What Would Have Happened In 1996, If Holyfield Wasnt Thought Of As Shot And Old?

Possibly, but realistically by the time Tyson was fighting Holyfield, Bowe was fighting Golota and Foreman would not sign with King, so in reality the Holyfield fight was the biggest fight that could be made at the time. After Bowe's showing against Golota, Holyfield still looked like a tougher fight for Tyson, Bowe was just shot to all hell.

 

Tyson might not have actually put a lot of time in a serious training camp, but he was on a fairly busy fighting schedule before the Holyfield fight, so he was probably in somewhat decent shape. Compare that to the long year long layoffs between some of his fights where Tyson was entering training camp around 270 pounds where he was idle up until 6-8 weeks before the fight. You cant stay in good shape that way. Unless a fighter is fighting every three months, they really need to stay in the gym and keep their fitness up.
We all know how that is no matter how much of an athelete you are, take some time off a cardio routine and it takes some time to build it back up to where it was. When a fighter is spending an entire camp trying to cut weight and not concentrate on boxing, thats a big problem too, and was Bowes biggest problem for example. Futch said most of Bowes camps after the first Holyfield fight were basically fat farms, where Bowe spent most of his time cutting weight, and it showed in a lot of his sloppy performances.

 

Holyfield fight is definitely the biggest that could be easily arranged, I agree with that.

Even with Bowe's shocker against Golota. Tyson-Foreman and Tyson-Bowe were still the most talked about 'biggies'. Remember there were plenty of people trying to write Bowe-Golota I off as a fluke, due to Bowe's being 252 and underestimating Golota and so on. The sequel certainly disproved that, of course...and then that was it for Bowe.

Part of the reason Foreman had the Grimsley fight at the end of '96, after not fighting in over a year and a half, was in hopes of getting the Tyson bout finally in '97.

 

Moorer would have presented a better challenge for Tyson than Bruce Seldon. Yes he would have stood in front of Tyson, but he was good with his jab and hooks and probably at that time, would have given Tyson some good work. Seldon just folded up. Moorer would have not.

 

Yes and Foreman looked pretty bad in the Grimsley fight.

 

I agree with this, Moorer could've caused that Tyson trouble & confusion with his jab, look at the Seldon fight; Tyson gets hit with a jab, then moves his head, gets hit with a jab, then moves his head, gets hit with a jab...

If Moorer could stick mainly to the jab & combination punching, then he could give Tyson a hard time for perhaps 6 rounds. While i'm worried about his chin, i certainly think he'd rise several times when floored, like in Holyfield II.

However, what Tyson really needed was a very durable challenge, like McCall, Mercer or Tua. This would've likely extended him 12 rounds & made Holy's "bullet proof" toughness less of a shock to him.

 

I remember very clearly watching the Mcall Bruno fight. I was screaming at the television hoping that Mcall would pick up the pace. He had Bruno in the late rounds and just couldnt close the show. Mcall would have been the perfect challenge for Tyson, and Tyson most likely would have taken a different path leading up to a fight with Mcall, even as far as a trainer goes, but would have always challenged for the WBC title first.

 

Yes, it would've been a great war in '96.

Perhaps partially repairing the mental damage from his wrongful imprisonment, in that he'd be better able to handle the mental strain of facing the determined Holy, instead of just relying on everyone folding like a cheap deckchair from his wild bombs & intimidation. Plus, hopefully he'd realised Bright was no help at all in tough situations, just like Snowell.

 

Holyfield would beat Tyson at any time.

 

AGEED 100%

IMO 1999 Old commader Vander tkos 1988 Tyson inside 12 Roundz. :deal

 

I'd probably favor him to do so as well, but it would have been epic to see the two of them go at it in 1990, rather than 1996..

 

I remember when they postponed the fight. What a disappointment that was. Tyson probably would have gotten the fight off before jail, but the Ruddock fights beat his body up pretty good.

 

It really is too bad that Tyson blew it against James Douglas, because if he hadn't, he was set to meet Evander in June of that same year.. That loss was a disaster for more than a few reasons.

 

I remember they kept showing Evander in the later rounds sitting at ringside. The look on his face was priceless as he watched his mega million payday go down the drain. I guess he didnt too bad for fighting Douglas though.

 

Did anyone here read the December '91 Ring article about Tyson-Holy?

What were their predictions?

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