Rewatched Holyfield-Tyson I

Great fight, although perhaps too much holding.

 

tyson was washed up by then so you cant hold that much against him.

 

you sure about that? 96' is a whole lot different form a prime tyson. even a prime holy is different form the 96' version

 

Yeah, but it's one thing if your body betrays you because of age. But having heart is a whole other ballgame. If Tyson had more heart, he would have had more success in later bouts. Tyson never once won a fight he was behind in.

Joe Louis never quit when he fought Rocky Marciano. He had to get knocked out. If Tyson would have had heart, he would have been twice the fighter that he was.

 

Tyson knocked out Botha in a fight in which he trailed.

How people question his heart after watching him stand up to the beatings against Lewis, Holyfield, and Douglas is beyond me. He nearly took out Douglas after getting killed for the first 8 rounds.

 

you cant say he didnt have heart. look at the beatings he took against douglas, holy and lewis. and he was fighting back in all those fights. williams and mccbide was more of him realizing he didnt have it anymore. tyosn's problem was the fact that he didnt have a plan b. he was just bum rush you and try to overpower you. if that didnt work, he didnt knw what else to do but just keep on rushing in.

 

Because there is a difference between taking a beating and giving up on yourself than taking a beating while fighting back to win. If Tyson had gotten up or came back from behind in a fight he would get more credit for this. He has taken a good beating but he quit to himself long before knockouts... you can just see it in his attitude, composure, expression.

As for the Botha fight it was close, I think I had Tyson up but Tyson was doing his usual antics and was mad but had no reason to be quit on himself at that point. I think he also got points deducted for one of the rounds... unsure though.

 

This is why it's so hard to rate Tyson. Take the Lennox Lewis, fight for example. After getting hurt with an uppercut, Tyson relinquished his aggressive assault. No more bobbing, no more weaving. No more leaping left hooks or swift combination punching either. He was just walking forward, taking jab after jab after jab. You could tell he was looking to end things with one magic punch. Tyson had pretty much given up after the second round.

In the 1st Holyfield fight, things began to go downhill after Tyson was decked in the 6th round. You could just see his confidence sink like the sand in an hourglass from that point on. Ironically, the 5th round was Tyson's best round. But after that, he slowly began to give up.

 

I don't know what to think about it. I thought it was quite a stunning claim at the time, but it's happened many times where a fighter has had his bell rung and remembers nothing of the fight, even when he won.

I suppose it's possible.

 

Nobody will ever really know why either. Tyson is a complex character. The knockdown Holyfield scored wasn't even much of a knockdown, to be honest, yet Tyson's night was effectively over at that point.

 

I agree. It effected him big time. The culmination of being frustrated and then getting knocked down, which was more of a balance thing, just made Tyson give up. Tyson landed two good shots the entire fight and one was low.

 

thats what alot of other people say, people who dont or cant anaylze the two fighter's careers. prime holy brawled more which wouldnt be very samrt against tyson. when they actually fought, he fought intelligent. He was clinching, outmanuvering tyson, and he picked his shots well. and a prime tyson wasnt so easy to hit, threw combinations and went to the body more. that tyson gives holyfield more problems. but that dosent mean that holyfield dosent still win, but to say holy ALWAYS beats tyson means you dont know much about either man.

 

Exactly. It was a counterpunch that caught Tyson off balance. Tyson reacted like it was an almighty powerful blow of some sort, and seemed afraid of Holyfield from that point on.