Foreman, Tyson, have same opinion on Holyfield/ "SMALL HEAVYWEIGHTS" advantage

I watched the Foreman "Ringside" on ESPN...also, remembering from when Tyson was on Carson Daly's Show (which I would like to state I only watched because they advertised "Tyson" was going to be on}, had a similar opinion on Holyfield: He may not punch really hard, but Punching in Bunches is Bitch :D Tyson said that even though Holyfield wasn't the hardest of punchers, his ability to continuely attack was troubling...somebody like Lennox Lewis was easier to deal with, even though he punched much harder, because you could brace yourself since you saw the punch {note "punch" is singular} coming. Foreman also mentioned about "Small Heavyweights" {during the Joe Louis "Ringside"} that heavyweights like Louis and Ali have an ability to think faster and punch in volume much more than that of a "Bigger" heavyweight because of their experience in fighting in the division below...their size, which is not to big, gives them many advantages. Of course, in my opinion, somebody like Holyfield only was able to do what he was able to do because of his incredible HEART and Iron CHIN; the same with Ali...I would like to point out that their skull size were that of a heavyweight so maybe we should forget the rest :D Actually, if you look at Evander, I always wondered if he could really take a lot of body punches from a true heavyweight; this was not really tested since most heavyweights of today only attack the head...note: though Holyfield wasn't in his prime, Tyson hurt Evander to the body. Also, when you look at fighters that move up in weight, a big telling point is if they can take body punches, which most seem not to. Not sure where Tyson himself fits into this equation: He was one of the fastest heavyweights in history, and the fastest power punching heavyweight in history in my opinion...he could throw in bunches, and move like a middleweight...but, he was already 200lbs by the time he was 13 so not sure if he can be considered on the same lines as Holyfield and Ali.

Comments (4)

what year was the picture taken?

19y ago

Kid_Achilles

Still a 6'+ heavyweight like Louis, Norton, Dempsey, or Ali who worked down to 190-210 pounds as Eubank worked to 168 would have dwarved Eubank. Tyson had the musculature but his skeleton was of a small heavyweight/large cruiserweight. Thanks for the pic BTW. How cool would it be to just hang around with either of those guys?

19y ago

Kid_Achilles

Tyson was definitely a smaller sized heavyweight. Frame wise he was no bigger than Marciano or Frazier. He had a lot of natural musculature, like Jeff Lacy, but his skeletal structure was small for a heavyweight. Where is that pic of Tyson with his arm around Eubank and looking smaller and perhaps even lighter than the natural super middleweight? Clearly he had to have been heavier than Eubank but his relatively small frame has him looking like a sub-heavyweight in that photograph.

19y ago

NJFighter91

Tyson wasn't 200 at 13, that's an over exageration. There was a pic in a video clip at Tyson at 13 and he was more like 150-160 looking like he was 5'9''. Then at 16-17 he looked about 190-200 and as a pro became 210-220.

19y ago