Which Holyfield win impressed you the most: Qawi or Tyson

That version of Mike Tyson - against Mathis, when he was still rusty from being out nearly four years - was still better than the cruiserweight Dwight Qawi. And that version of Tyson was arguably twice as fast as the smaller Qawi.

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Holyfield's 15-round win against Qawi was very impressive because Evander was basically an inexperienced pro and the 15-round distance played in Qawi's favor.

But only a year later, with another year of experience, Holyfield mopped the floor with Qawi. Qawi was slow as hell as a cruiserweight. He didn't have much movement. He certainly didn't have quick feet or quick hands. He just wore people out.

Tyson steamrolled people.

 

Which in fact for me was a better performance than a TKO11 + DQ3 against a in my eyes pretty shitty Tyson. Like others said, Cooper 2.0.

I thought Holyfield at Cruiser did look absolutely superb, while the Tyson fight was a once and repeat counterpunching with Tyson not bringing much to the table.

 

What on Earth did that person just say?

 

Tyson

I remember very clearly back in late 1996 just before that fight the wide held belief was that Tyson was unbeatable, invincible and was going to unify the HW belts with ease and retire as the greatest heavyweight of all time, the hype around Tyson was unreal and both the media and fans bought into the myth. Most people thought the fight would be over in 1 round and there was legitimate fear that Evander could be killed by Tyson.

In hindsight it's easy to see that Tyson hadn't really proved anything, the Bruno and Seldon wins were decent but both those opponents were scared. The Buster Douglas loss was appraently down to Tyson not being properly prepared and the two tough struggles with a B level fighter in Razor Ruddock were down to Tyson being preoccupied by his his personal and legal problems. After the Seldon/Bruno wins we all believed Tyson was back to his best, the invincible destroyer of the late 80's was back and old man Holyfield was going to get punished in brutal fashion.

All the delusions and myths around Tyson were destroyed on that night by Evander.

 

How was the WBC WBA heavyweight champion Mike Tyson who Holyfield fought freaking BERT COOPER 2.0?

That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

 

How on earth was post-prison Tyson in any way like Bert Cooper?

They fought nothing alike.

One was an all-time great. One was an all-time fringe contender.

They both wore black trunks.

Is that what you mean?

 

Cooper put a prime Holyfield down, and Tyson after Prison was not good! Of course he was no Cooper, for example had a better chin. But Tyson was shyte, that´s what the metaphor is all about! Kindergarten....

 

Late 90s Tyson was a shell of his former self. He lost much of his quickness, devolved into a mostly one-punch-at-a-time slugger who used less head movement and ate more punches, etc. Between all of that and their relatively similar stature, late-career Tyson reminds me of a better Bert Cooper.

 

I wouldn't say post-prison Tyson was "shyte" or on the same level as Cooper, but I definitely think he lost a lot of what made him such an extraordinary fighter in the 80s. He was still a very, very dangerous fighter though.

 

Yes shyte is harsh, but in comparison to what he was before he was pretty diminished.

 

Braxton

Evander only had about 10 fights and was forced to prove he possessed all the intangibles that would make him a great fighter.

 

I didn't say he was a better cruiserweight than Dwight Qawi. Qawi won a title there. Cooper didn't. I said he was better than the cruiserweight Qawi.

The cruiserweight Qawi was slow and plodding and lost to ordinary guys. The light heavyweight Qawi was great. The cruiserweight Qawi, while a titleholder, wasn't.

At heavyweight, Cooper beats Qawi.

 

That's like saying Henry Cooper was better than George Foreman because Cooper put Ali down and Foreman didn't.

You're an idiot.

Bert Cooper was a fringe contender. Mike Tyson was an all-timer.

Mike Tyson in 1996 was still a great fighter. Better than 99 percent of the division at that time.

 

He stopped Bruno in five in 1989 and stopped Bruno in three in 1996.

I don't think he was too diminished. Holyfield just beat him.

The cruiserweight Qawi who Holyfield beat certainly WAS NOT the guy who beat Matthew Saad Muhamad twice.

You want to talk "diminished" ... look at Qawi winning the title against Saad and Qawi winning the title vs. Crous.

Not the same AT ALL.