Why do you believe Mike Tyson completely dodged Bowe and Foreman?

CIANI: You mentioned the excitement he generated in those fights against McNeeley and Mathis. The fans were onboard again. They did believe in Mike again, but at that time after the Frank Bruno rematch rather than defend against Lennox Lewis, who you were working with at this time, Mike decided to drop the WBC belt and instead take on WBA champion Bruce Seldon. Looking back on this now, what do you read into that situation?

STEWARD: Well there is a lot going on when you’re going into those type of fights on that level. We just see the general fight, but a lot of times it’s the promoter. I think at the time Don King maybe couldn’t get a promotional deal of some type with Lennox Lewis, which meant he wouldn’t have been covered. So he fought Bruce Seldon. It’s a whole lot more than just who fights who in boxing if you look at the behind the scenes things that go on. But I don’t think Mike himself was ever afraid of anyone or dodged anyone. Those decisions are made a lot on politics, and don’t forget Mike was a major, major money maker for boxing. When he fought the WBC got big sanctioning fees and everyone, so everybody was going overboard, and the WBA was doing pretty much what they had to do to accommodate Mike Tyson, and actually Don King was doing what he should as a promoter, which is what the promoters are still doing. They just don’t get criticized as much. He didn’t want Mike to fight with somebody he didn’t have some type of options or control over. When they did actually fight eventually, it was a fight where Lennox and Mike fought and no one had any control. It took years for that to happen, because Mike was still with Showtime and Lennox Lewis was with HBO. There were a lot of complications back then, but Mike himself never dodged anyone.

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/weblog/news.php?p=30263&more=1

 

What about Morrison? Morrison was no serious threat and he had a suspect chin. Morrison wasnt a speedy combination punching beast, he was a lefthooker with a bad chin and stamina, and Im sure George felt Tommy would stand in with him and he would knock him out (same reason he fought Briggs). I dont think anyone expected Tommy to box circles around George, but to me, it was just more proof as to how slow Foreman was, because Tommy was a frontrunner who ran out of gas in most of his fights after four or five rounds, and George wasnt able to put enough pressure on Tommy to tire him out and Tommy just boxed to an easy decision.

Foreman had a good chin there was no denying that, but Tyson, Bowe and Lewis were on a different level and he knew it. He could take punches from guys like Morrison, Briggs, Stewart, Copper etc, because they werent going to be hitting him in succession like the elite fighters, and you only have to watch the Holyfield fight with Foreman to see what Im talking about. Had Holyfield had the power of Tyson or Bowe, Foreman would have been knocked out for sure.

 

Yes but he clearly was trying to face certain fighters. He KO'd Moorer after getting his ass handed to him for an entire fight. We knew Moorer had a marginal chin, didnt hit hard, and fought flat footed in the pocket. The point Im making is there was big difference between Moorer and Morrison to Tyson, Bowe and even Holyfield but Foreman knew he could at least hang in with Holyfield because of his size and fighting style. To me Lewis wasnt even in the mix at the time because he was still finding his way. By the time Lewis was an established champion Foreman was pretty much finishsed and definitely didnt want to mess with Lewis. Beating guys like Briggs and Moorer was good for Foreman but regardless of their record or what title they were holding, the fact is they were not on the same level as the elite fighters, and it was clear Foreman wouldnt be able to do anything more than try and land a lucky shot against them or take a serious beating and you cant really say Foreman going the distance with Holyfield was better than anything Tyson did. Around this time Tyson destroyed Alex Stewart in a minute and a half, and many believe Stewart beat Foreman. He certainly beat the crap out of George. Different times, different circumstances. The Tyson of 1990 would have done some serious damage to George, and he knew it.

 

Bowe - didn't share an era, Tyson was in prison, then was coming back when Bowe would get retired by GOlota and Tyson would lose to Holyfield

Foreman - George didn't want to work with King and Foreman never earned his shot either

 

Bowe was the #1 contender shortly after Tyson fought Ruddock. Bowe was certainly in the mix to face Foreman when he defeated Holyfield

 

In 1991 Foreman had an opportunity to fight Tyson for $15 mill....I think.

Instead he opted to re-match Holyfield for $12m. Then King & the Duvas got there **** together & made Holyfield v Tyson.

Thats the short version, can't be arsed to type the long version.

 

Duck Bowe Tyson most certainly did not!! Bowe went out of contention to fight Tyson when he got smashed to bits twice by the mad Polski Andrew Golota.

 

I'm gone for 2 months and suddenly the Classic Forum has gone to hell in a hand basket.

SouthPaw,

We've actually done this thread before and I was able to explain why Tyson vs Foreman never took place.


Here's a post that I had a while back that debunks the myth.

1st attempt:

"...In December promoter Don King offered Foreman $5 million to fight Tyson sometime in 1990. "He gave me a contract and told me to sign on the dotted line," says Foreman, who rejected the offer. "I was more afraid of Don King and the dotted line than I am of Tyson..."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...#ixzz1D22ePWEy

2nd Attempt

"After Tyson's win over Razor Ruddock in their June 28 rematch, King set out to land a bout with Foreman. It was a power move that could well have left Holyfield with his crown, but with little opportunity to parlay it into another megabucks fight. However, the 42-year-old Foreman, whose gallant loss to Holyfield in April left him the heavyweight division's most popular figure, reportedly turned down a $20 million offer from King. Big George, it seemed, wanted a Holyfield rematch..."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...0013/index.htm

3rd Attempt

"Tyson is scheduled to fight for a title in March. Foreman, who said he will retire after one more fight, is tentatively scheduled to meet Michael Moorer in March. Foreman has said he would like to fight Tyson, but not if King is involved in the promotion. King said he is confident that could be worked out.

Foreman did not elaborate upon the reason he is against King, who is responsible for promoting the 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" title fight in Zaire, West Africa, where he and Ali became the first fighters to receive $5 million each in an unprecedented guarantee. King, named "Greatest Promoter of All-Time" by the World Boxing Council, inspired President Mobuto Sese Seko's government to promote the first one-billion viewer fight spectacular between Ali and Foreman in Zaire's capital city, Kinshasha. The government guaranteed the $10 million which was split between Foreman and Ali, who regained his heavyweight title..."


http://books.google.com/books?id=fTk...page&q&f=false

There was a 4th attempt in 1999 but at that point it was George's last attempt to bring in an 8 figure payday in the ring.

 

What does that even mean?

 

I was wondering when you would show up.