Old Foreman vs. Mike Tyson

How would the George Foreman that fought Holyfield in 91 have fared against Mike Tyson ?

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:How would the George Foreman that fought Holyfield in 91 have fared against Mike Tyson ?

There's a reason why Tyson and his camp avoided Foreman when he was calling him out. Cus basically told Tyson while they were watching Frazier-Foreman that any fighter that went straight at Foreman would get destroyed. And that was Tyson's style.


Circa 1989

foreman would have intimidated tyson so badly that tyson wouldnt have even come out.

powerpuncher wrote:foreman would have intimidated tyson so badly that tyson wouldnt have even come out.

After Tyson lost to Douglas, King wanted a big match up for Tyson, and thought Foreman would be the perfect opponent, but Tyson wanted none of that and refused.

i didnt read much on that so called possible fight but i do remember in a interview tyson saying hed kill george..id pick tyson inside 4 .hed tear up formans body and would get off first every time.

dmar5143 wrote:i didnt read much on that so called possible fight but i do remember in a interview tyson saying hed kill george..id pick tyson inside 4 .hed tear up formans body and would get off first every time.

How do you figure that? Style wise, Tyson was Joe Frazier 2.0. Almost same style of fighting, and Frazier got destroyed by Foreman.

Foreman was all wrong for Tyson, and Tyson knew it. Why he refused to fight him. You beat old Foreman by boxing and getting in and out of range. Tyson would have been right there in front of Foreman, which is how Foreman liked it. How Moorer ended up getting knocked the fuck out. He was winning the fight by boxing and moving, then got cocky and stood in from of Big George.

tyson was not frazier.george was not george either..foreman did a great job of marketing himself and old george is extremly overated.tyson sliped puches and made you pay.frazier did not.frazier was a one armed fighter.tyson was not.tyson had faster hands then joe.a better variety of punches and at better angles.its been years since i watched forman -frazier2 but joe made sloppy george miss often and did not fire back when he had the young george in a vulnerable position.tyson would fire to make a extra slow george pay big time.a young foreman yes would win..a old slow one would get killed.

Well, it's one of those "who knows" debates. I think even old Foreman was all wrong for Tyson. Yes, Tyson was younger and faster, but I just think he would gotten right in Foreman's firing range, and gotten drilled.

And after Tyson got a taste of Foreman's power, who the fuck knows what would happen then. Tyson was unpredictable to say the least.

tyson would have killed big george at that stage. too many ppl were making $$$$ thru their own avenues for tht to happen

do people not remember that tyson folds once he gets hit with a good shot? once foreman hit him once, tyson would stop throwing. foreman had a great chin too. i just cant see tyson going in on even an old foreman and not getting cracked pretty hard.

dmar5143 wrote:tyson was not frazier.george was not george either..foreman did a great job of marketing himself and old george is extremly overated.tyson sliped puches and made you pay.frazier did not.frazier was a one armed fighter.tyson was not.tyson had faster hands then joe.a better variety of punches and at better angles.its been years since i watched forman -frazier2 but joe made sloppy george miss often and did not fire back when he had the young george in a vulnerable position.tyson would fire to make a extra slow george pay big time.a young foreman yes would win..a old slow one would get killed.

frazier was not a one handed fighter, his left was just better. his right had good power. and foreman wasnt at his best when he fought frazier the second time either. he was probably better in 91' than at that time.

please review the second and third ali fights to see fraziers ackward inept right hand.how it was thrown and lack of delivery and power.the first fight he tossed several wild left hooks and some good ones.the right was absent in that fight and ineffective.frazier had no right hand.
everyone talks about when old extra slow george hits tyson but no one talks about what happens when a fast accurate tyson hits george.if a slower ron lyle can hurt him bad and drop prime george twice what would a fast more powerfull tyson do when he hits a old fat george.unlike lyle tyson will not run out of gas and he would follow up to finish with a barage of accurate punches to put old george away which lyle did not follow up with that barage...see the frank bruno fights to see a perfect example on how mike would finish a slow big target like george.
this is a classic example of confushing a young foreman with a old foreman like they were the same fighter.vastly underating tyson who dispite what folks may think was one hell of a fighter.a fighter who started extremly fast out of the gate.contrary to opinion tyson did not fold everytime he got hit.review the 2 razor ruddick fights and see mike get hit with several good left type hook-uppercuts then mike fireing back.young george threw wide shots but with respectable speed..old george threw punches in slow motion.
tyson at that time still could slip some punches.george young or old sliped no punches.young george could move in fairly fast.old george walked in quicksand.his body was there to hit with ease.tyson coming out of the gate fast with that hand speed would have no problem hitting slow reflexe george with solid shots and combos.
yes a classic case of vastly underating tyson and highly overating a old george and thinking hes a young george instead of a fat slow punching slow moving fighter and a easy target for the much faster tyson.mike was right.he would kill him.

