Tyson vs Lewis 1996: Don King's offer to Lewis

[Toney616]

Make of this what you will:

The World Boxing Council wants Tyson to defend against Lennox Lewis of England, a former champion and now its No. 1 contender. Lewis turned down a $13.5 million guarantee to fight Tyson. Lewis then accepted $4 million from King to step aside and allow Tyson to fight Seldon, with the proviso that Tyson, assuming he beat Seldon, would fight Lewis next. Tyson is expected to receive $30 million for fighting Seldon.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/04/sp...l?pagewanted=2

The $13.5 million offer was reported in the NY Times prior to Tyson's scheduled fight with Seldon July 1996 (the fight was postponed0.

BOXING MONTHLY June 1996 reports a $10 milliomn offer before the Mercer-Lewis fight and says :

"Tyson and King, have paid Lewis $4 million as a step-aside fee so that tyson can go ahead with his challenge to WBA champ Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas on 13 July. Much of that money may be used to cover the legal fees that Lewis's handlers in Britain, Panix Promotions, and the USA, Main events, have spent fighting his case in U.S. courts.

Lewis prefers to look upon the huge step-aside fee as a sign that Tyson is scared of him. "If Tyson is so confident, why will he pay not to fight me ?" he asks.

The counter-question could be asked that if Lewis was so confident, why did he turn down $10 million, the highest purse of Lewis's career, for a fight with Tyson, an offer made prior to the Mercer fight ?

Lewis can think what he likes, but the truth is $4 million is relative chicken feed to the Tyson industry. Tyson will likely earn another $30 million payday for trashing Seldon and can well afford to spend a little in order to shut out Lewis for a while longer.

Tyson himself will not be scared of Lewis, least of all after having seen the trouble Mercer caused him. but he and his handlers will resent being pushed around by a "Duva-friendly" judge in New Jersey. Essentially, they have spent $4 million in order to regroup and buy time before deciding their next move."

[sonnyboyx2]

i have said all this for the past 2yrs on this forum and been ridiculed for it and labelled a Lennox Lewis Hater which i cetainly ain't. all i have ever done is tell it like it really was yet many people cannot and will not accept the truth. Mike Tyson's goal was to UNIFY the Heavyweight title and by fighting Bruce Seldon he was adding Seldons WBA belt to his own WBC belt.. Lennox Lewis did not have to accept step-a-side money he could easily have said,"No Thanks" and fought Tyson for the WBC title and a guaranteed career highest payday. Lewis did not fancy his chances against that version of Mike Tyson so he waited six more years unto Tyson had completely self-destructed then agreed to fight him as long as there was 30 police officers lined across the ring and there would be no referee's instructions in the ring where Tyson could eye-ball Lewis and give him diarrhea.

Lewis has turned down many huge paydays during his career and the reason was that he simply did not fancy the job.. Lewis only ever fought fighters who was exposed and on the downside of their career's, he never fought fighters who was at the top of their game.

refused £6 million to fight Bowe in 1992
refused £10 million to fight Bowe in 1995
refused $30 million to fight Roy Jones in 2001
refused £8 million to fight Herbie Hide in 1995
refused $13.5 million to fight Tyson in 1996
refused $30 million to fight Vitali Klitschko in 2004

[r.burgundy]

i have said all this for the past 2yrs on this forum and been ridiculed for it and labelled a Lennox Lewis Hater which i cetainly ain't. all i have ever done is tell it like it really was yet many people cannot and will not accept the truth. Mike Tyson's goal was to UNIFY the Heavyweight title and by fighting Bruce Seldon he was adding Seldons WBA belt to his own WBC belt.. Lennox Lewis did not have to accept step-a-side money he could easily have said,"No Thanks" and fought Tyson for the WBC title and a guaranteed career highest payday. Lewis did not fancy his chances against that version of Mike Tyson so he waited six more years unto Tyson had completely self-destructed then agreed to fight him as long as there was 30 police officers lined across the ring and there would be no referee's instructions in the ring where Tyson could eye-ball Lewis and give him diarrhea.

Lewis has turned down many huge paydays during his career and the reason was that he simply did not fancy the job.. Lewis only ever fought fighters who was exposed and on the downside of their career's, he never fought fighters who was at the top of their game.

refused £6 million to fight Bowe in 1992
refused £10 million to fight Bowe in 1995
refused $30 million to fight Roy Jones in 2001
refused £8 million to fight Herbie Hide in 1995
refused $13.5 million to fight Tyson in 1996
refused $30 million to fight Vitali Klitschko in 2004

you have any proof of that?i seriously doubt 30 mil was ever on the table for a roy jones fight,and being as how the only other heavy jones was willing to face was holyfield makes it even more unlikely

to add to your post though,lewis was a real scum bag.the guy actually attemtptd to sue mike tyson for a rematch claise in thier contract trying to get another big payday

[Toney616]

to add to your post though,lewis was a real scum bag.the guy actually attemtptd to sue mike tyson for a rematch claise in thier contract trying to get another big payday

I'm neutral on things Lewis, but I really have a problem with him trying to do that

