Tyson or Holyfield: who was dirtier?

About sums it up for me as well. To say nothing of the drug abuse.

 

Holyfield was, and the primary reason why , is because Mike didn't try to hide the fact that he was fighting dirty, and the refs would warn him , take points away and such, he would be penalized.

Evander on the otherhand, could low blow all day long, do this very intelligent headbutt technique where he would see the fighter come in,then dip towards their right hand or inside their left hand tying them up so they don't do something, then he would smash his head upwards into the fighters jaw looking like he was trying to steady himself.. That might seem like no big deal, but trust me, you can get knocked out this way. Another thing Evander did, that I only ever saw him do to Mike Tyson, which I think he did,because usually heavyweights were taller than him, is that he would push mike down and knee him right in the face. which he did in the 2nd fight, he throws a very sloppy right then lifts his knee holding mike down.

 

Mike was a piece of **** for that no doubt. But that was a response to the foul. if you see Evander, he is headbutting him before might bit him. That headbutt might not look like it hurt, but what I want you to do is, find someone you trust, talk about something that brings this fight and headbutts up, and ask them to gently tap the top of their head into your lower jaw, just very very gently. And you will feel right away that,if this was any harder, then you could get concussed

 

That was like the GOAT foul combo. Even better than when Golota started throwing combos to Bowe's nuts.

 

Absolutely. I have clashed heads with my 5 year old unexpectedly & it hurt to some degree.

 

Wasn’t it ever!

Puts you into emotional and intellectual conflict, thoughts perhaps being: -

“Vander, you dirty basterd, but, WOW, that was amazing! How many hours in the gym did it take you to perfect that move(s)?!!”.

Clearly, Tyson didn’t put in the same work in the gym for his fouls.

 

How did your 5 year old come off? All good I hope.

 

Sometimes, when one fighter is framed/perceived as the villain or carries a rep. for dirty tactics - his opponent is given a pass for his own infractions.

The reputation of the villain fighter precedes him and even if he’s not committing fouls or at least didn’t initiate the fouls himself, he’s considered to be fair game to receive fouls based solely on his past misdemeanours.

 

He made out well. A chocolate in compensation.

 

A good point I hadn’t considered & likely correct.

 

It's rumored Holyfield actually practiced headbutt's in training, like he had an actual tire he hung around a heavybag at head level. I can believe that as he made headbutts an art in how to use them without it being immediately noticable by the ref.

Mike was just a wildcard who struggled to contain his emotions at time, not an excuse but I'd say the guy who actually practiced being dirty was the dirtier fighter.

 

Lol. You made me remember my nephew as a toddler. Let’s just say he had a fair sized head.

Several times when holding him (him facing away) he’d have a tanty and violently throw his head back, hitting me right in the nose - eye watering stuff.

I swear that kid’s cranium had a built in, titanium stack hat/safety helmet - it felt like getting hit by a brick every time - no damage or discomfort ever suffered by him.

Happy to say he eventually grew into his head.

 

Kind of my thoughts on that. Looked like he'd practiced it.

 

Holyfield was so good at disguising his butting, that for the longest time, I didn't think it was intentional or dirty, and often wouldn't even notice it real-time. I remember after their second fight, Tyson describing what Holyfield was doing exactly. I started to watch for it after that, and realized....damn, Mike was right. Holyfield's ability to sneak in a headbutt in rhythm during an exchange really was impressive.

Having said that, Mike was probably dirtier, especially late career after the Holyfield rematch. Twisting people's arms, butting, low blows, biting (he supposedly bit McBride, though I didn't see it), punching after the bell. He did it all.

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