powerpuncher wrote:do people not remember that tyson folds once he gets hit with a good shot? once foreman hit him once, tyson would stop throwing. foreman had a great chin too. i just cant see tyson going in on even an old foreman and not getting cracked pretty hard.

I have to go with powerpuncher on this one. I've been telling people that Foreman would've killed Tyson for years. Very simply, Tyson comes straight ahead and gets caught early. This is one of the few sporting events I would've actually put money on.

lets see here.review georges comback and you will see several things.1.the biggest stiffs and washed up also rans was most of his fights..at the time we are talking mike was rated number 1 rudduck number 2.mike fought him twice then went to jail.foreman fought and lost to a alex stewart who many felt beat george but the descion was given to foreman..where was the big ko.it was tyson who blew stewart out in one round the year before then moorer kos stewart then george fights him..he refushed a rematch.he also ducked and refushed a fight with tony tucker.later on a few years later george losses to a alex schultz but was given the nod and george refushes to fight him in a rematch. do we see a pattern here or not.while tyson was fighting the next top contender in ruddick foremans handpicked cotzee was next and he was koed twice out of his last 3 fights.george won by a tko not a ten count and it took him 8 rounds.yeah this is a guy who hand picked bums and hell kill tyson..why no return with stewart who was koed 3 times before george lost to him.why no fight with ruddick after mike went to jail.why no bowe fight nor a ray mercer fight.or a upcoming lewis fight.why did he duck tucker..why cause all of them would kick georges ass..a year and a half later he fights tommy morrison and tommy slaps him all over the ring and makes a fool of him.did not morrision come in at george.yep all night long.beating him to the punch with combos then moving out as slow george could not get off.5 years later and past his best mike destroys a frank bruno.immagine what a 5 year younger tyson pre jail tyson would of done to george.

one final thought.i saw george fight in person twice.the first time in my home town utica ny against scott leduox.it was a young george and i was rooting for scott and his wife was siting right behind me.george was a little slow in that fight but won easy..the second time it was on georges comback in rochester ny against a bum called mark young.talk about a stiff.this guy as i remember had about 25 fights and was koed TEN times already.this guy had no power and wasnt fast with the hands like tyson yet hit george with several 3 and 4 punch combos with ease.george was extra slow to the point that night i could not think of any slower punching heavy like i saw that night.sloppy wide open as he missed coming foward..by the way why are we not saying george would not come foward against mike.he missed in slow motion was hit by counters and by punches also when young got off first.finaly george knocks him down in i think the seventh round. no big feat since the guy was koed TEN times already.the glass jaw bum gets up and his corner stops the fight..this was about 15 months before the so called maybe fight with tyson.
if this was a prospect we were watching instead of foreman ALL of us would say this extra slow wide open plow horse would get killed litterly by tyson.foreman was that slow that inept in offense and that easy to hit against a real tomatoe can bum.yeah hes going to catch a fast handed tyson who would jump all over george with punches of power and deck him with ease.dream on.

well well well.i just checked youtube and guess what the mark young-foreman fight is on there.please watch it and tell me if my description of foreman that night isnt 100 percent accurate.please tell me how that extra slow sloppy fighter easy to hit would destroy a pre-jail tyson.

Frank wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:do people not remember that tyson folds once he gets hit with a good shot? once foreman hit him once, tyson would stop throwing. foreman had a great chin too. i just cant see tyson going in on even an old foreman and not getting cracked pretty hard.

I have to go with powerpuncher on this one. I've been telling people that Foreman would've killed Tyson for years. Very simply, Tyson comes straight ahead and gets caught early. This is one of the few sporting events I would've actually put money on.

