Tyson-Holyfield 1 rememebering it

[Nigel_Benn]

What was the build up like? do u think the fight was a dissapointment? Was Tyson in shape (his usual exscuse) and does it prove Holyfield was a legit heavyweight puncher?

[Thread Stealer]

A lot of people expected it to be a slaughter given Holyfield's recent performances.

It surpassed expectations, even to the point that the fight became drastically overrated (The Ring ranking it as 1996's FOTY).

[TRUEBELIEVER 66]

Great fight i loved every minute of it, and i brought home a grand from it because Tyson was extremely over-rated from the betting standpoint, and Holy whipped him douglas style:lol:

[SuzieQ49]

tyson was a shadow of his former self

[ironchamp]

I remember how the build up was. I remember the promo's with Tyson's camp arguing that Holyfield had made the claim that he won't defend his title against a rapist and Holyfield and his camp denied the claim.

There was so much electricity for this fight; Evander wasnt expected to last but he was expected to put forth a valiant effort before succumbing to Tyson's assualt. Tyson's popularity was exploding everytime he stepped into the ring. Most guys go to jail and come out with nothing, here was a guy who came out and was even more popular and getting paid millions of dollars. I thought we were in for another Tyson era and Mike came out and was starting to unify the belts.

Holyfield being a former champ, his rhetoric about Mike not being hit yet and the genuine animosity between the two seemed to make this into a very interesting event. Tyson was a HEAVY favorite but the public knew that Evander wouldnt lay down; he'd put together a valiant effort but ultimately succumb to the Dynamo that was Tyson. And the numbers seem to indicate that.

Holyfield winning made it more memorable.

[columbo man]

this was arguably evanders greatest performance at heavyweight, he was superb that night, soaked up everything tyson had to offer and gradually wore him down, tyson was past his best then but he was still useful.
that tyson of 1996 would be a world champ today going by the standards of the current champs.

[TIGEREDGE]

this was arguably evanders greatest performance at heavyweight, he was superb that night, soaked up everything tyson had to offer and gradually wore him down, tyson was past his best then but he was still useful.
that tyson of 1996 would be a world champ today going by the standards of the current champs.

what we'd give for even that tyson. I reckon 96 tyson would of cleaned up today even though he was very faded

[Russell]

Wish we could of seen Holyfield do it without butts. He hit Tyson with some fucking brutal ones that night, and they seemed to shift the tempo of the fight.

[Bigcat]

I remember everything from the three weeks leading towards the fight.. I was in Las Vegas 3 weeks prior and in Toccos gym we had Holyfield , Akinwande and Botha all preparing there at different times... Akinwande was superbly conditioned for his defence of his WBo strap against Alex Zolkin. Botha and his very vocal trainer Sterling Mcphereson were sweating it out everyday in the back room for thier match against Mike Moorer who kept a very low profile in vegas .. Holyfield wanted closed doors and i only got to see glimpses of him at the beginning and end of his sessions, he was training with Mike Grant and Don Turner with support often coming from Akinwande and louie Savarese who was adamant that Evander had what it would take to win. Tyson trained at Golden Gloves on Gragson lane , off the strip at Washington Blvd , the gym owned by Hal Miller was closed to the public and Tyson was there every day around noon, Scott Welch was in the gym and i knew him so access was ok for me, he had no real objective in my opinion but to destroy and destruct Holyfield.. The line up apart from the three heavyweight title fights had Christy Martin taking on Bethany Payne and Ricardo Lopez making his 17th title defence but earning less than the female fighters.. rediculous. The press conference closest to the fight was awesome , harsh words were thrown around especially between Botha and Moorer and some friend of Moorers in the front row , who claimedhe could beat Botha, Sterling took the microphone and started to break Botha down as a toughguy of sorts, He said he aint no white boy like your american fat white boy fighters, he is an african white guy , he was raised fighting ******s.. It was shockin to hear Sterling talk so crudely.. but it was ultimately amusing.. i had been hanging with a friend of mine Steve Jaye (a heavyweight from Chicago via the Uk.) he went to KIngs Hq the day before the bout to have a meeting with Carl KIng with a view to getting a contract he didn't but we did pick up on the confidence the Kings had in Tyson getting rid of Holyfield early.. They said jokingly (His "Holyfields" arse will drop out when the whip shouts into the dressing room ...Holyfield its time to go.. lets go Holyfield .. knocking on the wall like it was Holyfields dressing room door. ) I was hanging out a lot with two fighters , the finger twins Terrelll and lavell finger all week and they along with Steve had mein GG gym while Tyson sparred with Nate Tubbs, Stan Allen and Leroy Seales.. Mike was hurting them at will, Holyfield would be a completely different matter.. i had only one bet that night , Akinwande to beat Zolkin, the other matches were too tough to call. Fight day was super exciting, i remember calling at the MGM early to see the press room filling up, i returned to the Aladdin hotel where i was usually staying on fight weeks, they had George Clinton , Parliament and Funkadelic on live on the same night as the boxing , i felt like saying , dont even bother trying to sell tickets on that night, you are too close to the MGM and fight of the decade.. I found it funny.. I ran into Tyson in Don KIngs trailer behind the MGM that day early, he was wearing a blue Walker wear hoodie and a purple walker wear ski hat listening to a cd player headset.. he looked moody but Crocodile said , he is perfect, completely perfect.. Mike grinned at us like he had the fight sewn up.. Only one member of the press room had Holyfield as his choice to win, Ron Borges of the Boston Globe, i had ultimate faith in Tyson.. I was so shocked.. It was one of the most electrofying nights of boxing that i can remember.. From Teddy Atlas fighting with some guy at the weigh in , to Holyfields superb performance it had everything.. Out of it all i do remember 3 men who had only one winer picked before the start.. Mike Grant , Henry Akinwande and Lou Savarese all said without hesitation, Holyfield by late round stoppage, we have no doubts, how right they were , almost to the round..

