Why didnt Tyson Vs. Bowe happen?

[juggernaut666]

Tyson signed to fight Seldon prior to Lewis signing to fight Mercer.



Tyson-Holyfield had been signed prior to Tyson-Seldon contest taking place.

There was a very small window where Tyson-Lewis negotiations seemed to actually take place - which were a direct result of court actions Lewis took - and resulted in step-aside money being paid.

Once that issue was resolved the two parties never had serious discussion again.

BOXING

BOXING;Bronchitis Stops Tyson: Seldon Fight Is Off

By FRANK LITSKY

Published: July 4, 1996








Mike Tyson is suffering from bronchitis, and his July 13 fight against Bruce Seldon for Seldon's World Boxing Association heavyweight title has been postponed to eptember or October.

The surprise announcement came at a news conference yesterday in Las Vegas, Nev., involving the promoter Don King, the co-manager John Horne and Dr. Robert Voy, who has been treating Tyson. On Monday, Tyson said in a teleconference that he was healthy and looking forward to the fight.

King said Voy made the decision to postpone the bout. Voy, once the chief medical officer of the United States Olympic Committee, is a sports medicine specialist from Las Vegas and has treated Tyson before.

"He hasn't had a full day's workout in the last two or three weeks," Voy said. "He's been treated daily with antibiotics under the supervision of a lung specialist. His progress has been very slow. He is recovering, but not quick enough. I don't think he would be ready for a heavyweight championship bout."

Showtime Entertainment Television, which had been scheduled to show the fight on pay-per-view, will show the rescheduled fight. Jay Larkin, senior vice president of Showtime, the network's parent group, said the postponement was a "disappointment."

"Everything was geared up," he said. "The monetary loss we're looking at is in fees for production and marketing already done. But our commercials are already done and just have to be amended for another date."

King said about 8,000 to 9,000 tickets had been sold for the fight at the MGM Grand, which seats 16,000. The postponement was the second for Tyson since his release from prison in March 1995. He was to have fought Buster Mathis Jr. last November, but the fight was delayed six weeks after Tyson broke a thumb the week before the fight. Since his return, the 29-year-old Tyson has knocked out Tom McNeeley last Aug. 19 in 89 seconds, Mathis on Dec. 16 in three rounds and Frank Bruno of England March 16 in three rounds. The complexities of boxing politics and alphabet-soup governing bodies (W.B.C., W.B.A., I.B.F., W.B.O. and W.B.U.) had led Tyson and King to a seemingly strange course.

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.

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.

And Riddick Bowe, another former champion, wants to get into the picture. Bowe fights Andrew Golota next Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, but he said his main targets were fights with Lewis or Tyson or both.

"I believe they called off the Tyson fight because of money," Bowe said on a hastily arranged conference call. "I don't think tickets were selling that good. If they want to make money, I'm the guy to fight. I'm available."

When Tyson was asked Monday what Seldon should be thinking, he said, "Don't show up." Now Tyson is the one not showing up.




The one funny thing about the article is Bowe claiming to be available, I guess he did'nt know Golota was waiting in the alley way for him,hes available but doesn't actually want to fight Lewis either?...lol


I will concede Tyson took of for money purposes. Though Lewis did have his chance of fighting Tyson in that small window,tthat I will not.

[Elroy1]

Bowe and Tyson goes under the catagory of a "fantasy" match because there was no real way they could have met when they were both at peak. Its not an age problem either...its just a matter of the trajectory of their careers. Thing is, outside of peak both men were severely diminished, so pitting either guy against the other when they were diminished tells us about as much as the Tyson Lewis fight.

That's why my assessments here were merely hypothetical

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I don't want to get into a huge debate, but 90s heavyweight boxing is my #1 thing in boxing that I'm supremely knowledgable about confident to talk about..

Why didn't bowe-tyson happen?? A few things..

1. Pre-prison for mike,,, Bowe was nothing but a blue chip prospect.. Fight made no sense in 90-91.. Bowe was so green and hadn't worked his way up the ladder, and couldnt leap frog legit contenders like Evander and ruddock

2. During prison,,, bowe ascended to the top, beat holyfield for the belt and became a major player and heir apparent to tyson as the baddest man on the planet..

3. For as stacked as the 90s was with heavyweights- 95-96, when mike was first released.. The Titlists were some subpar champs.. Very weird time.. Somehow- evander, bowe, lennox didn't have belts, and foreman was considered lineal champ but had been stripped of everything.. The division was being run by Moorer, Schultz, seldon, bruno, mccall..

