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I heard all kinds of different stories. There was an article in sports illustrated in the early nineties about Tyson yelling at Don King when he offered him the Foreman fight. because cus and Tyson used to watch tape of young Foreman beating Frazier. What do you guys think
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This is a perfect thread for threadstealer. i hope he appears. -
Pretty ****** reasoning seeing how George was in his prime when he fought Frazier and he was for the most part a fat slob in 91.
I don't think Tyson was afraid of him, I don't think he had any reason to be.Comment
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huh???????????Comment
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I've read stories about that too. Don't know if there's any validity to it. They were both on the same card in June 1990, for Tyson's first fight after losing to Douglas, he beat Tillman while Foreman beat Rodriguez. Arum and King worked together that night so people thought Foreman and Tyson would fight after that, but this is what was said in a SI article. They got Damiani's name wrong.
When I watch Foreman around that time period I just think he got hit way too much to have been able to handle Tyson. I would've thought that around that time that Tyson would've preferred to fight Douglas/Holyfield to regain the title, rather than face Foreman. There were some stories that Tyson was unhappy with King because of how long it took for him to get a chance to regain the title. He was arguably the biggest star in all of sports, not just boxing, and had four straight non-title fights after losing to Douglas.In the days leading up to the fights, it was assumed that Tyson and Foreman would follow this twin bill with another, thereby building the gate for their own inevitable match. Last week's copromotion by Don King and Arum had its own bizarre attraction—the two bitter enemies had been forced into a marriage of convenience that was interesting in its own right—but the odd alliance was coming asunder almost before Tillman had regained his senses. King, who promotes Tyson, had done his part for the second doubleheader by signing a fight with Alex Stewart, the WBA's No. 6-ranked heavyweight. But Arum, who promotes Foreman, was having trouble with his end. He had Francesco Damiano, the former European champ, signed, but there was some confusion over whether HBO, which contributed to the purses for the Las Vegas twin bill, would be interested in Damiani under the conditions Arum proposed.
Arum, it turned out, wanted Foreman to fight Damiano for his World Boxing Organization (WBO) title, a franchise that Arum ordinarily doesn't respect, except that the title could be worth money to Foreman in overseas markets. "With that title I can take George all over the world, fighting European champions for two, three million bucks," Arum says. "At least you can call it a championship fight."
But HBO will only accept Damiano in a 10-round, nontitle fight. "HBO spent $22 million to unify the title," says Seth Abraham, senior vice-president for sports at HBO, which backed the series that ultimately united the WBA, WBC and IBF titles under one heavyweight—Tyson. "We're not interested in muddling the picture with a fourth title."
And beyond that, there was King, who suddenly found objection to Damiano's ties to the WBO, which does business with South Africans. King decided he couldn't be part of such a promotion. Better to have a fighter like Michael Dokes, who has had a long-term arrangement with King, in for the payday than deal with a group that has the taint of apartheid. So Tyson and Foreman Doubleheader II began to come apart on Saturday night.Comment
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