I have debated this match with several times with hardcore boxing fans. I think Mike would have beaten George. Mike had pretty good defense in his prime and much better skills than Foreman. What do you guys think.

Tyson was the more talented fighter overall, but it's a horror style match-up. Foreman would monster him, IMO.

That's leaving alone the psychology of such a bout. I've little doubt as to who is shaking in whose boots.

i think if ron lyle can put foreman down...tyson can put him down and keep him there.....a prime tyson was great defensively he'd be able to slip and dogde most of foreman's wide punches...tyson by ko

I think it would be a great fight, perhaps more competitive than the Foreman supporters think, but ultimately, and not after too many rounds, perhaps five, Foreman would emerge victorious. I like prime Mike over old Foreman.

Tyson by knockout around the 4th or 5th.

I believe he said prime Foreman. That was not the vintage model going up against Lyle.

i dont think foreman was past his prime...1 loss to muhammad ali but before that had ko'd norton and frazier....still had enough in him to win the title again against moore..that still was a pretty good foreman in there against lyle....

Angelo Dundee says it best. Any fighter who bobs and weaves a la Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson, Mike Tyson will get crushed by Foreman. I don't think Mike could have beaten OLD George Foreman let alone the young one. This fight is a slaughter.

K X P

I like Mike in this one. I think people underestimate the skill level of the prime Mike Tyson. Foreman was more powerful, but threw very wide punches. Mike could easily slip them and counter with amazing quickness. I think that if Ron Lyle was able to connect and bring down Foreman several times then Mike could connect and finish Foreman. This is one of those fights that may come done to simply who connected hard first. Interesting mythical match-up .

Take a week off man.

OK

Im a shot poster I have no legs anymore.

Just think about how foreman looked after he faught alex stewart. Mike would do worse

Thank god styles don't make fights.

"Just think about how Tyson looked after he faught Holyfield. George would do worse"


See, both quotes look and sound ridiculous.

Ridiculous....George by monstrous KO mid rounds.

youre retarded... you mean to tell me a crude heartless,chinless club fighter has a better chance against foreman than mike tyson? Its funny how nobody was talkin shit about mike when he was running through everyone. prime foreman lost to every top fighter that was around accept moorer but he woulda smashed mike. comparing mike to joe frasier is retarded. The tyson hating is gettin old. he came and did his thing. he didnt last long but so what get over it

Wow, you mention heart and somehow Tyson has more?

Who's retarded?

"prime foreman lost to every top fighter that was around accept moorer"

When did prime Foreman fight moorer? I know a 45 year old did but prime. Yo man, boxing might not be the sport for you if you don't know the difference?

That's an interesting thing to say. That's like saying that the jury hadn't convicted the defendant before all the facts were in. Big deal.



Spelling except accept is retarded.

For real joe. Joe Frazier was garbage. I mean who did he ever beat? Whereas Tyson. There was a god among men. I mean the only dude who whupped Mike in his prime was Buster Douglas............. Oh.

Foreman would smash Mike down. And it would be ugly as hell because Mike could take an asswhipping, so it go on for a good minute.


To take any version of Foreman after Ali ruined his mental game is like using Mike after prison. Just doesnt make sense.

Oddly enough I think that Mike would have beaten the prime George, but lost to the older George simply because of styles and capabilities.

The big difference with the younger versions would be that Tyson was so very quick and didn't need to try and lean on you to wail away like Frazier did. George used to talk about the punches the Frazier missed that scared him. Tyson wouldn't have missed. Tyson was a more precise machine than the brutish Frazier and his powerful cominations would most likely take out prime George within 6 rounds.


The older Foreman was significantly stronger than the younger version (especially in the legs). He displayed a better chin, had an ability to pace himself and wouldn't have been bothered by the head games (that both guys played). Tyson whips on him early, but gets frustrated in the middle rounds when he starts getting hit back with harder punches than he's ever taken before. Foremans uppercuts and mauling tactics start to work as Tyson is having a harder time getting a 260lb'er off of him. In the end, prime Mike Tyson mentally taps out and loses on his stool or by quitting in the latter rounds.

