teofilo stevenson vs mike tyson in a 6 rounder

Are you serious? Are you trying to imply that just because he developed physically and gained weight, he could just walk through the same shot that not only hurt him, but knocked him out? I agree that his punch resistance likely had gotten better than it was when he was a teenager, but he got significantly slower and more static, and against Savon he is required to walk through the shots if he wants to land himself. The point is that he isn't walking through anything against Savon.

Also, just as I've thought, you surely weren't going to talk about good defense while talking about the skills Tua had developed over the years. You'd probably have a different case if we were talking about the skilled boxers, who significantly develop their skills over the time. As for Tua, he apparently developed things like slower movement and a bigger neck.

 

So the 200lb Savon who made a career out of fighting young, green up and comers rather than seasoned durable and experienced fighters hits harder than the likes of Lewis, Rahman and Ibeabuchi????

Are you also suggesting 18 year old cruiserweight Tua was Tua at his best? David Izon would disagree.

Every western fighter Savon and Stevenson fought was in the infancy of their career. Savon had a 16 year international career, Stevenson 17 years. Put him in with a 96-97 Tua or an 87-88 Tyson.

Solis beat Savon in the Ams, his pro career hasnt been flash, Jorge Luis Gonzalez beat Bowe, Lewis and Stevenson in the Ams, Bowe rectified that emphatically in the pros.

 

Savon was a whopping 5 years older than Tua, hardly a case of an old man beating up a little boy!

 

5 years experience, 5 years maturity. Huge difference

5 years later Tua was fighting Ruiz, Izon, Wilson, Maskaev and Ibeabuchi.
While at same age Savon was fighting 18 yr old Tua, 19 yr old Darnell Nicholson, 19 yr old Kirk Johnson, 19 yr old Shannon Briggs.

Very much a case of man against boys

 

Stevenson turned down a 5 million dollar offer to fight Muhammad Ali in the 70's, and all he had to do was apply for a boxing license. Granted he would have lost, but he could have gained a fortune for one night's work without having to go through the grueling ordeal of compiling a professional record. Anyway, as far as Tyson goes, Stevenson would have lost. Wrong style for Tyson and had this been a situation of a debuting amateur taking on a fully primed and seasoned pro, it would have made for a short evening.

 

Five years is an enormous age gap in boxing on both ends of the spectrum. When you have a guy who's 24 years old taking on a man who's 19, the advantage is colossal. Think Tyson vs Tillman

 

It's only a whopping gap when it suits you.
Tyson's victory over Holmes is hollow then because Larry was much more than 5 years older than Tyson.

 

Based on the careers of Cuban defectors, I'm going to say Stevenson shows up for the Tyson fight 30 to 40 pounds over his best fighting weight, moves and throws a jab for a couple rounds, then takes a slow, steady beating. He'd smile as the decision is announced, like he knows he's better than the guy who just whipped him, and then he'd head to Miami to blow his check.

 

How was it the wrong style for Tyson? Mike never thought anyone in his prime who was as tall and could bang like Stevenson.

The only question is could Stevenson fight for 12 rounds?

 

There are very few who give Tyson's win over Holmes much merit and nor should they. Holmes was 38 years of age, retired for two years and had looked lackluster in his last few fights BEFORE the layoff. His name looks good on Tyson's record but that's about it. Getting back to the age thing, it means a hell of a lot. Most 18,19 year old men are not as mentally or physically developed as men who are in their mid 20's. Sure you have the occasional exception here and there where you have a highschool basketball player getting drafted into the NBA or a young boxer like Tyson who takes down a whole division by the time he's 20. But those are exceptions.. Not the norm.

 

Because Stevenson's whole game was designed around getting the job done in three rounds, meaning he'd have to engage Tyson in a fast paced, closed ranged fight to accomplish anything.. Because of this he'd lose.

 

Savon made a career of winning multiple World championships, multiple Olympic golds and multiple PanAm and CA golds.

As for the punching power, we can't really measure it, but he was notorious for his counters and has knocked out many guys in a similar fashion to the Tua fight. As for Tua, given his style, he was far from his best when he fought Savon, but also considering his style, gaining 15kg of weight and becoming much slower isn't really working in his favor against boxer like Savon. So yes, he would be like a punching bag to Felix, nothing more than a target practice.

I'm interested to see what you think about the recent professional world champion Shumenov against an amateur in Julio Cesar la Cruz.

 

Well if Buster Douglas could engage Tyson from the get go then the taller Stevenson who had way more power than Douglas would be more than capable to mix it with him.

 

Same could be said about Tyson in a way, early despatching of his opponent being his game plan.

Ok Tyson was proven over the full distance, but the longer the fight went, Tysons psychological fragility became apparent against some opponents..chomp chomp.

Stevenson was not proven over the full pro distance because he had not done it, but that is fact for any amateur.

I posted earlier that would Tyson in his first pro bout have won if Stevenson was his opponent, that would level the playing field.

 

yes, because he would have been trained by Cus Damato who know doubt would have prepared the right game plan for the fight.

why don't we put Audley in there against Lewis from his first pro fight, see how that turns out?