Tyson-Lewis

I give him credit for how well he dominated BUT it's alot like Slappy and Jones IMO. BTW speaking of Lewis, why does Vitaly get credit for a LOSING effort against an old Lewis?

 

After the Nielson fight, I knew he was gonna get ****ed up, that's when LL really pressed hard for the fight, he took him to court and stopped his tune up fights. Lewis could have done this in the 90s, he knew Tyson was done after Nielson in 02.

 

There are literally hundreds of pages in this forum that discuss this question.

 

Good post, problem here is that these wins were in the late 80 s, when majority of posters here were still sucking their mommys tits....

 

Tyson SEEMED fairly motivated before that fight. As with every post prison fight, knowledgeable fans could see the ring rust, but assumed the next fight would be better. People were still riding the high of the 80s undisputed champ. And against Lewis, Tyson always had a solid punchers chance. Therefore some credit is deserved for Lewis. However not nearly as much as beating an 80's version of Mike. To say that would be ludicrous.

 

This was almost a no win situation for Lewis. He HAD to win this fight, hils whole legacy depended on it.

Then when he does win it, many say Tyson was shot, and that's about a best case scenario.

Having said that, I thought how he won it meant a lot. In the first round especially, it was a blue print of how they both would have fought each other in their primes. Many say Tyson won that round, but I see it differently. In that round Lewis caught Tyson with some vicious uppercuts and during rounds, Tyson admitted he was hurt. Later in the fight, Lewis also manhandled him, leaned on him and just outmuscled him..it was basically a perfect blue print on how to beat Tyson. That said, a prime Tyson would have had a much better chance of landing his own meaningful shots.

 

Lewis didn't "own" Holyfield at all. However you spin it.

He had all the psysical advantages over the old man but mostly looked petrified to engage any of it. He did the bare minimum against a guy who looked tiny in there.

The second fight was actually close, but this gets overlooked as it was always going to be given to Lewis as a "make up" decision.

 

:good I agree with everything said here, I wonder though, what would have happened if he fought these guys earlier when they were near thier peaks?

 

its really not that great of a win, it terms of legacy but moreso for the money and because tyson is still the most popular boxer alive. but tyson was finished, he looked like **** against neilsen and came in a career high 238lbs. tyson was done at that point.

 

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Tyson was a shot fighter, no doubt about it. In fact, Mike was in better condition for his fight after Lewis, which was against Etienne. Mike weighed 234lbs for Lewis, but scaled 226lbs for Etienne.

All the talk about how Mike was training really hard in Hawaii was all bull****. Tyson's mind was everywhere else expect the job at hand, which was the bout against Lewis. Clearly, being in Hawaii was a holiday, not a training camp for Mike!

In fact, such was the fascination of Tyson during the build-up to the fight, I reckon he may have even done more interviews than rounds actually sparred!

Tyson was not in shape to face Lewis. Lewis fought a shot Tyson, plain & simple! Do I give Lennox credit for the win? Yes I do, but at the end of the day, had it been a peak Tyson in the opposite corner, we all know it would have a very different story.

The only success Tyson had in the fight was the first round. After that, it was all Lewis. Tyson's ringwalk tells the story if ever there was one. Tyson facial expression suggest he knew he was on a hiding to nothing, knew that he was going to get beat, but he still took his lumps!

 

tyson was shot, lewis cashed in on his name, the only thing about that win is that it looks good on his record