God bless...

[zadfrak]

I don't want to appear to nitpick or anything, but I'd like some opinions why you thought the moorer-botha fight was such a tough pick.

I thought it was an easy fight to pick and pretty much a gimme. Botha and that defense of his are not going to win rounds against a sharpshooter that throws combos. Plus, the guy was a southpaw. I thought Moorer was going to 1-2 the guy to death in there and all Botha would do was wing an occasional roundhouse right. At that time, Moorer was light and used mobility and always held his hands up fairly well, so I didn't think he was going to get hit clean all that often. And moorer was a real accurate guy and like I said, I sure didn't see Moorer having any difficulty whatsoever with the Botha defense. And Moorer had a big edge in the corner as well & it's my belief that factor accounts for about 25-33% of matchups.

interestingly, another guy to call that Tyson fight deadnuts like Savarese/Akinwande/Grant was Larry Holmes. He said Holyfield was going to take him out into the deep water and drown him late. I always like it when guys are experts the day before a fight while everyone else becomes an expert after the fight.

Like I said, not meaning to nitpick & I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Thanx.

[Bigcat]

I don't want to appear to nitpick or anything, but I'd like some opinions why you thought the moorer-botha fight was such a tough pick.

I thought it was an easy fight to pick and pretty much a gimme. Botha and that defense of his are not going to win rounds against a sharpshooter that throws combos. Plus, the guy was a southpaw. I thought Moorer was going to 1-2 the guy to death in there and all Botha would do was wing an occasional roundhouse right. At that time, Moorer was light and used mobility and always held his hands up fairly well, so I didn't think he was going to get hit clean all that often. And moorer was a real accurate guy and like I said, I sure didn't see Moorer having any difficulty whatsoever with the Botha defense. And Moorer had a big edge in the corner as well & it's my belief that factor accounts for about 25-33% of matchups.

interestingly, another guy to call that Tyson fight deadnuts like Savarese/Akinwande/Grant was Larry Holmes. He said Holyfield was going to take him out into the deep water and drown him late. I always like it when guys are experts the day before a fight while everyone else becomes an expert after the fight.

Like I said, not meaning to nitpick & I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Thanx. You are dead correct on how the fight went tween Moorer and Francois Botha , but in fact the only reason we left that one alone by way of betting was because it was common knowledge that a lot of people were betting large on Botha (very large) and a few rumors circled on that fight being kinda set up if it were to go to a close decision.. If you watch how despaerate Sterling was to have Franz see the whole twelve out.. in the last round before the stoppage.. he said.. Come on Franz, just see these last few minutes out it will be worth it trust me, .. come on man you can go all day in the gym... "

We were told by a solid source that heavy money was being placed on Botha by decision.. I just didn't like the sound of what we were hearing.. So you may understand the way i wanted to just leave that one alone.. In fact i thought the fight was fantastic and Moorer fought a punch perfect fight...

[zadfrak]

Thanx. That sure explains it alright. And I certainly figured that you'd seen lots of holes in that Botha defense against a sharpshooter like Moorer was at that time.