Thats how I see it anyway.

not a bad breakdown, but your overlooking Young Foremans own rock crushing power. Nobody ever hit Frazier and made him do a mexican hat dance like that.

Foreman would have hit Mike like a ton of bricks. Everyone talks about Mike landing these precise power punches, but Mike never faced anyone in his career that hit remotely as hard as George, except maybe LL and that was the ghost of Mike.

George would move Mike with every clubbing punch he landed. Mikes peekaboo would do nothing for a guy that punched through people like particle board. I guess people assume George is simply going to come out and be afraid of Mike? lol. Prior to Ali taking Georges heart, Foreman came into matches talking about wanting to see if he could kill a man with a punch.

If Foreman never meets Ali, this poll wouldnt even be neccessary. And btw Old Foreman was NOT stronger than young Foreman. He simply reserved his energy and fought at a more measured pace. Young George bent heavybags in half. Young George went from sleeping on his feet to sliding Ron Lyle a few inches across the canvas with one punch. The dude was immeasurably strong.

And Young G would have never fallen for the kind of mind games Mike brought. That would have been bully vs bully. Foreman would have loved that.


Alis mental games with fighters was much, much deeper. Ali had the whole fucking continent of Africa hating Foreman. He had most of black America hating Frazier calling him an Uncle Tom, when Frazier was as blue collar as they come. Mike never dreamed of that kind of shit. Not even the same ballpark.

I like Mike's chances much more against young foreman as well. I don't know if it's enough for Mike to win. Tyson had better stamina, but couldn't fight backing up and I'm not sure how he would handle George bulling him back and winging bombs. Probably painfully, if Mike could last 6 or 7 rds without wetting himself, he would have a shot. The main problem is tyson's power faded after 6 rds or so.

Mike smokes old Foreman, loses to young Foreman by devastating stoppage.

Mike smokes old Foreman, loses to young Foreman by devastating stoppage.

I acknowledge George's power, but I think that Mike gets there first (major speed advantage) and with "bad intentions." Mike would be able to slip and counter Foreman and put his fellow bully in an unfamiliar defensive posture. Quite frankly, if George hit Mike like he hit Frazier Mike would end up the same way. I content that he wouldn't be able to hit Mike cleanly and that his misses would result in him getting countered hard.

We'll have to disagree on the point about strength. IMO, old George was significantly stronger than young George. I'm not saying that young George is weak or not one of the strongest men to hold the title up to that point. I am saying that the older version with his 20" guns, weight training methods and oak-like legs is just that much mightier.

As for the mind games, I'm thinking it's more of a wash. George had been in camp w/ Sonny Liston, so I doubt Mike intimidates him. By the same token, prime Tyson would have wanted to put his fist through that skull to be intimidated himself.

Not that I don't think Mike would have a slugger's chance, but I just can't get past the fact that these two never fought when Mike was prime (or very near it) and George was 40+

George meant big, big money for Mike and everyone seemed to think Mike would have an easy time of it.

Something tells me Mike himself didn't think George was an easy mark.

Something special had to take place for this fight NOT to happen.

Good post.

Clyde Weaver beats both these suckers.

With the way the heavyweight division is now Id pay to see Foreman fight Tyson right now. It would be more fun than anything involving a Clit. Foreman would KO Mike in 5 even today.

I think Mike's speed and balance let him land the bombs first to take a KO. I like that someone mentioned that Fraizer was not like Mike, Mike didn't need to lean on these big guys on the inside to land his shots. He had better balance so he could catch them with jab/hook - straight right combos.

I think its pretty much universally agreed that it would be a dynamite affair regardless.


for undercards we could have Ernie Shavers-Bert Cooper and say Herbie Hide-Qawi for a hell of a card.