[sonnyboyx2]

you have any proof of that?i seriously doubt 30 mil was ever on the table for a roy jones fight,and being as how the only other heavy jones was willing to face was holyfield makes it even more unlikely

to add to your post though,lewis was a real scum bag.the guy actually attemtptd to sue mike tyson for a rematch claise in thier contract trying to get another big payday

so was you not following the sport of boxing 10yrs ago?

here is a couple of links about the Roy Jones fight.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-106201085.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/g...es-541306.html

[Kid McCoy]

so was you not following the sport of boxing 10yrs ago?

here is a couple of links about the Roy Jones fight.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-106201085.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/g...es-541306.html

Neither of those articles mention Lewis turning down a Jones fight, or even a concrete offer. They just drop in huge, speculative figures about a speculative fight. Considering Jones never made a single defence of his WBA title, it's doubtful a fight with Lewis or any other decent heavyweight was ever on his agenda.

As to the original article, it's a shame they don't mention the source of that offer. If it was Don King, then I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Furthermore, it's odd that both Tyson and Bowe would vacate the belts for which Lewis was mandatory (and follow up by taking much easier fights) if Lewis had already turned down offers to face them.

Note the second paragraph:

Now Lewis's handlers say they will guarantee Tyson $45 million to fight Lewis, but Tyson seems more interested in fighting Evander Holyfield, a former champion. If Tyson bypasses Lewis, the W.B.C. will strip Tyson of his title for refusing to fight its top-ranked contender. It would then match Lewis and Oliver McCall, its second-ranked contender, for the vacant title. If all those things happened, the next big fight would probably be the Lewis-McCall winner against -- who else? -- Tyson.

[sonnyboyx2]

Neither of those articles mention Lewis turning down a Jones fight, or even a concrete offer. They just drop in huge, speculative figures about a speculative fight. Considering Jones never made a single defence of his WBA title, it's doubtful a fight with Lewis or any other decent heavyweight was ever on his agenda.

As to the original article, it's a shame they don't mention the source of that offer. If it was Don King, then I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Furthermore, it's odd that both Tyson and Bowe would vacate the belts for which Lewis was mandatory (and follow up by taking much easier fights) if Lewis had already turned down offers to face them.

Note the second paragraph:

are you saying Lewis was NOT offered career highest purses to fight Tyson & Bowe?

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/199...ewman-dan-duva

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0eins2DhSo

[r.burgundy]

so was you not following the sport of boxing 10yrs ago?

here is a couple of links about the Roy Jones fight.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-106201085.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/g...es-541306.html

yes but 10 years ago i was a teen lol

[Kid McCoy]

are you saying Lewis was NOT offered career highest purses to fight Tyson & Bowe?

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/199...ewman-dan-duva

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0eins2DhSo

Are you aware that both Bowe and Tyson vacated their belts when Lewis was mandatory? Why would they do that if it was Lewis ducking them?

The Bowe camp always made offers that Lewis couldn't/wouldn't accept, like taking the chump's end of the purse (why should he accept that when he was a champion in his own right and Bowe had already ducked him once?) or when Lewis already had other fights signed, ie he'd already committed to fighting Bruno when Newman made that $12million offer.

$12million is also what Maloney offered Bowe the year before in light of the agreement that the winner of Lewis-Ruddock would face the winner of Bowe-Holyfield, which Bowe reneged on.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstra...A80994DA494D81

[sonnyboyx2]

Are you aware that both Bowe and Tyson vacated their belts when Lewis was mandatory? Why would they do that if it was Lewis ducking them?

The Bowe camp always made offers that Lewis couldn't/wouldn't accept, like taking the chump's end of the purse (why should he accept that when he was a champion in his own right and Bowe had already ducked him once?) or when Lewis already had other fights signed, ie he'd already committed to fighting Bruno when Newman made that $12million offer.

$12million is also what Maloney offered Bowe the year in light of the agreement that the winner of Lewis-Ruddock would face the winner of Bowe-Holyfield, which Bowe reneged on.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstra...A80994DA494D81

Rid**** Bowe was "Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World"... when Lewis beat Ruddock it was not for any world title it was a final eliminator(i was at the fight) when Bowe beat Holyfield he accepted a 75/25 purse split because he felt he could beat Holyfield.. Yet Lewis wanted nothing to do with any 75/25 split from "The Undisputed Champion"... Lewis camp wanted a 50/50 split an "OPTIONS" on Bowe's next fights should Lewis lose, The WBC gave Bowe 60 days to make the fight with Lewis their No1 contender or be stripped of their belt, Lewis had already "Priced himself out" so he then dragged his feet for the next 60 days, Bowe said to the WBC "UP YOU" and dumped their belt into the garbage can.. Everyone in Britain & Canada then for evermore claim Rid**** Bowe was afraid to fight Lennox Lewis yet that was not the case.

is Antonio Margarito getting more or less than 75/25 cut in this weekends fight with Manny Pacquiao ?

Have the Klitschko brothers ever defended their world titles against any opponent and that opponent has had a better deal than 75/25?

Mike Tyson was paid £32 million - Mike Spinks got $10 million

Who was Lennox Lewis and his camp to tell the Undisputed Heavyweight Champ that they wanted options on his fights plus a 50/50 purse split... laughable