Step back in time............Evander Holyfield versus Mike Tyson 1

Great fight. One of my favorites.

 

Awesome fight, shocked me as hell when Tyson lost but definitely a great night of boxing.

 

I remember being shocked when that happened. I was convinced that Tyson was gonna ko Holyfield. Man, was I wrong. What a great fight though

 

I have amazing memories of that night, i was ringside and had been working with an undercard fighter Henry Akinwande who boxed Ohio's / Russian opponent Alex Zolkin.. Mike was odds on and when i asked everyone who would win they said Tyson, all except one.. Lou Savarese , he was dead set on the fact that Holyfield woud easily handle Mike and offered me a side bet, i didn't accept but he was dead correct..

 

Great fight but hardly vintage Tyson

 

I can't stand Holyfield he's such a Hypocrite. Talking about "God this and God that" yet he has like 10 kids by 8 different women. ****in Hypocrite

 

This is probably my favourite HW fight of all time.

My thoughts on the fight -

This was not a prime Tyson at all, his sharpness, timing, speed and tactics were not that of the prime wrecking machine in the 80s. However, this is still a 'good' version of Tyson, an elite level fighter without a doubt and it proved how great of a fighter Holyfield was to put another great win in the bank in exciting fashion. Holyfield had to play matador, a less durable fighter would have crumbled against that version of Tyson.

Some key things, even in round 1, you see Holyfield absorbing a heavy bomb, but starting to pick his shots, it becomes more evident in each round and Tyson is broken by the mid rounds, this goes back to where I said he was much more tactically inept by this point, only having starched some C and B level fighters prior to facing Holyfield after his prison sentence. In accordance with that, because he had only a handful of rounds, I am very impressed with Tyson's stamina, even though it wasn't a full tank to go 12.

Tyson's chin is CAST IRON, as is Holyfields. Once I argued with a Lewis fan who was complaining how Lewis gets criticism for being KOed twice and how Tyson has been KOed in all but 1 of his losses. All KO's are not created equal, in Tyson's KO losses, he was grinded down by vicious punishment, Lewis was starched by 1 big shot twice. I think Tyson's chin is better than Holyfield's, he just lacks the stamina and extended heart that Holyfield had.

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Then I also think this fight shows that prime to prime, Holyfield would lose a very close fight, Tyson putting at least 7 rounds in the bank before he starts to slow down late, where Holyfield would come on strong, but not be able to sink the amount of damage needed to bail himself out. A prime Tyson would have been quicker, would have used better tactics and would have had the stamina and will to take a late onslaught.

Tyson 7 rounds to 5, 8 rounds to 4 prime for prime in my opinion.

The catch 22 is that I heavily favour Holyfield in a 15 rounder though, he'd get a late KO.

 

Great story.

 

I always found this fight funny because Mike only took it because Evander looked like **** against Czyz. Mike was very calculating in choosing his opponents. Oops...

 

ye he should be like the others with ten kids listening to rap and being a pimp

 

Moralman, this is one of my favorite fights of all time.

This fight perfectly illustrates that Mike Tyson was never a great fighter. He might have done some great things, but he was never a great fighter.
Faced with adversity and a challenge, once again Mike Tyson proves he is not in the same league as the Al's, Fraziers and Maciano's.
Tyson would never, ever have one of those comeback from certain defeat victories that some of the REAL all time greats were known for.
Tyson didnt have the character, constitution, or heart of a great fighter.
Tyson was great as long as he had youth, speed and chaos in his side- and was fighting tomato cans, has-beens and blown up light-heavies.

This is the perfect fight and perfect example that illustrates Tysons lack of greatness and character. The Buster Douglas fight too.
If you go back to Tysons prime when he fought Quick Tillis, you see a dress rehersal of Tyson-Douglas. Tillis just didnt have the physical tools to win the fight.

Evander Holyfield was great. Tyson wasn't.

 

No, he didn't, but I am just calling it as I see it from the video, a good version, but far from prime, showed some successes in finding Holyfield stylistically. I don't think it'd ever be an easy fight, but I think a prime Tyson, fit to go 12 easy, with a better set of tactics could beat Holyfield by a clear score.

I don't think prime he would have given up, he did just destroy everybody, but he also was not facing low competition by any means. Tyson's prime competition was better than Dempsey's or Louis', he even had a slightly past it ATG on there with Holmes, not prime, but the manner in which Tyson destroyed him ends any arguments on how a prime Holmes, which was only somewhat better(his style is well suited to fading reflexes)does against Tyson.

His speed and ability to avoid shots, as well as rip precise combinations in his prime was much better than in all of his losses of this nature John.

My point is that a prime Tyson, in a 12 round fight, could last the full 12 with any HW in history, but would put enough rounds in the bank to win decisions against some surprising 'favourites' against him, tactics have so much to do with the game and he showed no tactical ineptness in his prime, against very good competition that would have exposed things otherwise.

The flipside is Tyson would have killed Dempsey's competition just as easy, how does Dempsey do against Tyson's? I could easily see Dempsey losing to a boxer as tactically and defensively good as Holmes, seeing as Tunney did a number on a past prime Dempsey, but not a 'bad version' of Dempsey. But then again, you can make a case for Dempsey on the manner of which Holmes lost to Tyson.

But Tyson's competition is better overall John, this cannot be denied. Dempsey faced no HW ATG's, Tyson faced 3 top 10 HW ATG's, and several elite HW's that he brutalised with ease.

In a 12 rounder, I see Tyson winning too many rounds, Holyfield would need a KO, but Tyson in his prime wouldn't get Koed, goes to the cards. In a 12 rounder, who do you think banks more rounds, Tyson or Holyfield?

I agree, in 15 rounders, against HW ATG's that can withstand his work in the first 7-8 rounds, he is literally at the mercy of god, that's why many favour Ali heavily, though after reviewing a prime Ali, I feel it's up for a debate, but that's for another time.

I think Frazier is a great fighter, underrated. Louis ranks well for his longevity as an elite boxer, but think about this, his overall competition had many bouts against less than top opponents and the ATG's he fought were LHW's, whom he struggled with(past prime), see how Tyson utterly annihilates an ATG LHW in Spinks(whom I rank way over Conn, but not Charles of course)and then view Louis' other performance level.

So for comparison to Louis, Dempsey, Marciano and Frazier, I feel an absolute peak Tyson is a greater H2H fighter than all of them, even if one of these guys had what it takes to beat him. Can't personally see Louis beating him for example, on styles alone.