All bangers, all pain, every fight someone leaves on their back, every fight both fighters come in like looking for trouble like North Korea.


what a night that would be.

That something special was probably Don King, Buster Douglas or Prison. They actually made this fight (or were very close) but it ended up falling through. Heck, Holy had to prectically sell his firstborn to the Don to get his shot against Tyson.

Prime Foreman By KO!

As much as I hate to admit it. This matchup is all wrong for a primed Mike Tyson against a much younger and primed George Foreman. Tyson had the skill advantages of speed and defense but George had the physical advantages of size and power.

Foreman punching power largely derives from the size of his punches where as Tyson's punching power derives largely from the timing, accuracy and speed of his punches. At some point, Tyson may rock George and may even floor him.

However, he would be more likely than not to climb off the canvas and stop Mike Tyson by knocking him out for the full 10 count.

If Foreman went down to Mike he gets knocked out. Enough of this hollywood-rocky bs scenarios. Mike KO's any version of Foreman too much speed, and the superior technique helps.

Agreed. I place more emphasis on Foreman-Frazier I as an analogy to this fight than many have. In recent years, people have peeled away from that logic.

I still feel Foreman-Frazier I is a very solid platform for envisioning Tyson's result (near-certain defeat, for mine) against the Foreman of '73-74.

Before we get too far into depth in this argument that George Foreman had too much size, we need to establish when Foreman's prime was and at what weight he was at the time.

Personally, I think his prime was early 70's when he beat Frazier and Norton. Back then his weight was around 220 which is about the same as Tyson weighed in his prime.

Tyson was lightning fast with movement to trouble Foreman and get inside. Couple that with his incredible chin and a prime Tyson wins likely via KO in the middle rounds.

I don't know that I would call Tyson's chin incredible, personally. Someone once asked me how I rated the young Tyson's chin --- this was a time when he was young, relatively untested, & the toast of the Boxing scene. "That chin of his, is it good, great, or all-time?" the person queried.

My reply then remains today --- I'd say great. Not great enough, mind, if & when Foreman starts landing with his superior range (off-setting Tyson's handspeed advantage).

Mike had an excellent chin, so did Frazier.

Foreman had confidence against shorter guys that crouched. He worked his jab and that would set the table for his uppercuts and hooks to follow. He was Liston like with that jab when he used it. Sometimes he forgot to. Against Tyson it would be effective.

That's if he could land it. I remember Holmes having trouble landing his jab on Mike.

Mike had a better chin than Joe Frazier by a good bit.

If you are serious. Other than Foreman, who was the biggest puncher Frazier faced?

I'm totally serious, I can't believe that you are. Foreman was by far the biggest puncher either guy faced. What's that prove? You said yourself that same Foreman would destroy Tyson. Who were these massive bombers that proved Mike's chin better beyond a shadow of a doubt?

Very equal imv.

Naw. Foreaman wasn't a much bigger puncher than some of the guys Mike faced. Regardless, who are the next best 2-3 punchers for Frazier?

Quarry, Bonavena, Ali,

I know Holyfield was a big puncher, but he wasn't in George's realm.

Who were the best puncher`s Mike faced?

Lewis was. I thought you might be end up saying Bob Foster. Anyway, im pretty much done with this one.

I think Tyson may have taken one big shot better than did Frazier. I dont think Mike could take the consistant peppering as well as Joe could. Mike would tighten up and stop throwing combos, start leaning, biting his gloves and brace himself for an asswhipping.

David Tua used to stop trying to win and people used to rave about his chin. I just think he stopped taking chances.

Lewis knocked him out cold.




Mike's chin was strong, that's a good point. It's also worth a mention that Joe was blind in one eye and didn't even see a lot of the punches coming.

A lot of people thought Mike could have gotten up, it just would have been even uglier. He took a hell of a beating though, Frazier would have been done quite a bit sooner after taking shots like that.