What if George Foreman and Mike Tyson had swapped eras..?

It gets said about both of these fighters. It will probably be said about 20 times in the course of this thread relating to either of them. :-(

 

Tyson in the 70's - For me Tyson does better than Foreman, similar wins against Frazier to Foremans, struggles for a 2/3 rounds against Norton then KO's him, i think the 1974 Ali doesn't beat a prime Tyson but would pick apart a post Rooney Tyson and the likes of Lyle, Chuvalo, Bonavena, Quarry etc would all beaten easily by Tyson it would just be a matter of Tyson letting himself down by not training properly etc.

Foreman in the 80's - Similar to Tyson until maybe Bruno would be an interesting fight Foreman win by late KO in a slugfest, the Douglas that beat Tyson for me would beat Foreman easier, maybe a few other good movers would trouble Foreman and maybe outpoint him so I think Tyson would get more success from this swap.

 

They would each run up a string of wins, and then someone would take advantage of their limitations and expose them.

 

Which heavyweight champion do you hold in highest regard? Just curious. Complete fighter, few technical flaws etc??

 

i think you see it to easy for mike. i am not saying tyson looses.. but you write that tyson beats : Lyle, Chuvalo, Bonavena, Quarry etc. easily...
i don't think mike ever faced a guy (with the exception off holyfield) who was as tough as bonavena or chuvalo. those guys could take a punch very very good. i do believe mike wins but against those two it will surely not be easily

 

Tyson would have beaten Ali, Frazir and Norton. His stock as an all time great would have gone up. Foreman wold have mowed through hos oppision. Might have lost to a highly movated Buster Douglas. Probbly would have won a rematch and not go to prison. Would be too much for a brave Holyfield. Would lose to Bowe and Lewis.

 

Tyson would destroy Frazier/Norton and win a decision over the 34yo Ali Foreman faced.

Foreman would have problems with the slicker boxers of the 80s like Old Holmes (who maybe could still beat a prime Foreman), Pinklon Thomas and Buster Douglas. He kos the rest though

 

if the swapped eras Mike Tyson would have a more crude style given that it's the 70's, it might be more like a Joe Frazier esk style with no peekaboo but would still have that power in him. However he would have gassed out in the early rounds where Frazier persevered.

 

Both of these guys would have ripped through the division in spectacular manner in any era and to that extent little would change. They would both have the potential to self destruct in any era as they did in their own. The only question up in the air is how long they would last and who would topple them.

Tyson in the 70s
Foremans pre title oponents would be a mere formality.

If Joe Frazier comes into his title fight out of shape and unfocused as he did against Foreman then he would be a formality for the motivated and hungry Tyson.

Tyson is going to meet his Buster Douglas in the 70s and it is just a matter of when. I suspecty that he would have been loosing focus by the time he fought Ali in Zaire so he probably looses.

Here the tale has an ironic twist. Although Tyson peaked early he was actualy fighting at a high level and beating ranked contenders into his late 30s. His resume is deceptivley strong on depth and longevity. I submit that in the post Manilla era, when Ali was a shell and the division was verry weak, he might just have been able to take advantage of it.

Foreman in the 80s/90s
Tysons pre title opposition would have provided a much tougher test for Foreman than his own. Sombody like Tucker could have been an awkawrd test for him and he might well have been a better champion for cutting his teeth against opposition like that. It is not beyond possibility that he could have been upset though I suspect he wouldn't be.

Spinks is going down early.

Foreman is going to meet his Jimmy Young eventualy and it might just have been Buster Douglas. If not then sombody else and possibly quite a bit later. There was a weakness in his makeup that sombody was going to exploit or get lucky against and he was never going to have a Joe Louis style title reign.

In this era he is not going to have to look far to find a potential executioner when he is ready to be upset. Douglas, Holyfield, Bowe, Mercer, Lewis are all going to have him in their sights.

In a last ironic twist he is going to be making his comeback aroud now or the previos few years when the division is weak so history might just repeat itself.

 

I have a gut feeling that an old-ass Larry Holmes would give Foreman a boxing lesson.

 

I think the 70's heavyweights are vastly overrated and Tyson plows through them with ease, much better than Foreman's unskilled, spastic stint.

 

I feel like Tyson would lose to Ali, Frazier, Holmes, and get upset by Quarry, and Lyle. He'd have a harder than expected time with Norton. Him and Shavers would have a slugfest which I feel Tyson would come off the canvas to win. Foreman RAPES Tyson's era.

 

This just may be the single most biased post in the history of this section.