4. With the Titlists in shambles, this allowed King to milk the tyson comeback..

1st fight- cash grab comeback, will sell no matter what, mcneely fight

2nd fight- after cashing in on the curiosity effect of having tyson back in the ring (mcneely) King found a top 5 rated guy for mike to fight, to legitimize Tyson's world ranking- Mathis jr

3rd and 4th fights- tyson would be gunning for world titles, but none of the big fights held any,, and if you read between the lines, you can see don King's political influence has fighters he had ins with, all were around the title picture-mccall, bruno, bean, seldon.. For as many vacant belts or mandatories there were, it's hard to believe in 94,95,96 bowe, holyfield, or lennox werent involved in any elimantors or title fights.. Anyway you wanted to rank them, they were clearly the top 3 or maybe 4 heavyweights without a title,, though I do think bowe-holyfield 3 was for the WBO belt but I could be wrong, regardless the wbo belt was pretty meaningless in the mid 90s

5. Don King worked it to get 2 cherrypicks like bruno and seldon as champions.. Allowing tyson to capture titles and unify, and with foreman's semiretirement and lack of big fights, and being stripped of the belts,, the general public viewed tyson as the #1 champ..

6.once tyson had established himself as champ again, and the general public had been milked several times in mismatches, it was time for a big fight with either lennox, bowe or tyson or foreman

7 foreman didn't happen because King was willing to risk a comebacking tyson vs a huge hitter like foreman that had the capability to weather the early tyson storm and land some bombs.. There was talks for a March 1996 fight, but King had tyson fight bruno for a belt instead and foreman drifted off into obscurity/retirement

Lennox was rebuilding his career after being shocked by mccall and by 96 was primed for a tyson fight, but being the businessman he is, couldn't pass on the step-aside money offered by King.. Lennox took the step-aside money, and he got paid handsomely according to reports..

Bowe was the logical big fight for tyson in 96. Bowe had nice wins over gonzalez and evander 3, but tyson-bowe was never gonna happen without a title at stake, so tyson fought bruno for a belt, and Bowe was gonna stay busy and solidify his spot as a top guy by taking out the undefeated polish Olympian Golata.. On hbo's legendary nights Bowe-Golata, they talk about how Golata was just a stay busy fight until a tyson fight in Yankee stadium could be made.. Woth probably the winner going after seldon to unify and get any easy payday.. But Bowe-Golata turned into a war and riot, and a rematch was made, tying up Bowe for the rest of 96.. With Bowe tied up, King just moved forward and got fights with seldon and evander lined up..

Evander was thought to be totally shot... He went from prime vs buster and dokes, to getting bloodied by Holmes, dropped by cooper, beaten by Bowe, losing to moorer, getting knocked out by Bowe, struggling with bobby cyzz.. Evander seemed to be a four round fighter and ripe for the picking. Tyson-holyfield was guaranteed huge money whenever they fought, so evander was always the backup cash grab for don King..

6. King chose seldon and evander... Seldon was always gonna be an opponent if he had a belt.. Had tyson lost or won vs Bowe,, his next fight would have been vs seldon- either to get back to winning and gain a belt, or to unify,, but a seldon title fight was always going to be a fight for tyson.. With Bowe tied up with Golata and lennox taking step-aside money, King move towards mike unifying with seldon and then a superfight vs a washed out evander...

7. Had Bowe gotten past Golata in decent fashion and tyson beats holyfield,, I got no doubt they fight in 97 in Yankee stadium or msg... It was the battle of New York... But things never unfolded like they should have,,, who would have thought that Bowe would struggle twice vs Golata, and holyfield would upset tyson..

[rightsideup]

I don't want to get into a huge debate, but 90s heavyweight boxing is my #1 thing in boxing that I'm supremely knowledgable about confident to talk about..

Why didn't bowe-tyson happen?? A few things..

1. Pre-prison for mike,,, Bowe was nothing but a blue chip prospect.. Fight made no sense in 90-91.. Bowe was so green and hadn't worked his way up the ladder, and couldnt leap frog legit contenders like Evander and ruddock

2. During prison,,, bowe ascended to the top, beat holyfield for the belt and became a major player and heir apparent to tyson as the baddest man on the planet..

3. For as stacked as the 90s was with heavyweights- 95-96, when mike was first released.. The Titlists were some subpar champs.. Very weird time.. Somehow- evander, bowe, lennox didn't have belts, and foreman was considered lineal champ but had been stripped of everything.. The division was being run by Moorer, Schultz, seldon, bruno, mccall..

4. With the Titlists in shambles, this allowed King to milk the tyson comeback..

1st fight- cash grab comeback, will sell no matter what, mcneely fight

2nd fight- after cashing in on the curiosity effect of having tyson back in the ring (mcneely) King found a top 5 rated guy for mike to fight, to legitimize Tyson's world ranking- Mathis jr

3rd and 4th fights- tyson would be gunning for world titles, but none of the big fights held any,, and if you read between the lines, you can see don King's political influence has fighters he had ins with, all were around the title picture-mccall, bruno, bean, seldon.. For as many vacant belts or mandatories there were, it's hard to believe in 94,95,96 bowe, holyfield, or lennox werent involved in any elimantors or title fights.. Anyway you wanted to rank them, they were clearly the top 3 or maybe 4 heavyweights without a title,, though I do think bowe-holyfield 3 was for the WBO belt but I could be wrong, regardless the wbo belt was pretty meaningless in the mid 90s

5. Don King worked it to get 2 cherrypicks like bruno and seldon as champions.. Allowing tyson to capture titles and unify, and with foreman's semiretirement and lack of big fights, and being stripped of the belts,, the general public viewed tyson as the #1 champ..

