have been different and fighting Razor Ruddock looked better on the surface.

 

Ruddock was a better win at the time, but after the Holyfield fight Foreman arguably went on to do better than Ruddock. But i dont think Tyson should be penalised for that.

At the time, Ruddock had Kod a few former world champs and made himself into the big threat in the divison, Tyson was coming off a brutal KO loss and had been accused of ducking Ruddock for years (See the Dokes fight). It all amounted to Ruddock maybe getting the W over Tyson, but it didnt happen.

I bet if that fight was happening this weekend, all of ESB would be flooded with 'Ruddock is gonna knock Tyson out'
'If Douglas Kod Tyson, imagine what Ruddock will do'
'Tysons been ducking Ruddock for years'

To me that was one of Tysons best fights because he answered alot of questions about himself.

Its not Tysons fault or problem that Lewis blasted Ruddock in 2.

Tyson deserves tons of credit for fighting and beating, not once but twice, back to back, a very dangerous fighter in his prime who he'd been accused of ducking for years. How many fighters do that?

Does Haglers win over Mugabe get diminished because Norris Kod Mugabe in 2?

At the time Ruddock was the better opponent and win, but looking back a win over Foreman might have looked slightly better on paper. Afterall it worked for Evander

But yeah i get the hypocrisy of some people, had Tyson beat Foreman, same people here whose accuse him of ducking Foreman would be on this thread claiming Tyson ko'd an old man.

If Tyson had beaten Evander in '96, how many on here would honestly have given Tyson any credit?

 

The Razor Ruddock wins for good for Tyson.
Ruddock was a dangerous puncher. Tyson did cancel a fight with him once, that was before Ruddock fought Dokes though.

 

I'd give him more credit than he gets for losing, that's for damn sure.

 

It was in '89, Tyson said he had broken ribs, how much of it is true we'll never know.

I wouldnt be surprised if he was having some orgy somewhere :roll:

But do you think Ruddock was correct in saying Tyson was ducking him?

Ducking, a strong word

 

No, looking back, Tyson's wins over Ruddock are still better.

 

I don't think Tyson ducked him.
One story, (in Montieth Illingworth's Tyson book that came out while Tyson was in prison), has it that Tyson wasn't training as well as he should and then when he watched a tape of Ruddock-Smith he was impressed enough to cancel the fight. I suppose that's ducking. But I don't know if it's true.
He might have hurt his ribs.
Tickets might not have been selling. Who knows.
I can't blame Ruddock for being pissed off. He had a title shot vanish.
Then again, he fought Dokes next (in MSG I think) and that really boosted his rep.

 

I tell you which wins of that time frame really don't get credited enough.

Holyfield KO of Douglas.

And, of course, Douglas's KO of Tyson.

The first doesn't get credited at all.
The second one, people give Douglas way too little credit.

 

Another interesting angle is, had Tyson beat Douglas and then sorted the bout with Holyfield next and possibly Foreman and then goes to prison.....Ruddock would never have got a crack at Tyson.

And then people on here would talk about how Ruddock would have cracked Tysons chin

Without the Tyson wars, does Ruddock still get blasted out by Lewis, does Ruddock fight Bowe/Holyfield/Foreman?

 

Probably because of the shape the fighter turned up in.

Douglas was embarassing and disgusting and i think he got over $20m.

Beautiful counter right hand by Holyfield though, same punch he caught Tyson with in the 11th round.

Douglas will get little credit for beating Tyson, well because hes Tyson.

But Tyson gets little credit for taking that beating and still having the will to win and find that uppercut in the 8th.

It will always be a polarising fight.

Douglas himself said he expcted Tyson to cave in, but around round 5 while in their respective corners, he looked Tyson straight in the eye and Tyson looked straight back at him and there was no quit in his eyes.

People always claim Douglas stood up the bully blah blah and act like Tyson just cowered in the corner while Buster pummelled him for 10 rounds, but i actually look at this fight a bit more positively now. This fight shows a) Tyson carried his power late b) Tyson wasnt a bully who was gonna quit after 2-3 rounds c) No matter how tired/beaten Tyson is, he will always be a dangerous fighter up until the final bell. Tyson himself recently said this was his bets fight because he showed he could take a beating like the past greats.

To me Douglas/Tyson is a poor mans Bowe/Holyfield 1, but with a knockout.
Buster did box beautifully in that fight, the problem was he was doing it against one of the most popular fighters ever.

 

Thing is, Douglas had won fights in similar shape to how he went in against Holyfield. He was over 240 when he beat Oliver McCall, just before the Tyson fight. Douglas, a good boxer and a champion, came out boxing against Holyfield and got KO'd.
Holyfield deserves credit. For a KO in round 3.
Just like Tyson deserves credit for knocking out fat boy Tubbs in 2, or Spinks in 1.


Douglas beat Tyson in his prime. It was quite one-sided. Tyson put up a brave effort and scored a knockdown, but was beaten from pillar to post. There's not much more to it.

You hit the nail on the head though .... Tyson is a people's favourite.
But I don't allow favouritism get in the way of giving credit.
There's way too much favouritism. And it's not just Tyson. Lots of fighters get too many free passes, while the guys who beat them don't get their due credit.

 

Throwing an uppercut while walking TOWARDS an opponent isn't exactly the height of good boxing.

 

Too many hypotheticals.