...with all due respect frank mike would of been caught by what.mike yes came foward so did george .mike also came in at angles at times bobing and weaving and tossing punches.when i say get caught by what the qwaui-foreman fight comes to mind.the former dwight braxton was a fantastic light heavyweight in his prime.he beat and fought same good and great ones..he fights foreman and stands in front of him all night long and foreman looks awfull.hell braxton was washed up at 35 years old.at 5 foot 5 and a half inches hes 10 inches shorter then george.george has a 11 inch reach advantage.braxton at his best was weighting 173 pounds.he weighted 222 pounds that night at 5 foot 5.4 months before he was koed in 4 rounds by hollifield and he weighed 190 pounds.he gains 32 pounds in 4 months and fights george.thats out of shape.tyson at 218 would be in top shape and almost 6 iinches taller .tyson was much faster with his hands and body movement.braxton hit george that night with 6 or 7 four punch combos and a few combos extra that were particaly blocked by foreman.he would not block tysons due to mikes hand speed and angles.braxton at times even outjabbed george.tyson had power speed of hand and leverage.that deadly combonation catches george like braxton did several times except its a in shape real hard hiting heavyweight doing the punching not a slow overweight grossly overweight former out of shape LH.
braxton stood in front of george all night.exhaustion did him in.foreman as usual was slow tireing and sloppy.getting hit often by a 5 foot 5 guy that lacked power of tyson or other top hws like dokes mercer bowe etc etc...it would be foreman who would be caught early and often and koed early not tyson.if braxton could hit him early and often dispite being slow grossly out of shape then surely a tyson in shape would do serious damage.again caught by what..foreman fought a 5 foot 5 slow out of shape guy and he didnt take him out early..again if it was tyson in the ring that night instead of braxton all the visual evidence shows tyson would of killed him.

ill state a few of my opinions about foreman. one, after the ali fight, he was no longer in his prime. maybe his physical prime but definitely not his mental prime so using fights after that fight as an indicator of foreman wont carry a ton of weight with me. two, we have to remember that he had a 10 year lay off so it took him a few years to get back into shape and back into the flow of things. so using a fight like the qawi fight which happened a year after his comeback isnt a good indicator of old george either. we are talking about early 90's foreman. the foreman who fought holyfield. if pre jail tyson fought the foreman who fought qawi, then i agree that tyson wins because foreman had only been back a year and tyson was better at that time.

the foreman who fought holyfield was a lot better though. that foreman was the best big george. he took big shots from holyfield and also rocked holyfield with some punches. tyson may have been faster but foreman had better power and a better chin and he would have intimidated tyson which IMO is his biggest advantage. name the best win that tyson has had? im not saying that he isnt a great fighter, but his style is all wrong for foreman. and yes, even an old foreman. every fighter that has beaten tyson beat him because they werent scared of him. they went into the fight confident and willing to take chances.

lets see .the big foreman who lost to stewart.thats early 90s.the big george who i saw in person against young in his fiftennth comback fight.surely after 15 fights your ready.any of the foreman fights hes slow easy to hit and slow punching.maybe just maybe the slow easy to hit foreman is tailor made for that pre jail tyson.what makes anyone actualy think that foreman any foreman in his comback will intimidate tyson..are we assuming a big what if assumption here.the big foreman who morrision slapped the shit out of.thats early 90s and before george won the title back.foreman when young may have had better power then tyson.the older ones power is grossly overated.no he did not have greater power then mike.nor was mike easier to hit.nor was mike slower with the hands.or body movement.why cant we also assume mike could of intimidated george after smashing him a few times.why does big george have a much better chin.im not that sure about that.slighly better perhaps.how does a slow handed sloppy george hit tyson.beat him to the punch.lets stop dreaming here.the old george ranks as the most overated heavyweight of all time.the greatest PR effort ever.

I didn't know you felt so strongly about this, dmar. You may not remember, but we discussed this once before and I told you if these two fought, I'd head to Vegas and put money down on George. You laughed.

Actually, I don't disagree with your comparisons of George and Tyson. Sure, Tyson beats the old George when it comes to common opponents. However, I'm not so sure that the 43 year old Foreman who fought Holyfield is the same guy who fought Mark Young back when he first began the comeback. I was laughing at his chances then too. I stopped laughing when he (Foreman) hit Bert Cooper with a body punch on "Tuesday Night Fights" and made him quit in his corner. Foreman then started a chant of "We Want Tyson", however Mike would never even comment on this night.

