What if: Mike Tyson defends his title vs Bowe instead of Holyfield in Nov '96

It would be ugly one way or another. Two guys who were from the same neighborhood. Both were deteriorating. Bowe fell off a clif as a fighter and Tyson had been diminished to just a bomber. He lost his speed and fluidity.

It would probalby be a sloppy fight with both guys seeing the canvas.

Tyson`s team didnt want to put Mike in with anyone dangerous after he got out of prison. The only reason he agreed to fight Evander Holyfield is because they thought The Read Deal was shot.

 

Tough choice to make as both as u point out had lost a little of them self's. I'm going to go with Tyson at that stage, but with out great conviction. Bowe would still be recovering from the Golota fight. But Bowe gives a good account of him self for a while ripping Tyson s head back. But I feel Mike had a little more left ,enough to drop him around the 7th.Maybe another couple of kd s following before the ref jump s in .

 

How about in their primes?

 

Tyson easy. Bowe was shot

 

I agree here. Tyson was never a good late round fighter, especially in the 1990's. He's slow down, and Bowe's superior size, reach, and conditioning/heart would become more of a factor.

Bowe TKO Tyson rounds 7-12.

 

Bowe was pretty shot by now. Very tough call. If he rises to the occasion then he gets a TKO victory. Still say Bowe was underrated especially on this forum.

 

I don't think Tyson was ready for even this version of Bowe so soon after prison. That was the real SuperFight everyone was clamoring for.

 

LOL, so we are talking Bowe from Golata 2 ? Totally shot Bowe would get KO'ed without ANY low blows.......Golata was never a big puncher and Tyson would land the same shots over and over again which wobbled/knocked Bowe down..... except even that version of Tyson has way more mustard on his shots than Golata ever had..........I give the Bowe from Golata 1 a much better chance to pull it off but Golata 2 he was done beyond done.......he looked like a deflated balloon at the weigh in, totally shot, consequently Futch dumped him too after Golata 1 due to Bowe rapid decline mentally and physically.

We are talking Tyson power here that will make the difference......a stoned washed up shot Tyson hit Golata with ONE good shot and Golata was basically done from that ONE hit while he took plenty of flush shots from Bowe, even getting up and continue whalloping on Bowe in the second fight....as I said Bowe was so far gone at that time that he would be unable to cope with Tysons power.

 

That thought crossed my mind as well. He did show tenacity and wouldn't quit. I think Futch had left Bowe. Physically he just seemed either shot or badly overtrained. His weight was down but he may have hurt himself to get there.

 

He gets a beating and is knocked out, this time whilst on his ass!

 

Bowe was completely shot by this point and Tyson still had very fast hands for a HW and brutal power, think the fight would look something like the 2nd Bruno fight in all honesty except Bowe lasts a little longer because of his good chin.Another factor apart from Bowe's diminished skills and physical condition was his fragile mentality, I have a feeling Tyson would intimidate him badly.

If the fight happened a year earlier I think Bowe wins but the 3rd Holyfield fight and 1st Golota fight basically finished RB as a top heavyweight.

 

Donuts finished Bowe. He wants to eat and once he won the crown he just didn't get that discipline back. He felt he had proven his critics wrong when he won the title (he did) but then he proved them right.

Maybe ducking Lennox Lewis had a negative impact on Bowe.

 

Tyson.