"Lennox Lewis, after defeating Andrew Golota, squared off against the man who had beaten, though extremely controversially, George Foreman for the Linear World Heavyweight Championship, Shannon Briggs, and stopped him in 5 spirited rounds. After Tyson, Evander Holyfield faced down his old nemesis, IBF Champion, Michael Moorer, and looked as good as he ever has, dropping Double M five times before Dr. Flip Homanski stepped in between Rounds 8 and 9 and told Michael that was enough. So, the stage was set for Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield to determine who the Real World Heavyweight Champion of the World was. The first fight was determined a draw, though anyone who watched it knows Lewis proved himself the better fighter that night. In the rematch, Lewis got the decision and Holyfield gave the last great effort of his career, causing some to feel he actually deserved the victory.
Lewis would go on to face the best in the division as well as over hyped media creations, while Holyfield would attain another “title”, lose it, and after being embarrassed by Chris Byrd for, yet, another “belt”, beaten up by a former middleweight champ, and outboxed by a fringe contender, had his career ended against his will. Lennox's first test after the Holyfield bouts was HBO's dream child Michael Grant, the *ahem* “future of the division”. Lewis exposed Grant as the media creation he was in 2 extraordinarily brutal rounds. Up next, the man who briefly held the IBF belt, and was beating Mike Tyson before getting caught with a helluva right in the 5th, Francois Botha. Lewis blitzed him in 2 as well.Lewis was looking dominant and finally receiving the accolades he had sought his whole career; but there were four young heavyweights out there that wanted what he had. There names were Ike Ibeabuchi, David Tua, Hasim Rahman, and Chris Byrd. Lewis would never have to face the best of the four, Ibeabuchi, because he ended up self-destructing and ruining his career before he ever got a shot at the title; but David Tua was banging on Lewis' door and had plenty of supporters who wanted to see the match. Tua was being compared to…..you guessed it….a young Mike Tyson, with incredible strength and a devastating left hook. So, eventually, Lewis signed to face him. Tua, though strong as advertised, proved to be no match for Lewis' boxing skill as Lennox made Tua look like a rank amateur, exposing all of the flaws in his one-dimensional approach to prize-fighting. Lennox Lewis was on top of the world….until South Africa and Hasim Rahman.
Lewis was overconfident going into the first Rahman fight, even taking time out to appear in a cameo with some Hollywood stars in “Ocean's Eleven”. Taking a man lightly, as he did Oliver McCall and now Hasim Rahman is a sure way to end up seeing stars in the ring; but not the kind you want to see. In round 5, with one right hand, Lewis was an ex-champion again. However, this time he got the chance to prove the loss was a fluke and in one less round than it took Rahman to shock the world, Lewis shocked the “Rock” with one of the most devastating right hands ever thrown in the ring, making him, at 36, only the fourth man in history to regain the Linear World Heavyweight Championship.
Lewis would only fight twice more, stopping an old and chunky (36 and 234 Lbs) Mike Tyson in 8 Rounds after dishing out a tremendous beating, and laboring mightily with the giant Vitali Klitschko before "Dr. Iron Fist" succumbed to a severe cut in Round 6. With a record of 42-2-1 (32), Lennox Lewis retired as champion and one of the few men who could say he defeated every man he ever faced in the ring.
FINAL ANALYSIS
So, what does all of this mean; how do these three compare? Well, since this article is essentially about Tyson, let's start with him. First and foremost, something needs to be made clear. There were two Mike Tysons. The Tyson of '85-'91 is a completely different fighter from the Tyson of '95-'05, just as the Muhammad Ali of '60-'67 is a completely different fighter from the Ali of '70-'80 and the George Foreman of '69-'77 is separate from the Forman of '87-'97. The first Tyson thoroughly dominated and cleaned out the heavyweight division whereas the second was a top 5 fighter, at best.
To establish this hypothesis, I point to Tyson's lack of hunger against Holyfield versus the heart he showed in a losing effort to Douglas and in two winning efforts against the big-punching Razor Ruddock. In the Douglas bout, though he was being thoroughly beaten, Mike was still looking for a way to win, hence the uppercut in round 8 that put Douglas on the seat of his pants. If you'll go back and look at the tape, you'll see Mike landed that same uppercut in Round 9; but this time, Buster fell forward onto Tyson, whose back was against the ropes. Despite Mike's looking for "intelligent" punching opportunities late in the fight, Douglas just wasn't going to be denied on this particular evening.
People constantly say that Mike falls apart when a fighter isn't afraid of him; but Ruddock wasn't afraid of Tyson. In fact, Ruddock was looking to decapitate Mike with practically every punch he threw....and damn near did in the 6th. Mike, instead of falling apart, charged back into the fray, looking for opportunities to fell his foe; and probably would have in the 7th had Richard Steele not acted so hastily. Mike himself, said that Razor punched like a "f-in' mule kick".....why would he sign for a rematch unless he wanted to "prove" he was the better fighter of the two?
Speaking of the rematch, both men were fouling each other badly, yet, neither looked to the referee for assistance. Both were men, true fighters wanting to beat the man in front of them, come hell or high water. The same can not be said about Tyson after his prison stint. When he re-entered the ring, I submit for thought, he was not as hungry or as dedicated to the sport as he was before he went in. Mike Tyson #1 would have destroyed Mike Tyson #2 inside of 6 rounds because Mike Tyson #1 truly wanted to be known as the Baddest Man on the Planet whereas Mike Tyson #2 was more about the money than the fighting. The Tyson who faced Holyfield was NOT the same man who ran through the heavyweight division like a bad case of Montezuma's Revenge ten years before. To suggest such a thing is pure foolishness."
Truly amazing! How were you able to jot all this down while gobbling up "Iron Mikes" love load? We can sum up this somewhat long winded excercise in B.S. with your own example: You are right, there were 2 Tysons, Alis & Foremans. Ali went onto wars with Frazier, Norton, Shavers, Foreman, Lyle and Bonevena in addition to pounding Quarry. Foreman would go onto becoming the oldest Heavyweight champ after enduring every punch Michael Moorer could throw, took a pounding from Holyfield and was NEVER knocked out by any fighter of the "90"'s. Tyson (part 2)? Need we go into it. Man, you've got a pair the "Iron Boy" would love to suck on, comparing Ali/Foreman 2 with one of the great tank jobs in boxing history-you should be ashamed. The CHAMPS came back and proved their greatness, youR boy-proved he was never great!