6.once tyson had established himself as champ again, and the general public had been milked several times in mismatches, it was time for a big fight with either lennox, bowe or tyson or foreman

7 foreman didn't happen because King was willing to risk a comebacking tyson vs a huge hitter like foreman that had the capability to weather the early tyson storm and land some bombs.. There was talks for a March 1996 fight, but King had tyson fight bruno for a belt instead and foreman drifted off into obscurity/retirement

Lennox was rebuilding his career after being shocked by mccall and by 96 was primed for a tyson fight, but being the businessman he is, couldn't pass on the step-aside money offered by King.. Lennox took the step-aside money, and he got paid handsomely according to reports..

Bowe was the logical big fight for tyson in 96. Bowe had nice wins over gonzalez and evander 3, but tyson-bowe was never gonna happen without a title at stake, so tyson fought bruno for a belt, and Bowe was gonna stay busy and solidify his spot as a top guy by taking out the undefeated polish Olympian Golata.. On hbo's legendary nights Bowe-Golata, they talk about how Golata was just a stay busy fight until a tyson fight in Yankee stadium could be made.. Woth probably the winner going after seldon to unify and get any easy payday.. But Bowe-Golata turned into a war and riot, and a rematch was made, tying up Bowe for the rest of 96.. With Bowe tied up, King just moved forward and got fights with seldon and evander lined up..

Evander was thought to be totally shot... He went from prime vs buster and dokes, to getting bloodied by Holmes, dropped by cooper, beaten by Bowe, losing to moorer, getting knocked out by Bowe, struggling with bobby cyzz.. Evander seemed to be a four round fighter and ripe for the picking. Tyson-holyfield was guaranteed huge money whenever they fought, so evander was always the backup cash grab for don King..

6. King chose seldon and evander... Seldon was always gonna be an opponent if he had a belt.. Had tyson lost or won vs Bowe,, his next fight would have been vs seldon- either to get back to winning and gain a belt, or to unify,, but a seldon title fight was always going to be a fight for tyson.. With Bowe tied up with Golata and lennox taking step-aside money, King move towards mike unifying with seldon and then a superfight vs a washed out evander...

7. Had Bowe gotten past Golata in decent fashion and tyson beats holyfield,, I got no doubt they fight in 97 in Yankee stadium or msg... It was the battle of New York... But things never unfolded like they should have,,, who would have thought that Bowe would struggle twice vs Golata, and holyfield would upset tyson..

Intersting and informative a lot of elements coincides with some unfortunate events

[MrRolltide91]

Always wonder this

[QueensburyRules]

--- Great breakdown of events by Sugar.

Also at one point Mike said since he and Bowe were buddies from the same NY Ghetto, the agreed not to fight each other.

[GelfSara]

Actually this is true.

There was no collision course where these two were destined to meet. Profile wise, left to his own devices, Bowe was often driven by animosity....for example, he really wanted to destroy Gonzolez. Then you had the management which, made the decisions and had their own agenda, which did not include a bowe tyson match up... you had the alphabet soup which wanted to maintain their respective champs, You had lewis in the picture and...Tyson was a mentor like figure to Bowe who is on tape as saying as much. The friendship was paramount and given the other considerations no doubt Bowe's personal attitude was to cross that bridge when he came to it, despite never coming to it!

When Larry King interviewed Mike Tyson in prison, he asked him about fighting Bowe:

https://youtu.be/69Oo1Pa72uM

[Mr.MojoRisin']

Tyson was in prison by the time Bowe was on his level. By the time Tyson was out of Prison and fighting again, Bowe was retiring and joining the marine corps.

[Willy Wanker]

Tyson was in prison by the time Bowe was on his level. By the time Tyson was out of Prison and fighting again, Bowe was retiring and joining the marine corps.

I have no idea what Bowe was thinking quitting boxing to join the marines.

Didn't he quit after a month because he was too fat and lazy?

Bowe vs. Tyson would have been great fight, assuming Bowe would have showed up in shape. Bowe always had a warrior's heart, but never had the will to train or work hard.

[Mr.MojoRisin']

I have no idea what Bowe was thinking quitting boxing to join the marines.

Didn't he quit after a month because he was too fat and lazy?

Bowe vs. Tyson would have been great fight, assuming Bowe would have showed up in shape. Bowe always had a warrior's heart, but never had the will to train or work hard.

He quit after just 3 days lmao

Had Tyson and Bowe fought post-prison I'd have to favor Tyson but Bowe has a very solid chance here.