No comparison health wise but they were both finished as such and most, who know boxing, knew they didn't stand a chance. Tyson had a slight chance more, he had the power still to ko, but following Lewis, most realized that Mike would need a pretty good shot to stop his man. By the second round it was obvious Tyson was done. As was the case from the first round with Ali v Holmes.
Meh. Ken Lakusta would be a first ballot Hall of Famer if his career started in 1996 and ended in 2019.
Nice surly attitude. 99% of title challengers take that path before getting a shot at the belt. Especially nowadays. Nobody thought Cooney was too green at the time. Were you even alive in 1982? Most picked Cooney to win and he was the betting favourite at 6-5 odds. Cooney was 25 years young and Holmes was 32 years old. Everyone ages differently of course. The only thing I see Cooney doing differently is maybe facing Mike Weaver for the WBA belt and then unify against Holmes. But Cooney might not have gotten by Weaver...
Well he rocked Foreman in the 1990's so... If you want to be taken seriously Wlad was one of the greats.
Ali's suppressed medical report, prior to the Holmes bout, puts so much daylight between the two contests that, whilst Tyson was still considered a potential danger to Lewis (and plenty of people were backing Tyson to win) the only person Ali posed a threat to was himself. Tyson had only lost to Holyfield, post-prison. Those two blemishes aside, he was still capable of knocking them over. He wasn't losing to 7-fight novices like Leon Spinks. I'm not in anyway suggesting that Tyson was anywhere near the force he had been but, if Tyson was shot, then it was Lewis who shot him. Lewis/Tyson is well out of synch with Holmes/Ali, in my opinion.
Not sure where you got your idea of the Holmes/Cooney betting odds from, but Cooney was not the betting favorite. Had you actually been born by 1982?
Regarding Cooney - Weaver the WBA and Arum put on some shenanigans and had the fight nixed/put off in favor of a fight against Tillis who wasn't even rated #1 - Cooney was. Great example of the disgraceful politics of the time and money grubbing. The fallout from this saw the Holmes fight made shortly after. Cooney himself later said he would have liked a couple more fights before fighting Holmes. Fighting Weaver and 1 or 2 more guys was part of his big picture.
Holmes was the 8-5 favorite to win and most of the large lists i saw favored Holmes tho Cooney did get a good representation. Many saw through the geriatric tour.
Who would you see beating him out of both guys win list? Berbick? Really? Holyfield from the Lewis rematch might have given it a good go.