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

Judging by the title of this thread it seesm the OP is just out to make a point that Tyson ducked those 2, despite what everyone has already stated on here. OP has no intention of listening to anyone

 

Tyson was afraid of Spinks, he was afraid of Bruno (I) and he was afraid of Lewis

 

I believe Tyson went through many mental stages in his career and that should be taken into consideration when you match him in these mythical type fights. I think early on in his amatuer career he was scared to go into the ring but not to fight. How it worked for Tyson was he was not afraid of fighting but afraid of losing and Cus D'amato realized this and knew that could be molded and used against him to build him up because it showed tremendous will to win. D'Amato was in the process of programming Tyson to believe he was an invincible warrior who couldnt be beaten, and thats why Tyson adopted that persona of coming into the ring with no robes or fan fair, just all business. D'amato knew his biggest challenge with Tyson was the mental side. Tyson had all the talent so D'amato just worked on reprogramming Tyson to become mentally tough. Thats why Ali and D'amato had so much mutual respect for each other because they both understood that importance of mental toughness and Ali had more of it than skills and he knew it. Ali wasnt necessarily the most gifted fighter but what made him the greatest was his mind.
I think Tyson quickly overcame all those fears in his pro career and by the time he defeated Spinks he felt he couldnt lose to anyone. That night it could have been just about any fighter and Tyson would have run over them the same way. He had mastered the ability to channel all his aggression, anger and fear into controlled fury towards his opponents.
I think a lot of that changed once he got away from that mindset and discipline that D'amato had instilled in him. He went from a very disciplined boxing regiment to the complete opposite and mentally that changed Tyson very quickly. I think Tyson still had a lot of will to win after the Spinks fight but he was never the same fighter and after that loss to Douglas and those tough fights with Ruddock his mental state started to regress quickly.
Going to prison and coming out pushed him further into decline. Tyson had lost so much confidence after the Holyfield fights and it was obvious with his behavior in the ring and between rounds even years after those fights. He regressed so far in his last fight against Kevin McBride, he went back to biting on his gloves during the fight, something he did in sparring as a young fighter in the early stages of his boxing career.
Do I think old Foreman ever had a chance against Tyson, yes, and it would have been against the comebacking post prison Tyson. Tyson no longer had that will to win, he was a frontrunner who could fight 4-5 rounds and then he would fall apart even if he was winning and it wasnt because of fitness or ability, it was only because he no longer had that will to win and thats not something you can train for or get back if you have no interest in fighting. Foreman on the other hand, maintained that ability through the course even when he was taking hellacious beatings, so I believe Foreman could have possibly beaten Tyson in the mid to late 90's just as Holyfield did.

 

Very articulate and well said, Salty Trunks...

 

Obviously Foreman is a very shrewd and intelligent man and wouldn't sign with King, Tyson is broke Foreman is worth over $100million you can't have a go at George for rejecting a King offer he was too smart.

 

Its also funny, that Tyson pre prison made approx $200m from his fight purses and various other endorsements and then he comes out of prison nearly broke, i wonder where all his money went?

 

Tyson would have destroyed Foreman. In the mid 1990's, I do think his team wanted no part of Bowe, who had similar style and ability to an in-shape Douglas...except Bowe hit harder, and took a better punch.

 

Doesn't really matter how much of a crook Don King is and was. For example John Ruiz was smart enough to protect himself against King by hiring one of the best lawyers in the business to make sure he got paid. So much so that King wound up hiring that same attorney to handle his affairs. Foreman knew how tO protect himself it was just an excuse.

 

Man, some people just can't let it go.

Foreman was making noise to get noticed, and it worked because he was a big name with good power. Tyson-Bowe was the Superfight in the making before Holyfield and Golota ruined those plans.

Would have been nice to see both those fights materialize. :-(

 

would have been huge money..thats a reason..and if it was sure to be as easy as you think (or if tyson was sure to think that) he would have jumped on it.

 

King.

He obviously wasnt as confident as Tyson`s fans that it was an easy fight for Mike. Don wanted those options on George Foreman`s future fights. Foreman would have been a puppet for King the rest of his career like Ruiz.