I'm of the opinion that Holyfield beats Tyson 10 out of 10 times. Some fighters just have your number, and Holyfield had Tyson's. The biggest advantage Holyfield had was he had absolutely no fear of Tyson, none and I was a huge Tyson fan but Mike was very similar to Sonny Liston back in the day until a young Ali came along with no fear of him. Sure Tyson was in great shape, the again so was Holyfield
Definitely, the fight would've been different from the 1996 fight. Tyson, despite the loss to Douglas the previous year, was at his peak. He had plenty of distractions, but physically, he was at his strongest and fastest. He still fought the Cus d'Amato style, moving his head and throwing lightning fast combinations, unlike his post-prison years when he was trying to load up on one big shot. On the other hand, Holyfield was still a newbie in the heavyweight division. He wasn't that strong yet and not as smart as the one Tyson fought in '96. Evander also had problems with Riddick Bowe and even old George Foreman and Larry Holmes, all of whom were not as fast and strong as Tyson. I see Mike Tyson stopping Holyfield in 5 or 6 rounds.
Holyfield would have beat Mike at any time in their lives, when they were teenagers both competing in pre-Olympic trials, Mike was bullying the other fighters (including Henry Tillman who beat Mike in the trials), but when Mike tried to bully Evander the 19 year old Holyfield punked Mike out over a pool table. All their lives after that Holyfield owned Mike. The only reason Mike gave Holyfield a shot in 1996 is Holyfield looked like a shot fighter against Bobby Czyz a couple months prior and they thought Holyfield was a safe fight. It didn't work out that way and Holyfield cleaned Mike's clock. The result would have been the same at any time in either's career, it was a psychological edge Holyfield established over Mike at a very early age.
Mike Tyson would have easily beat Holyfield in 91,you have to remember Holyfield was on steroids in the mid 90s adding to his size he turned from a frail cruiserweight into an incredible hulk Heavyweight. Steroids saved Holyfields career when boxing experts had him wrote off.
tyson beats holyfield in 1991....holyfield was def not as strong or smart a boxer as in 96 although he was still awkward....tyson was much better in 91...i think tyson would have won in 96 too if it werent for the headbutting and of course the ear bite.
Tyson was in great shape in 1991...and The Ring had predicted Tyson would win via KO in 8th round.
Evander holyfield would still have part of his ear.
Tyson would have knocked him out, I mean back then mike Tyson was unstoppable.
Tyson was scheduled to fight Holyfield in 1991 but had to pull out due to injury. my question is how do you think the fight would have gone if they'd fought in 1991, given how they were at that stage of their careers? would it have gone the same way it did in 1996?
