Tyson was heavily favored to beat Holyfield in their first fight, and we all know what happened. Did people just underestimate how past it Tyson was at that point, or did Holyfield just have his number stylistically?
Reverse it......throw Holy in the can for almost 4, have him fight a couple of scrubs and then match him with a fighter who focused his entire career on fighting him..... Tyson trained roughly 3 weeks for the Holyfield match while being distracted by the Rooney lawsuit, he even had to break camp because he had to fly to New York for a deposition. Mike Tyson was never ever in hard 12 round fighting shape after prison........he was maybe 50% , at best, what he was from 86-89. Prime vs prime Tyson stops Holyfield...........there is no smart Holyfield, he always brawled when the going got tough, death sentence against Tyson. Holyfiled build his entire reputation on beating a washed up Tyson twice, he is 2-5 against Bowe/Moorer/Lewis.....he lost more than he won by a wide margin. Holyfiled is also one of the worst, possible the worst, PED abuser.......he would never pass a a current test.
Actually Holyfield vs Tyson was set to happen in 1991, but Tyson had a injury. A rib injury I think. Re-scheduled to 1996, Holyfield had already lost to Moorer on points, was stopped by Bowe and looked just all right beating an over matched Czyz. There were rumors of Holyfield health, and the odds made Tyson a 20-1 favorite, ( Can anyone confirm the odds ) which to me was ludicrous. Tyson wasn't as good post prison. He had lost skills, and never could respond well to adversity, which Holyfield in good condition or not would force. My thoughts were Tyson early or Holyfield late. By round six, it was clear who would win. I still think the ref stopped this one a few seconds too early. I wanted to see a second knockdown. Tyson fans were in denial saying it was fixed. Yeah right, Tyson barely made it out of round ten and was clearly losing, swinging wildly.
If a fighter doesn’t train properly it’s on them. For some reason Tyson fans always bring this up. There are no what ifs. If Tyson came in out of shape it was Tyson it was who he was and that bit of extra work separates the greats from the greats. Age and total mileage is the only factor I’ll take into consideration and Tyson was plenty young. An ATG but once he won he didn’t put in the work and that’s who he was. If Oscar Bonavena put in more work maybe he would have been a better fighter but no one says that lol (and shouldn’t)can’t use that excuse w Tyson.
The way odds are worked out are slightly different in the States; but here in the UK I got 24/1 against Holyfield. I know because I won 240 quid on a tenner. Not that I really thought Holyfield was going to win, I just knew he was not a 24/1 shot; indeed, nowhere near one.
Holyfield had not looked impressive in a victory in 3 years. There were journalists who expressed concerned about Holyfield’s well being prior to the fight. Four fights earlier Evander retired due a heart ailment returning one year later , claiming he was healed by a faith healer and being given a clean bill of health by the Mayo Clinic. (Mayo said opined that the original test was inaccurate due the medical treatment he received prior to test skewing the results. The Nevada State Athletic Commission in its never ending quest for truth asked Holyfield if he used hgh which of course he denied) Prior to the November 96 fight I was frustrated believing that the 1991 Holyfield would have defeated Tyson and that the window had closed for Holyfield.
That applies to Post Prison. Pre-Prison he had stamina issues; he beat Ruddock, Tucker, Smith, Tillis, Green by decision. He stopped Ribalta late.
After Tyson destroyed Bruno and Seldon just about all fans and journalists assumed he was back to being the old invincible destroyer he was pre Douglas and to be fair he did look good in those fights but in hindsight he had KO'ed two fighters that were intimidated and had shaky chins. The hype around Tyson after the Bruno and Seldon fights was just unreal, he really was being hyped by the media as an unstopabble, unbeatable killer. I can remember well in the build up that people were not just concerned that Holyfield would get KO'ed but there was genuine fear that he might be killed by Tyson because of the heart problems and losses to Bowe and Moorer he had looked a shot fighter. And yes Holyfield had Tyson's number not just in style but in mentality.