Regardless of what we say on here, I think the following is the underlying factor. Foreman is probably the biggest freak boxing has ever had. The best description I ever heard of Foreman was from a boxing journalist who called him a "Power Savont." Foreman throws punches incorrectly. Lazy arm punches are not supposed to do damage, yet Foreman put people away with these. Now, granted, he would not have beaten Bowe, Lewis and yes he would have great difficulty (Old George) with anyone who knew how to box him. But Tyson??? Tyson gets hit once by a 43 year old Foreman and he's hurt and hurt bad. Too bad this fight never took place. We shouldn't be debating it. Why are we? Regardless of all the common sense arguments based on Tyson beating George (And dmar, most people would agree with you there.), we're discussing this because "Tyson refused to fight George Foreman." We can debate who would've won this fight forever. However, there is no argument over Tyson ducking George. That's a whole different platform.

Oh shit, dmar is still on line!!! I'm in for a verbal ass kicking!! LOL

Dmar, regardless of this little disagreement, I hope you and yours are having a great time over the holiday season.

frank lol the biggest freak ever in boxing is a guy i like.butterbean.i enjoyed watching him hit stiffs and koing them.after one fight after a guy badmouthed him before the fight the fat man koed him in one..he said dont piss the fat man off.the other day i checked on him and at almost 46 years old he has a fight schudled..he weighed 2 fights ago 417 pounds his last fight 406 at 5 foot 10 and a half..lol how do they pass him at the physical...
like i said before i didnt read much of that potential fight with foreman just tysons comments saying in a intereview please the fights a joke ill kill him.i dont think mike ducked him for in reality there was nothing to fear but ill believe you because im sure articles maY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THAT. so ill take what you say as truth based on lol articles ive never read..
my vote for freak is butterbean.great loveable character huh...

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:How would the George Foreman that fought Holyfield in 91 have fared against Mike Tyson ?

Tyson in 91 after his loss to Buster gets KO'd late. I loved watching Mike fight but as I have stated in the past he was the most overrated fighter in history.

dmar5143 wrote:lets see .the big foreman who lost to stewart.thats early 90s.the big george who i saw in person against young in his fiftennth comback fight.surely after 15 fights your ready.any of the foreman fights hes slow easy to hit and slow punching.maybe just maybe the slow easy to hit foreman is tailor made for that pre jail tyson.what makes anyone actualy think that foreman any foreman in his comback will intimidate tyson..are we assuming a big what if assumption here.the big foreman who morrision slapped the shit out of.thats early 90s and before george won the title back.foreman when young may have had better power then tyson.the older ones power is grossly overated.no he did not have greater power then mike.nor was mike easier to hit.nor was mike slower with the hands.or body movement.why cant we also assume mike could of intimidated george after smashing him a few times.why does big george have a much better chin.im not that sure about that.slighly better perhaps.how does a slow handed sloppy george hit tyson.beat him to the punch.lets stop dreaming here.the old george ranks as the most overated heavyweight of all time.the greatest PR effort ever.

See I respectfully disagree. I think that the other side is the most overrated. Tyson never beat another great HW. He is highly overrated IMO. I loved watching him fight and he is the reason I am a big boxing fan. Him and Oscar. But I am very realistic about his career. I just see the fight going Georges way for two reasons. George could take tyson's punch and Tyson wears out in fights and in those late rounds even old george still had power (see moorer). The guys old george had issues with was guys that can stick and move and have stamina. Stamina would be Tyson's downfall in that fight. The only guy that I think Tyson would have killed when he was younger if they fought was Lennox Lewis. I always thought Tyson would catch his glass jaw and shatter it early. But that fight came WAY too late.

dmar5143 wrote:frank lol the biggest freak ever in boxing is a guy i like.butterbean.i enjoyed watching him hit stiffs and koing them.after one fight after a guy badmouthed him before the fight the fat man koed him in one..he said dont piss the fat man off.the other day i checked on him and at almost 46 years old he has a fight schudled..he weighed 2 fights ago 417 pounds his last fight 406 at 5 foot 10 and a half..lol how do they pass him at the physical...
like i said before i didnt read much of that potential fight with foreman just tysons comments saying in a intereview please the fights a joke ill kill him.i dont think mike ducked him for in reality there was nothing to fear but ill believe you because im sure articles maY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THAT. so ill take what you say as truth based on lol articles ive never read..
my vote for freak is butterbean.great loveable character huh...

I loved butterbean. He is still fighting? Get his ass on some undercards please!!!