That's one of those big factors you don't get a feel for unless you are there or get lots of gambler feedback. And there are lots of bouts guys win handily that are totally dismissed as real soft fights later on, or with hindsight. But info like the above certainly changes the dynamics of things going into a bout.

[Bigcat]

He sure was on course for that ..

I think he came mighty close..

[Bokaj]

tyson was a shadow of his former self

I don't agree. He had looked good against Bruno, actually better than he did in 1989. No one thought Tyson was shot at the time. in fact most thought that he was close to getting back to his best. It's just the classic re-make of event afterwards, just like the tired claims that Liston was well past it when he fought Clay.

For example Ali looked a lot more rusty in his fight with Bonavena, leading up to FOTC, than Tyson had done before taking on Holyfield. Tyson wasn't at his very best, but definitely at a decent level. He just always looked really bad when faced with a superior opponent.

[Bokaj]

Funny how time have so clearly showed that Tyson was light years from his best whenever he got beaten. Funny also how this in hindsight so obvious fact wasn't noticed before the fights against Douglas and Holyfield.

The perfect recipe for making a fighter unbeatable: he was never beaten even remotely close to his prime, because if he hadn't been way past it he wouldn't have been beaten.

[Mendoza]

I remember this fight well. I saw it at a race track. The crowd seemed to be even split between Holyfield and Tyson fans. The Tyson fans were freaken hilarious.



They thought Holyfield went low when he landed a body shot that Rocked Tyson. It wasn’t low at all. Once the replay showed it, the Holfyield fans said, yep it was low on Tyson's ribs.



When Tyson was TKO’d his fans screamed out FIX! They could not beleive it. If you watch the fight, you can see it was going Holyfield way as early as round 6.

[Drew101]

his prime ended in 1988. holyfield was in 1996 with a 4 year prison stint.

8 years past his best.

Legend? Is that you?

[Thread Stealer]

Both guys were past their prime, but Holyfield adapted much better. Holyfield fought a very good and smart fight, saying he learned from the Bowe losses to control his aggression.

Holyfield was very controlled in his aggression against Tyson, clinching a lot, and picking his spots, rather than falling into an unnecessary brawl like he often did in the past.

[Sonny's jab]

Holyfield was washed-up. Tyson's people picked him because he was an easy touch whose name would command a big purse. Holyfield was expected to put on a brave fight for a couple of rounds, better than Bruce Seldon or Frank Bruno managed, but it should have been a quick win for Tyson. Tyson had look damned good against Bruno and was being tipped to dominate the division again, clean-up within a year.

Holyfield was a huge underdog. Many people feared for his safety. His courage was going to be the death of him, literally.

But washed-up Holyfield beat the shit out of Tyson. He bullied him, smashed him about, Tyson looked weak in comparison. Holyfield was aggressive and had a real will to win, but he was a lot slower than he'd been in his prime and there was a lot of flat-footed exchanges and lots of wrestling. Tyson was doing a lot of the holding. It's quite an ugly fight, not a great one, but at the time it was bewildering.

[Bokaj]

Neither was washed up, but both were past their primes. I agree that even though it was captivating to watch it live, it's kind of boring to watch it a second time, because there's not much boxing going on. But Holyfield fought a really smart fight and just stunned everybody (especially Tyson, of course).

[Ezzard]

Holyfield was washed-up. Tyson's people picked him because he was an easy touch whose name would command a big purse. Holyfield was expected to put on a brave fight for a couple of rounds, better than Bruce Seldon or Frank Bruno managed, but it should have been a quick win for Tyson. Tyson had look damned good against Bruno and was being tipped to dominate the division again, clean-up within a year.

Holyfield was a huge underdog. Many people feared for his safety. His courage was going to be the death of him, literally.

But washed-up Holyfield beat the shit out of Tyson. He bullied him, smashed him about, Tyson looked weak in comparison. Holyfield was aggressive and had a real will to win, but he was a lot slower than he'd been in his prime and there was a lot of flat-footed exchanges and lots of wrestling. Tyson was doing a lot of the holding. It's quite an ugly fight, not a great one, but at the time it was bewildering.

Pretty much spot on. The Tyson apologists don't want to hear it but he got beat fair and square by the better man.

The view on the fight prior to the start was exactly as Sonny says: many were fearful for Holyfield. I never thought Holy stood a chance. Tyson was looking as good as ever in the fights leading up to this.