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

If Tyson got by Douglas and then Holyfield in 1990 Foreman would have been next in line for a huge payday. Tyson desperately wanted to get the championship back from Douglas but Holy got the shot. Getting the championship back was his priority. Huge paydays didn't matter since he was making money anyways off Ruddock and whoever else he fought. Foreman was on his radar but the circumstances prevented them from fighting each other.

 

Exactly. After the Douglas upset King made sure he didn't screw up by not having future options. He learned his lesson. Still, Foreman would have had proper management and lawyers to ensure a fair contract, just like Salty Trunks stated earlier. Foreman could have signed the fight.

 

I have posted Bill Caytons fightplan for Tyson after the Spinks fight on a thread somewhere, Foreman WAS on that list, but only after Tyson beat Holyfield.


They were also scheduled to fight in China in 89-90, but due to all the stuff going on in there at the time, that fight fell through.

 

I remember this time very clearly. Noone really felt Foreman had a chance but he did get some credit after hanging in with Holyfield. Bowe was an undercard fighter around this time, he wasnt in the mix at all for Tyson. Bowe fought on the undecard of Tyson Ruddock 2 I believe. Bowe was just considered a very good prospect, but his path was going to Lennox Lewis who defeated him in the olympics. I remember watching Lennox coming up and he really looked unpolished for a gold medalist. His boxing skills were quite sloppy, but he was big and powerful.
With Tyson the whole talk was Holyfield. People wanted to see Tyson Holyfield especially after Holyfield quickly put Douglas back in a realistic perspective. Regardless of how poor of shape he was back to the same Douglas we had seen before. Douglas would have never gotten back up against Tyson if that knockdown would have occured early in the fight or if he wasnt way ahead on the cards.
Going back to my other point, King was notorious for not paying his fighters, trying to renegotiate contract purses in the dressing room before the fight, and just about everything else you could think of, but I believe Foreman was attached to Arum at this time and Foreman didnt want to have to pay most of his purse to two promoters, but if he had decided to go through with the fight, he would have gotten paid by King or Arum wouldnt have worked with him. Arum was very aware of Kings tricks.

 

King used to make his fighters sign blank cheques as well

One time he ripped off Tim Witherspoon. He was supposed to charge him a certain amount for saprring partners and other expenses etc...however King 'accidentally' added an extra zero at the end of the Tims expenses, so instead of paying something like $700, Spoon ended up paying $7,000.

Also another time when King was being investigated for tax evasion and other things, his accountant got done for it, whereas King got away scott free without a scratch. He is a very clever ****er

Another time they pulled him in for some charges for something and he refused to answer any questions. Any question he was asked, he kept replying 'fifth amendment' and apparently he repeated this same thing over 200 times. Its somehwere in the tyson book, cant remember it word for word now.

 

King charged Tyson 30,000 for an oil change on one of his cars too.

King basically managed and promoted Tyson. The two clown managers were just figure heads working for King. King would buy everything for Mike in Don King Enterprise and then rent it back to Mike Tyson Enterprises. So if King paid 100 bucks for an oil change he could bill Tyson 30 grand. He did this with all his cars, and personal expenses. The only thing King would do would be to drop off bags of cash for Tyson so he could feel like he had a lot of money, but in reality King controlled all the major stuff. Tyson was living a facade and thats why Tyson sued King for 300 million because King embezzeled all his money. King just kept putting off the trial until Tyson had to settle for a meazly 16 million. Tyson lost his entire fortune to King.
Interestingly enough I have a friend who worked on Kings new house which is substantially smaller and supposedly a total shithole compared to the mansion he used to live in. King is supposedly fallen on harder financial times himself and doesnt have the money he used to, not to mention he has completely lost his grasp on any kind of control in boxing.

 

King made a lot of money but he spent a lot too. He didnt always make money on promotions, but his fights always looked full. If he didnt sell any tickets, he would send an army out on the streets to give them away so the arena would look full. He would promise fight purses he couldnt deliver and would try and renegotiate or just flat out not pay fighters after the fact. He knew he would get sued, but what fighters could afford to sue him and wait for their pay? King was just always a piece of **** and played the race card anytime anything didnt go his way. It was always the white man keeping him down, but he was bad man who hopefully will get some sort of payback for his misdeeds. Maybe in the afterlife or something.

 

lol