Although, Tyson, Holyfield and Lewis are similar ages, they all have their own eras. Tyson cleared out his era which was the mid to late 80s, Holyfields era began as soon as Tysons ended, he fought everyone there was to fight from 90-97, then Lennox moved to the forefront and really owed the second half the 90s. Riddick Bowe - Tyson and Bowe are from Brownsville (as is Judah and Briggs), although Newman wanted them to fight, both agreed not to fight each other. However they were on a collision course in 1996, Tyson was supposed to brush past Holyfield and Bowe was supposed to wipe the floor with Golota and they were then suopposed to meet, none of that happened and both went their own ways. Michael Moorer - Moorer was next in Tysons unification journey, after getting the WBC and then the WBA, next was Holyfield and then Moorers IBF, However Holyfield beat Tyson and went on to destroy Moorer. Team Tyson wanted Mike to win the titles same order as he did pre prison, WBC, WBA, a mandatory and then the IBF. George Foreman - Foreman was never a priority on Team Tysons game plan. Around the same time Foreman started calling out Tyson, tysons main rival was Spinks. Tyson beat Spinks, the next big fight was Holyfield. However Douglas upset those plans. Holyfield then decided to take on Foreman instead while Tyson faced the most dangerous guy in the division at the time Razor Ruddock, after that prison came. Post prison, the mission was to unify the belts, get Holyfield out of the way and then the superfight with Bowe/Lewis. None of that materialised and Foreman was nothing more than a beltholder in the division anyway. If Foreman had beat Holy/Bowe/Lewis or unified the titles this fight would have happened. I did post a thread called 'Bill Caytons Fightplan for Tyson' it was set for 1989, Foreman WAS on that list, AFTER Tyson got past Holyfield. Both Rodriques and Damiani were on that list as well. Heres the thread http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=333551 Tim Witherspoon - Lost to Smith who tyson beat for the WBA title. Witherspoon was blackballed for not cooperating with King. King owened the whole heavweight scene, so Tim was left out in the cold. Shannon Briggs david Tua John Ruiz Chris Byrd Corrie Sanders Vlad Klitschko - By the time these guys game along Tyson was already one foot in retirement, he just wanted some quick paydays and retire, he only wanted to face easy comeptition as he had no desire left Vitali Klitschko - They were going to fight, but Danny Williams upset the plans and went on to get destroyed by VK Roy Jones Jr - 'Mcbride' Tyson would have knocked this fool out in the first round. Jones was never serious about facing Tyson or Lewis. Thats why he fought John ' The Quietbum' Ruiz. Ray Mercer - Was on Don Kings fightplan for Tyson post prison, however after the bite fight, King and Tyson parted ways. They were set to fight in the late 90s/early 00s but Lennox promised to sue them because he wanted to fight Tyson. Herbie Hide - Does anybody care about this bum? Greg Page - Similar to Witherspoon. Michael Dokes - was spark by Ruddock who Tyson destroyed twice. Oliver Mccall - Former Tyson sparring partner, lost to Bruno who tyson beat for the WBC title. Hasim Rahman - We would have seen this if Rock had decided to face Tyson instead of rematching LL. Henry Akinwande - Who the **** cares? Tommy Morrison - They were going to fight in 95/96, however Tommy got AIDS. Heres the thread detailing Don Kings fight plan for Tyson http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-236972.html
Thanks Hook! The division was hot then. Look at all the matches that could have been! Every now and then I dust off my Ring magazines and take that trip down 90's lane. Tyson-Bowe would have been HUGE.
One thing is for certain and that is he was an absolute god damn fool for the way he treated, railed against and put a lawsuit on Bill Cayton. If he was guilty of anything, it was being meticulously competent to a fault in regards to his ability to manage and look after Mike's interests. Rooney I think would've been shown the door regardless of whether he publicly supported Bill. I do give Mike a lot of credit for bouncing back from the Douglas KO loss. In 1991, there was not a higher rated fighter he could've possibly fought and he beat that ass twice and basically derailed his career. It sort of shits on the idea that all you have to do is stand up to Tyson blah blah all that gibberish. How many hooks, uppercuts and hybrid Smashes did Tyson treat as if they were glancing blows? Makes quite a bit difference when your head is in the game and your actually attempting to mount an offense, to say the least. As champion, he did pretty much what he needed to by wiping out everybody and anybody with a title claim over a quick period of time. The only real cheeseball fight was Tony Tubbs, but that deal was too sweet not to take advantage of. Remove Tyson himself from the ratings and where were some of them at the time: Berbick (#1), Smith (#1), Thomas (#1), Tucker (#1), Spinks (Lineal). Carl Williams was also #2 and Biggs was top-10 rated before they sent him to his death. Holmes a pretty self explanatory bout. Ruddock (#1) twice when he was at his most dangerous. Fact of the matter is amongst Heavyweights, he did plenty enough in his own time in dominant enough fashion to easily be considered Great. He passes the eye test with 20 seconds of TRAINING FOOTAGE. :deal
Most would not fight him. Roy Jones wanted no part of him, and guys like Morrison could not get to number one ranking. If Tyson ko'd each in one round, you'de have thread up asking why he fought them, they were not worthy.
You have to appreciate his run in the 80's. Besides Witherspoon, who lost to Smith and thus derailed himself and later got blacklisted by King, and Holyfield, there was no significant name he did not fight. The Holyfield fight would have happened had Douglas not upset the applecart. One could perhaps say Damiani, but remember that Damiani was pretty much an unknown in the US, and only really came into prominence in 1989. He had also won the WBO title, which was considered a joke, and thus fell out of the rankings of the WBA, WBC and IBF. You really can't fault Tyson's run in the 80's. He was active, unified the titles, and beat every significant name. He made it perfectly clear who the man in the division was back then. Even his brief bit of work before prison was more than decent. Tillman was a gimme, but Stewart was a capable fighter, if one not expected to win. The win itself was impressive though. Ruddock was a danger back then and was being avoided by a lot of fighters, and got beat up twice by Tyson.
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