Just thinking Ron Lyle .. much different fighter than tyson ,but he hurt foreman, badly(what a war).Foreman knocked him out ,but if tyson hurt george he would knock him out, he was to fast for foreman. I guess same thing if foreman hurts tyson first. Foreman would not be afraid though and most of tyson victims were.Joe Frazier in 1970 would give both these guys all they could handle maybe more...
Tyson lacked Lyle's height and reach. Just getting to Foreman's chin would have been problematic for him. Smith physically smothered him, and James didn't have George's freakish strength. Foreman would have placed his hands on Mike's broad shoulders and shoved him all over the ring. Tyson would have few chances to get set and unload. If he did manage to fire back, he'd have no more success than Cooney and Morrison did. Mike's power wasn't all that. He failed to drop Green, Smith and Tucker, and was only able to produce an insignificant flash knockdown on Tillis. (Shavers landed a far more devastating knockdown punch on Tillis. Both Holmes and Tillis rated Earnie a harder puncher than Tyson.) Foreman wouldn't take a backwards step here. Tyson didn't have Morrison's height and reach, and would not have been able to win by retreating and outmaneuvering George. (Frazier was resourceful in his rematch with Foreman, but he was boxing a battle of survival, and still dominated by George.) George wanted Tyson, the media promoted the idea of a match between the two, and the public wanted to see it. Why did it not come off? Who was responsible for preventing it from happening? Just before Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield's ear, Evander shoved him back several feet. Foreman didn't take a backwards step against Holyfield. Foreman-Tyson = Man versus Boy. This is a really bad match up for Tyson, and Mike knew it.
I don't think Tyson can move Foreman back, and I don't think he can eat those uppercuts for long. Tyson either uses handspeed and buzzes Foreman early with and finishes him (something that might not even be possible with his beard) or Foreman gets to him before 6 rounds.
Two things just for a good discussion: 1. The Foreman push is so often overlooked. Cracked me up actually. He didn't have room to unload on somebody trying to smother him and he just shoved them around like they were nothing and fired at his preferred distance. I don't know why more people don't mention that. 2. I recall Holmes saying that Shavers was a harder puncher but that Tyson was a "sharper" one and as far as I can remember Shavers wasn't too quick or great with combining punches. It's been a while since I've seen a Shavers fight. A long while so please feel free to correct me if I'm way off, but I remember him being not particularly capable of putting the punches together and thinking that if he was, he'd murder everyone he had lost to. That's why I don't think it's a definite loss for Tyson. Fast combination power puncher. Maybe would surprise me if he got hot early. But I'm still with you that the odds are Foreman is too much for Mike in being all the worst things for him.
I think Tysons power always gets overlooked whenever this match up comes up. Maybe because of the frazier fights everybody just sees it looking the same, and it probably would do however I think Tyson definitely had the power to hurt george and if he did hurt him hed probably get him out of there, and hes every bit as likely if not more to land a big one than foreman imo. I see this as a pretty even match up, and it would just depend on who hurt who first.
In his day, Jim Jeffries was actually lauded for his use of this tactic. The Foreman shove is my lingering image of him from the Morrison fight, where he pushes Tommy off with repeated casual forearm extensions. Morrison was booed by the crowd at times for the way he circled right constantly, sometimes even breaking into a run, but George hardly gave him the option of coming in, and Tommy was brilliant at using Foreman's own strength to accelerate his retreat. (The path of least resistance.) Earnie had underrated hand speed with a reported 80 inch reach. He was capable of delivering a long straight right as well as a deadly roundhouse, and his hook was badly overlooked. (He dropped Lyle with his hook, and initially staggered Norton with it.) But no, Shavers certainly wasn't a controlled combination puncher, while Tyson was one of the best heavyweights I've seen at putting punches together. It's not a definite loss for Tyson, but having an opportunity to execute a combination on George while being continually moved back presents a daunting logistical challenge. As fast starting as Mike was, there's no way he'd catch Foreman cold out of the gate. If he did manage to hurt George without killing him, he could find himself in the same fix Cooney was in after landing that big hook, confronted with a roused and concerned beast. The war with Lyle showed that he could be extremely dangerous if in distress.
Tough call either way but i have to go with big george as he was just too big and strong for tyson. Forget tyson KOing those 6ft 3in/4in mugs in his early fights. Any tall fighter with a bit if savvy always gave tyson trouble and Foreman was a bit better than most
Foreman wins this by knockout. Lyle caught George with a picture perfect shot to George's temple. That punch would have probably killed most anyone else. George was rusty but still ko'd Lyle. (I brought that up because so many use the Lyle fight to explain why George could be beat by certain fighters).
Frazier did NOT have one of the best chins ever. And you say Frazier was never laid out cold like Tyson, well at least Tyson lasted more than 2 rounds against Lennox Lewis and Douglas
Yeah it wouldn't work. Frazier is nothing like Tyson and wouldn't hold like Tyson would thus allowing himself to be tossed around. Also, the ref was a factor in allowing the illegal shoving to happen constantly. If you get a stern ref in there he wouldn't allow Foreman to shove in Tyson in this fight. This would allow Tyson to do damage with his vastly superior speed, combined with power on the inside. No Mike wouldn't just lunge in blindly; he would use head movement to get in. Mike's head movement would be hard for Big George to time with his uppercuts.
:happy I always favor Foreman in this matchup. Foreman always has an edge in toughness and heart as far as I'm concerned. Honestly, it's one of the fantasy fights that I'm confident in picking. I just don't like this matchup for Tyson.
Lennox Lewis would of beat the **** out of George Foreman. Even if you don't hold this belief, he's still generally regarded as the better HW. Anyway, how does that even matter even if that was true. Tyson isn't Ron ****ing Lyle either who has a grand total of ONE knockout over a ranked fighter, that being over the stamina and durability lacking Shavers but nonetheless still came within inches of stopping George. And with regards to Frazier, it's worth noting that Foreman is the only top puncher he ever faced, and we saw what happened.
on ESB. Outside of it I don't think he is, though. And honestly, Lewis is way too passive to beat the **** out of Foreman when dealing with a fighter with as much power, height, strength, and reach as him. In fact, Foreman could stark Lewis.