What were your thoughts going into Lewis-Tyson

I was always a Lennox fan and wanted him to win. I was confident about the result because Lewis looked very sharp in the Rahman rematch whereas Tyson looked awfully fat and slow battering Brian Nielsen in Denmark. It was completely obvious that Tyson was a very diminished force at this stage. The most difficult opponent Lennox had on the night was not Tyson but that dreadful referee.

It was surprising that quite a few pundits (especially in Britain) seemed to give Tyson a good chance. Maybe that was based on nostalgia and their vivid memories of the young Tyson. Lennox would always have been a nightmare opponent for Tyson with his size, boxing ability, power and physical strength but I suppose in '96 you'd give Tyson more of a puncher's chance as he had some flickering remnants of his old hand speed back then.

 

Before the fight I thought that Mike looked bad against fat Brian Nielsen, and Lennox looked great in the Rahman rematch.

I thought that Lennox would KO Tyson in 3 rounds, and had no doubts about it. I just underestimated Iron MIke's punch resistance.

I was rooting for Mike, but thought he has zero chances to win this fight.

The only thing I was really surprised during the fight was how much punishment Tyson took before going down.

 

I won 2 x $50 bets on this one. Lewis was 7-5 fave going in when i looked. There was over 100 in the bar and the vast majority thought Tyson would win.

 

No chance. Tyson had been a bit of a joke and circus by this point, the buildup didn't inspire confidence as tyson's antics seemed to indicate he didn't even want the fight. It was in jeopardy as it was so he chose to have that crazed homophobic "white boy" rant and brawl with Lewis' security. Complete joke from the get go. What I really found amusing was Lennox trying to claim some kind of prestige from beating the corpse version of Tyson "people kept asking me who would win out if me and Tyson, I showed them". The fight was meaningless in truth, next to nothing can be gained from it as Tyson was so far removed from his prime. The only surprise was Tyson not melting down, strangely enough he handled the actual fight and loss with class. I think history will diminish the meaning of this fight even more over time, the best Tyson was back in the 80s, Mike was a man out of time by 2002.

I think in 96 Tyson was sharper so had a better chance of catching
Lewis and would be more competitive but he would need the movement, combinations and stamina of his prime to actually win. I think Lewis would take it in 96 and the win would be a lot more respectable. I think 91 Tyson had a good chance against
Lennox.

 

At that point in time, how Tyson was, how little he had really fought, I expected Lewis to win. After regaining the belt from Rahman, I knew Lewis wanted this fight so much. He would be at his very best, and unfortunately for Tyson was no longer able to provide a stern test. If the fight had taken place a few years earlier then perhaps I'd have given Tyson a shot . But I predicted a ten round ko for Lewis so wasn't that far wrong.

 

I remember feeling a little bit empty, this fight never happened when it should of done. The build up was huge, Tyson still talked the talk but i knew it wasnt the full Mike Tyson. I would of always wanted Lewis to win but i wanted Lewis to take on the full Mike Tyson, not the one he was when it eventually happened. I fully expected Lewis to pick him off with reletive ease i just hoped he didnt make a fool of Tyson on the night. Tyson was too good to be going out like that.

 

Thought tyson was gonna win it at the time tbh. I think truthfully tho there was probably slightly more people thinking tyson would win it than lennox. Was probably more based on mcall and rahman catching and knocking lewis out rather than tysons recent form. My thinking at the time was tyson would catch him at one point...he,d come in in the best possible shape for it as well.

In hindsight tho after watching the fight recently it was pretty much a great fighter than trained and lived professionally against a great fighter...that hadnt trained or lived professionally for a lot of years. Pretty sure tyson was living ridiculously at the time also. He was finished. Had been ever since the holyfield ear biting incident and subsequent ban. Wasnt near prime against holyfield. But he was finished against lewis. Pretty much think lennox kept him in there just to beat on him some more. Which was actually pretty poor from him. Should have just got him out of there. Fair enough after tysons antics in the build up...but it became pretty clear quite early it was like watching an amatuer against a professional. As great as tyson once was.

Still annoys me about lewis that he tried to equate it to beating a prime tyson. It was clear to see it was anything but....lennox would need to be blind not to know it.

 

My thoughts were how will Tyson lose the fight will he get dq'd will get ko'd? Will he put out at the last minute?

 

I was a teenager, but I expected exactly what happened. (I don't consider myself particularly astute pr prescient for this.)

Of course the real question, and the far more difficult one, is the well-tread counterfactual of what is most likely to have happened had they met prior to 1990.

That's anybody's guess, really. There is a respectable case to be made both ways, but no knockdown arguments.

 

I too knew Tyson was going to lose but l was still very impressed with the amount of punishment he took. I still feel that whenever they would have fought that would have been been Lewis' game plan, course in their primes it may have played differently due to Tyson being a completely different fighter.

 

By Tyson's own admission he didn't train for the fight and was smoking weed and snorting coke right up until a few weeks before the bout. At the time I was hoping for a hungry motivated Tyson to step into the ring and KO Lewis but I was miles off. I could never, and still can't take to Lennox.

 

I wanted Tyson to win and was hopeful but I knew his chances were very slim.

 

It didn't even matter if Tyson trained his hardest, it was too late by then anyway. To beat Lewis he at least needed to be in 1991 form which was impossible by 2002. People forget he had a massive back injury and all sorts of other physical issues.

It would be better if the fight never happened really, it was just two massive names but fighters from different eras. Mike should have packed it in years before but guess the pay days were too good.